Möt jurymedlemmarna i Polstjärnepriset 2026!

Anna-Karin Larsson
Ordförande

Gitte Marcusson
Träblås

Louise Pollock
Brass

Ava Bahari
Stråk

Torleif Thedéen
Stråk

Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist
Piano

Anna-Karin Larsson, Ordförande

Anna-Karin Larsson has been the general manager of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra since the beginning of 2024. Before that, she worked at the Swedish Radio (SR) for 35 years, both as a producer, host for classical music shows and in various managing positions. Mainly as Music Director, working with both popular and classical music and with extended responsibilities for culture and drama production. She was also responsible for the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra for more than 10 years.

Gitte Marcusson, Träblås

Gitte taught at Chetham’s School of Music for 16 years and is since 2016 Professor at the Royal College of Music in London. She is founder and director of Nordic Flute International Summer School as well as a member of the faculty at Wildacres Flute Retreat, North Carolina USA. Many of her students are holding principal and second positions in orchestras worldwide such as London Symphony, Royal Scottish, Liverpool, Birmingham, Sidney Symphony, Oslo, Norrköping and BBC Philharmonic. Besides frequently giving Masterclasses throughout Europe, she is a tutor at Tuscany Flutes and Voksenåsen Summer Academy, Oslo.

Louise Pollock, Brass

Louise Pollock is Professor of Trombone at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin and currently Principal Trombone with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Louise is ”International Visiting Tutor” at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester/UK. 2015-2023, she was Principal Trombone with the Gothenburg Opera/Sweden and taught at the Gothenburg Academy of Music and Drama, after working three years with the Stuttgart Philharmonic. Louise won numerous prizes at national and international competitions, including 1st Prize and Audience Prize at the 2016 Aeolus International Competition for Wind Instruments. She’s been a jury member of the Markneukirchen International Instrumental Competition, International Trombone Association (ITA) Competition or Jeju International Competition. In 2023, she became president of the Internationale Posaunenvereinigung and member of ITA’s Board of Advisors. She completed her Bachelor with Prof. Branimir Slokar in Freiburg and continued her Masters studies with Prof. Henning Wiegräbe in Stuttgart. As a Conn Artist she plays a Conn 88H from 1964.

Ava Bahari, Stråk

Ava Bahari är en skicklig svensk violinist med en uppfriskande aptit för unik repertoar. Hon har fått
många utmärkelser, bland annat toppriser vid Paganini tävlingen i Genua (2021), Concours
International Tibor Varga i Sion (2021) och Aurora Music Competition i Stockholm (2019). Under säsongerna 2024/25 och 2025/26 är Bahari Artist-in-Residence hos Göteborgs Symfoniker. Under 24/25 samarbetar Bahari för första gången med Helsingfors Stadsorkestern, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Iceland Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales och Helsingborgs Symfoniorkester. Under tidigare säsonger har hon bland annat framträtt med Kungliga Filharmonikerna, Philharmonia Orchestra, Malmö Symfoniorkester, Gävle och Odense symfoniorkestrar, Teatro Carlo Felice Genova och Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

Torleif Thedéen

Swedish cellist Torleif Thedéen is one of the most distinguished instrumentalists in the Nordic countries and enjoys an international profile as a recitalist, concerto soloist, recording artist and pedagogue. He is a first prize winner of international cello competitions, including the Casals Competition. He is Visiting Professor of cello at the Royal College of Music in London and Professor at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. In a career spanning four decades, Torleif has performed with some of the world’s greatest orchestras, among them the Czech Philharmonic, Netherlands Philharmonic, London Philharmonic, DSO Berlin and Vienna Symphony Orchestra. He has worked with conductors including Esa-Pekka Salonen, Paavo Berglund, Petrenko, Neeme Järvi and Leif Segerstam. As a chamber musician, Torleif is familiar with the prestigious stages of the Wigmore Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, Philharmonie in Berlin and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. 

Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist

Prof. Julia Mustonen-Dahlkvist is professor and head of the Piano Department at the Ingesund College of Music at Karlstad University. She is the Artistic Director of Glafsfjordens Music Festival, President of Ingesund Piano Foundation, Artistic Director of the Nordic Piano Competition and founder and director of Nordic Junior Piano Competition. In the past few academic years Prof. Jula Mustonen-Dahlkvist has given masterclasses in top institutions of Hong Kong, Latvia, Germany and South Korea among other countries. Julia is a concert pianist from a diverse background. Born in a Finnish-Russian family, she started to play the piano at the age of three under the guidance of her mother, Lidia Mustonen. She studied in Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Hochschule der Kunste in Berlin, Royal Academy in Dublin as well as Stockholm College of Music and Marshall Academy in Barcelona. Her most important teachers include Vitali Berzon, Erik T. Tawaststjerna, John O’Conor, Dominique Merlet and Alicia de Larrocha.