Jury 2026

Florian Csizmadia is currently Music Director of the Theater Vorpommern and Philharmonisches Orchester Vorpommern (Philharmonic Orchestra of Western Pomerania), both located in the cities of Stralsund and Greifswald (Germany).

Born in Mannheim (Germany) in 1976, Florian studied conducting with Christian Kluttig and piano at the Musikhochschule (College of Music) Dresden as well as musicology at the University of Hamburg. Besides his conducting activities he is very much interested in musicological topics and publishes regularly in musicologic journals and books.

At the theatre of Pomerania he oversees both opera and concert: He conducts several new operatic productions per season and is responsible as Artistic Director for the planning and programming of an annual series of orchestral concerts, as well as forthe outreach projects of the orchestra. Equally at home in the concert hall, Florian conducted in the past years a broad repertoire of music ranging from the 18th to the 21st century and is currently expanding his repertoire further. Cornerstones of his repertoire are the works of the Austro-Germanic tradition, works of British composers and especially the music of Edward Elgar which Florian promotes regularly in his concerts, and the symphonic works of Jean Sibelius.

Prior to his tenure at the Theater Vorpommern Florian served as Principal conductor(Kapellmeister) to the Staatstheater Mainz. He started his professional career at the Hamburg State Opera where he was for ten seasons Chorus Master and staff conductor where he collaborated with and assisted to numerous important conductors of our time.

Mireia Farrés Bosch, principal trumpet of the Royal Barcelona Symphony Orchestra and teacher at ESMUC

(Escuela Superior de Música de Catalunya) studied at the Conservatori de Música de Manresa. She started

playing in the National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia at age 13. By age 17 she had received an Honor Award

in both trumpet and chamber music at the Manresa Conservatory in Barcelona, studying with Joan Arnau.

She then moved to Boston and studied at the New England Conservatory from 1998 to 2001 with Charles Schlueter and John McNeil.

In addition to her duties with the orchestra, Mireia is also trumpet teacher at the Escuela Superior de Música de Barcelona.

Katy has been Principal Trombone with the Hallé Orchestra since 2012, and Senior Tutor at the RNCM since 2015. Prior to this she was Co-Principal in the London Symphony Orchestra, working with conductors such as Boulez, Gergiev, Previn and Sir Davis.

Katy has a keen interest in teaching and coaching. She is a tutor for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and a visiting tutor at Chetham’s School of Music.

Katy is regularly asked to be a guest soloist and give masterclasses at international brass festivals.

Katy has a master’s degree in pharmacy and has maintained an active interest in health education and injuring prevention throughout her career. Continuously pursuing her intensive research into breathing physiology, she is qualified to teach the Buteyko method and has presented lectures and workshops for many students and professionals on the topic of breathing and the nervous system.

Her solo and chamber music playing can be heard on recent recordings of Edward Gregson’s music, and Fine Arts Brass recordings.

As a student, Katy enjoyed early successes in the BBCYMOY (Brass Winner 1996), Shell/LSO (brass finalist 1999) and was the recipient of the Don Lusher Prize in the BBC Big Band competition.

Alexander von Puttkamer, born in Düsseldorf in 1973, is a German Tuba player.

Alexander von Puttkamer’s career began early as a multiple Federal Prize winner of ‘Jugend musiziert’. After completing his studies with the Tubist and conductor Walter Hilgers at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg, he became a member of the NDR. Symphony

Orchestra in 1976, 1988 of the Bavarian State Orchestra.

From 1999 to 2006 he played regularly in the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. From 2004 to 2007 he was a tubist at the Symphony Orchestra of Bayerischer Rundfunk.

Since 2007 Puttkamer has been a member of the Berlin Phiharmonic Orchestra, where he acts as a solo tubist. At the same time, he is a sought-after representative of his trade in leading chamber music associations. For example at German Brass, Munich Brass Quintett, Vienna Berlin Blasquintett, the Vienna Philharmonic’s brass quartet and the Ensemble Modern. He taught master classes at the Conservatory in Vienna in 2012 and at the Carnegie Hall in New York in 2013.