'Piano poetess' Maria João Pires is widely regarded as the world’s foremost interpreter of Mozart and Beethoven. Her performances are sophisticated and spiritual. She is often referred to as a musical medium.

Grigory Sokolov is undoubtedly one of the most impressive living pianists. Performances of this Russian master are so convincing in their conception that they sound both natural and new.

Former prodigy Evgeny Kissin has a unique intensity and is a perfectionist at heart. His formidable technique is entirely at the service of the desire for deep tone. There is a blistering passion in his piano performance that unleashes an euphoria.

Volodos possesses everything—imagination, passion, and phenomenal technique—to bring his ideas to life on the piano. His unprecedented virtuosity, combined with a unique sense of rhythm, color and poetry, make Volodos an powerful, free and uninhibited, storyteller.

Young talent Aidan Mikdad, at 19, the youngest of the 12 semi-finalists at the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, played "Nocturne pour la main gauche seule op. 9/2" by Alexander Scriabin. A year later, he was the last-minute substitute for Arcadi Volodos.