Born in Lithuania, Sulamita Aronovsky spent her formative years in Russia where she was tutored by eminent musicians such as Lev Barenboim, Grigory Ginsburg, and Alexander Goldenweizer. Following her graduation with distinction from the Lithuanian State Conservatoire in Vilnius, she completed her post-graduate studies at the Moscow Conservatoire. She embarked upon a successful teaching career in addition to her concerts and broadcasts throughout the former USSR. Her international masterclasses have been acclaimed in Germany, Italy, Poland, France and Israel, attracting participants from all over the world. She has considerable experience as a juror, having served on the panels of Marguerite Long (Paris), Maria Callas (Athens) and Rachmaninoff (Moscow), among others. As a member of the professorial staff at the Royal Northern College of Music until 1994 and later at the Royal Academy of Music, she has worked with a large number of pianists who have been awarded prestigious prizes at international competitions. Sulamita Aronovsky is also the Founder and Artistic Controller of the London International Piano Competition.

Peter Bithell studied with Gordon Green at the Royal Academy of Music and subsequently with Guido Agosti in Italy and with Maria Curcio in London. He won many prizes and awards at International Piano competitions, notably Busoni (Bolzano), Reina Sofia (Madrid), Paloma O’Shea (Santander), Dudley, Marguerite Long (Paris) and the Rachmaninoff Prize in Italy. Bithell has played extensively in Europe and South America. He gives regular masterclasses, notably in Spain, and has served on the juries of several International Piano Competitions. He has been a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama since 1987.

Peter Donohoe was born in Manchester in 1953. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music with Derek Wyndham and then in Paris with Olivier Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod. Since his unprecedented success as joint winner of the 1982 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, he has developed a distinguished career in Europe, the USA, the Far East and Australasia. He is acclaimed as one of the foremost pianists of our time, for his musicianship, stylistic versatility and commanding technique. During the 2008/9 season Peter Donohoe’s performances include the Dresden Staatskapelle with Myung-Whun Chung, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra with Gustavo Dudamel and Gurzenich Orchestra with Ludovic Morlot. He will also perform with the Czech Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and play both Brahms Concertos with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. Peter Donohoe has recently performed with all the major London Orchestras, the Berliner Philharmoniker, Royal Concertgebouw, Leipzig Gewandhaus, Munich Philharmonic, Swedish Radio, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Vienna Symphony and Czech Philharmonic Orchestras. In 2001 Naxos released a disc of music by Finzi, the first of a major series of recordings which aims to raise the public's awareness of British piano repertoire through concert performance and recordings. He has also made many fine recordings on EMI, Chandos and Hyperion.

Norma Fisher is recognised internationally as one of Britain's leading pianists and teachers. She has played with many of the great orchestras of the world under leading conductors, and is regularly invited to appear with some of Europe's best-known chamber musicians. A protégé of the eminent Greek pianist Gina Bachauer, and pupil of Ilona Kabos; at the age of 21 she was a top prize winner in the Busoni International Piano Competition and the same year shared the Piano Prize of the Harriet Cohen International Music Awards with Vladimir Ashkenazy. In 1988 she founded and became Artistic Director of London Master Classes inviting many of her close colleagues to teach alongside her in London. She teaches at the Royal Northern College of Music and gives masterclasses in many parts of the world. She is much in demand as a jury member of many major international piano competitions.

Alexis Golovine was born in 1945 in Moscow. Member of a family of musicians, he began studying the piano at the age of five at the famous Central Music School of Moscow. In 1964 he entered the Conservatory of Moscow, where he studied both the piano and musicology. In 1972 he arrived in Geneva. At the Conservatory of Geneva he obtained the much coveted first prize with distinction of virtuosity. Since 1975 he is a professor at the Geneva Conservatory. Alexis Golovine was a prize-winner at the international competitions of Terni (A Casagrande competition) and Bolzano (F Busoni competition). He has given concerts and recitals throughout Europe, Asia and the Americas, and has played in numerous prestigious festivals. His prolific discography includes works by Chopin and Schumann, Rachmaninoff's Etudes Tableaux, works by Scriabin, Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1, B minor Sonata and Mephisto Waltz, chamber music, and the piano concertos by Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin, N Tcherepnin, and Shtchedrin. Golovine has given many masterclasses including at the Internationale Summeracademy Mozarteum in Salzburg, Manhatten School of Music, Consevatory of Buenos-Aires, Consevatory of Moscow, and Canton International Summer Music Academy.

The celebrated pianist Gary Graffman has been a major figure in the music world since winning the prestigious Leventritt Award in 1949. For the next three decades he toured almost continuously, playing the most demanding works in the piano literature both in recital and with the world's great orchestras. In 1979, however, Mr. Graffman's performing career was curtailed by an injury to his right hand. His performances are now limited to the small but brilliant repertoire of concertos written for the left hand alone. He has premiered numerous new works for piano left hand and orchestra, including Stanislaw Skrowaczewski's concerto written for him in March 2003. The reduction in Mr. Graffman's concert activity has provided him with a remarkable opportunity to expand his horizons beyond the stage. Most notable has been his leadership of the renowned Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where he originally studied with the renowned Isabelle Vengerova - exactly 50 years before he would become the school's director. In the summer of 2005, Gary Graffman received an invitation to head the piano department at the new Canton International Summer Music Academy in Guandong, China, giving him an opportunity to explore his love of education, chamber music, and Chinese culture. Gary Graffman is the author of the highly praised memoir, "I Really Should Be Practicing", published by Doubleday in 1981. He has also written popular articles on non-musical subjects and found time to pursue a scholarly interest in Asian Art (which he collects) and photography. He has received honorary doctorates from the University of Pennsylvania and The Juilliard School, among others.

Niel Immelman studied with Cyril Smith, Ilona Kabos and Maria Curcio. He was still a student at the Royal College of Music when Bernard Haitink invited him to play Rachmaninoff's Paganini Rhapsody with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. This successful début was followed by further appearances with the London Philharmonic, the Royal Philharmonic and other major orchestras at the Royal Festival Hall, the Royal Albert Hall and the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and it marked the beginning of a concert career that has taken him to every continent. His commercial recordings have received outstanding critical acclaim and have featured in Classic CD magazine's "Pick of the Year". Following his pioneering survey of the complete piano works of Josef Suk, he has recently embarked on a similar series devoted to the output of Vítìslav Novák, also on the Meridian label. Niel Immelman's teaching career is equally distinguished: he is Professor of Piano at the Royal College of Music and he has given masterclasses in Berlin, Helsinki, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Moscow, Toronto, Vienna and Warsaw. He regularly serves on juries of international competitions.

Yoheved Kaplinsky began her studies with Ilona Vincze at the Tel Aviv Music Academy and then with Irwin Freundlich at the Juilliard School and Dorothy Taubman. She is a prizewinner of the J.S. Bach International Competition and has made numerous appearances in recitals, chamber music and with orchestras, as well as on radio and television in Israel and the U.S. Kaplinsky gives frequent lectures and masterclasses throughout the U.S., Israel and Korea and is a frequent visitor to many Festivals including Bowdoin Summer Festival, Aspen Music Festival and Pianofest in Long Island. She has been an adjudicator in many international competitions including Van Cliburn, Cleveland, Arthur Rubinstein, Dublin and Tchaikovsky. Kaplinsky is a recipient of the Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award and is a former member of the Faculty of the Philadelphia University of the Arts, the Manhattan School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore. She has been a member of the Faculty of the Juilliard School since 1993 and artistic director since 2007.

Helen Krizos formed a piano duo with Peter Noke which rapidly established itself as one of the country's foremost ensembles, broadcasting frequently on BBC Radio 3 and making a number of recordings on the Hyperion label. They appeared as soloists with many of the leading orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra, Philharmonia and the BBC Philharmonic. Helen has wide experience as a teacher and her reputation has ensured a steady and growing stream of talented pupils who have enjoyed success both at national and international level. Within the RNCM, recently her students have been finalists in the Royal Overseas League Competition and Jacques Samuel Competition held in London. Helen works as a Mentor for the Associated Board in their Professional Development Course and was the major contributor in setting up the specific course for piano. She has devised and directed the Music for Kids programme for children aged 3-8 years and most recently devised an educational programme for the Manchester City Art Gallery called Sound Pictures.

Tessa Nicholson studied piano, harpsichord and piano accompaniment at both the Royal Academy and Royal College of Music, where her teachers included Lamar Crowson and John Lill. She was later awarded several scholarships to study in Italy with Maria Tipo and Guido Agosti. On her return to London, she worked intensively with the renowned teacher Maria Curcio, pupil of Arthur Schnabel. Tessa Nicholson has performed widely in the UK, giving many performances at London's Wigmore Hall and at South Bank Centre, and making several recordings for BBC Radio 3 and the World Service. Her performances with orchestra have included the Grieg Piano Concerto and Franck's Symphonic Variations with the CBSO. Tessa currently teaches at The Royal Academy of Music and at The Purcell School. Her outstanding skills as a teacher are reflected in the numerous successes of her students – winning many prizes at national and international level, and performing at such prestigious venues as The Royal Festival Hall, The Wigmore Hall, The Cadogan Hall, St John's Smith Square and The Regent's Hall. Tessa Nicholson combines her busy teaching career with regular performances, both solo and ensemble, at home and abroad.

Marios Papadopoulos is the Festival’s Artistic Director. Since his London début in 1974, his career as pianist and conductor has been world-wide. As part of the celebrations for the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth in 2006, he has directed from the keyboard a complete cycle of all the Mozart Concertos in 7 concerts with the Oxford Philomusica in Oxford. Apart from the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas which Marios Papadopoulos is currently recording, his prolific output as a recording artist includes performances of Stravinsky’s Concerto for Piano and Wind with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on the Hyperion label, works by Mozart for a Readers’ Digest album, works by Moussorgsky - including Pictures at an Exhibition - piano works by César Franck and the 24 Preludes and Fugues by Shostakovich. Most of his recordings are now available on the newly-launched Oxford Philomusica record label. In 1998, he founded the Oxford Philomusica, Orchestra in Residence at the University of Oxford, of which he is Music Director. He holds a doctorate in music from City University and is a Fellow by Special Election of Keble College, Oxford and an Honorary Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Musicians.

Malcolm Troup studied with Alberto Guerrero and later with Walter Gieseking. He has performed all over the world and recorded for RCA Victor and Continuum - his performance of Messiaen's Vingt Regards was judged ‘notably perceptive ... with splendid panache’ by the Financial Times. Malcolm Troup has been Director of Music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and was awarded his own chairmanship at City University. He holds the Commonwealth Medal, an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Memorial University of Newfoundland and the 1998 Liszt Medal from the American Liszt Society. Malcolm Troup was Master of the Worshipful Company of Musicians in 1999 and is currently Chairman of the Beethoven Piano Society of Europe and of the European Council of EPTA. Malcolm Troup is the Vice President of Oxford Philomusica Piano Festival and Summer Academy.

Fou Ts'ong was once described by Time Magazine as 'the greatest Chinese musician alive today’. He was born in Shanghai in 1934 to Fou Lei, a renowned translator of French Literature and famous scholar. He studied under Zbigniew Drzewicki in Warsaw; and was awarded the Mazurka Prize in the Chopin competition in 1953, which resulted in many performances in Eastern Europe. In 1959, he was invited to perform in London at the Royal Albert Hall under the baton of Carl Maria Giulini and since then has made London his home. Fou Ts’ong has performed worldwide. His recordings on Meridian label include works by Scarlatti, Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Schubert, Schumann and Debussy. He has been on the jury for international competitions including Leeds, Queen Elizabeth (Brussels), Dino Ciani, Geneva and Santander. He returns to Shanghai every year to give masterclasses at the conservatoire. He also teaches at the International Foundation for Young pianists at Como and has inspired and helped many young pianists along their way.