Final Jury

Paul Cannon

Paul CANNON
Credit: Wonge Bergmann

Double bassist Paul Cannon, originally from the American Pacific Northwest, began music lessons at the age of ten. Studying with the Seattle Symphony's Jordan Anderson, by 14 he was already a member of the Olympia Symphony. At 18, he enrolled at Rice University in Houston, Texas, where he worked with Prof. Paul Ellison. In 2010, a Wagoner Fellowship led him to Paris, where he trained with François Rabbath.

Since 2014, he's been a member of Ensemble Modern. He has been a featured artist with many other ensembles, including the Arditti Quartet, Klangforum Wien, and Musiqa Houston. He has appeared as guest principal bass with the WDR Symphony Cologne and Frankfurt Opera, in addition to frequent guest work with many top international orchestras. His critically-acclaimed portrait album, ›polyglot‹ was released in 2022 at Ensemble Modern Medien.

Beyond performing, Cannon is a trained luthier and advocate for music education. He has given masterclasses and led workshops for composers and double bassists at many renowned institutions. From 2018-2023, he was Artistic Co-Director of the International Ensemble Modern Academy.

His primary instruments include a vintage Paul Toenniges double bass from 1936, a Daniel Hachez five-string bass designed for Ensemble Modern, and a Christian Laborie solo bass. His bows are made by Boris Fritsch.

Nabil Shehata

Nabil SHEHATA

Credit: Stefan Zwickirsch

The idea of "giving space to music" weaves through Nabil Shehata's life, both literally and figuratively.

As a nine-year-old, Shehata discovered the double bass, which, in his words,

"opened the door to the most beautiful repertoire there is"-namely, classical music.

As he grew older, his desire to engage with this music as a conductor intensified. Shehata followed this impulse, gave up his position as principal bass player of the Berliner Philharmoniker, and successfully embarked on a career as a conductor.

A critic recently wrote that he conducts with "authority full of ease," an observation that precisely aligns with Shehata’s artistic vision.

Music is about resonating with one another-that is what brings it to life. I strive to achieve this with orchestras.

Shehata has developed a conducting style deeply rooted in chamber music, believing that this approach fosters the kind of music that delivers what audiences, orchestras, and conductors alike desire: unforgettable concert experiences.

The BBC Music Magazine recognized Shehata’s vision by awarding him the BBC Music Award for Best Orchestral Recording in December 2021.

From 2019 to 2024, he served as the chief conductor of Philharmonie Südwestfalen. Before that, he was chief conductor of the Munich Chamber Opera and expanded his experience at the Berlin State Opera as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim.

In January 2025, Nabil Shehata took over the Orchestra of the Barenboim-Said Academy. As a professor of double bass and chamber music in Munich and Berlin, as well as a member of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, he has dedicated many years to mentoring young musicians.

In his hometown of Verden, Shehata founded the 'Maiklänge' chamber music festival—a deeply personal project aimed at bringing high-quality concerts to the place where he grew up.

Alexandra Scott

Alexandra SCOTT

Credit: Geoffroy Schied

Alexandra Scott has held a professorship for double bass at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich since 2020. Prior to that, she had been teaching at the Karlsruhe University of Music since 2012. She gives masterclasses worldwide and is a sought-after juror at international competitions, as well as a lecturer for leading youth orchestras.

After studying at institutions including the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, she secured permanent positions with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with which she has also performed as a soloist. Since then, she has appeared as a guest musician with the Berlin Philharmonic and the Bavarian State Orchestra and founded the early music ensemble L'Accademia giocosa.

In addition to her orchestral work, she regularly performs chamber music with renowned artists such as Vilde Frang, Gautier Capuçon, and Reinhold Friedrich at prestigious festivals.

Sophie Lücke

Sophie LÜCKE

Credit: Martina Kostial

Since 2023, Sophie Lücke has been a Professor of Double Bass at the Musikhochschule Lübeck and the Principal Double Bassist of Ensemble Resonanz in Hamburg.

Her passion for music began in Wernigerode, where she received her first double bass lessons from Andreas Nettels. She pursued her studies in Berlin with Janne Saksala and in London with Rinat Ibragimov. Further artistic inspiration came from musicians such as Esko Laine, Nabil Shehata, Klaus Stoll, Joel Quarrington, and Evgeny Kolosov, as well as courses in historical performance practice with Kristin von der Goltz and Reinhard Goebel, which broadened her musical perspective.

At the age of 20, Sophie was awarded a scholarship from the Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic. Two years later, she became the Principal Double Bassist of the Munich Chamber Orchestra. This was followed by engagements as a guest principal bassist in major symphony orchestras before she took on the role of Principal Bassist at the Gärtnerplatztheater from 2014 to 2023, where she also gained insight into the world of theater.

In 2013/2014, she served as a visiting professor at the Bern University of the Arts and has since given masterclasses in São Paulo, Mexico City, Hong Kong, and Pyongyang.

Through continuous performances with ensembles such as the Kammerorchester Basel, Les Siècles, Les Dissonances, the Royal Northern Sinfonia, the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Scottish and Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and at festivals such as Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Davos, and Zermatt, Sophie has reconnected with her musical roots in ensemble and chamber music playing.

In recent years, her collaboration with Klangforum Wien has deepened her interest in contemporary music. Working with composers such as Georges Aperghis, Rebecca Saunders, Beat Furrer, and Helmut Lachenmann, as well as conductors like Emilio Pomàrico and Bas Wiegers, has been a continuous source of inspiration and artistic enrichment.

She was a founding member of the Munich-based ensemble der/gelbe/klang, dedicated to contemporary music. A highlight of 2023 was the premiere of a 90-minute music theater production by Georges Aperghis at the Ruhrtriennale, performed by five musicians.

Looking ahead to 2025, Sophie is especially excited about her debut at the Schubertiade alongside the Aris Quartet and the Monet Quintet.

James Helgeson

James HELGESON

Credit: Peter Adamik

Professor Dr. Dr. James S. Helgeson is a composer and specialist of the Renaissance, working at the intersections of music, literature, and philosophy. Prior to his appointment to Professor and Dean at the Barenboim-Said Akademie, he held positions as an Associate Professor at Columbia University in New York City, and as a Fellow of Clare College, University of Cambridge. He also taught at Princeton University and the University of Nottingham. Helgeson‘s first degree is from the Curtis Institute of Music. This was followed by a BA at Oberlin College/Conservatory. In Paris, he studied at the Ecole normale supérieure (rue d’Ulm) and the Université de Paris-VII. He holds two doctorates, in humanities and music, reflecting the Barenboim-Said Akademie’s scope of studies. His first PhD is from Princeton University, where he examined Renaissance theories of music and poetry. He was awarded a second doctorate in Music Composition at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has received grants and visiting fellowships, such as an International Balzan Prize Lecturership, a visiting research residency at St John’s College Oxford, and currently serves as a member of the board of the Société Française d'Étude du Seizième Siècle.

Helgeson is the author of two monographs in French Renaissance studies, an edited volume, and numerous articles. Interrelationships between the arts, in particular music and literature in the period before 1600 and since the Second World War, are at the crux of Prof. Helgeson’s past and current research. His work focuses on musical humanism in the French Renaissance as well as first-person writing (prose and music) and the fictional representation of philosophical reflection. He also has a strong interest in critical theory––its institutional cultures, assumptions, and exclusions––and in questions of historical hermeneutics. This field includes post-colonial reflections on hegemony and canonicity in hermeneutic practice, subjects that have been central to the Barenboim-Said Akademie’s mission.

At the Academy, he has recently curated the 2023 Edward Said Days and will do so again (with an expanded committee) in 2025. He has taught extensively at the Academy on all levels since 2018.

Begüm Aslan

Begüm ASLAN

Credit: Dovile Sermokas

Begüm Aslan studied double bass with Gunars Upatnieks and Nabil Shehata. She has participated in courses with Daniel Barenboim, Michael Barenboim, Michael Wendeberg, Emmanuel Pahud, Esko Laine, Janne Saksala, Franco Petracchi, Bozo Paradzik, Dorin Marc, Duncan McTier, Artem Chirkov, Miloslav Gajdos, Dan Styffe, Kaspar Loyal and many others. She also participated in master classes by Mikahil Gotsdiner and Yuri Gandelsman in 2015. She began winning various prizes and competitions for her bass playing from a young age, including the first prize in the International Dittersdorf Competition. In the summer semester of 2024, she began studying coloratura soprano with Anna Samuil at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music. As a self-taught composer, she has also attended lessons by Jörg Widmann and Zeynep Gedizlioglu. Her double bass music has earned her labels such as »a composer with poetic charm« from personalities such as Lisa Streich and Jörg Widmann. Begüm Aslan actively collaborates with contemporary composers, who have dedicated numerous works to her, for example the extraordinary piece ›Haiku‹ for vocals and double bass by Stephen Mulligan. Begüm Aslan began studying for a Master’s degree with Alexandra Scott at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre and at the Frankfurt Academy of Music and Performing Arts; she is currently a member of the International Ensemble Modern Academy. In October 2024, she gave her first master class at the invitation of the Bavarian Bass Days in Germany.

The scholarship of Begüm Aslan is funded by the GVL, Crespo Foundation and others.

Nicolas Crosse

Nicolas CROSSE

Nicolas Crosse, born in 1979, studied at the Paris Conservatory (CNSMDP) under Jean-Paul Celea.

His work in contemporary music has given him a deep understanding of the 20th century repertoire. He has collaborated to create works for double bass with composers such as Luis Fernando Rizo-Salom, Lucas Fagin, Tolga Tüzün, Marco Antonio Suarez Cifuentes, Martin Matalon, Raphaël Cendo and Yann Robin.

In addition to his studies, he has played with various French orchestras including the Paris Orchestra, the Paris Opera and the Ensemble intercontemporain, which he joined in 2012, directed by renowned directors lile Pierre Boulez, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Valery Gergiev, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Christoph Eschenbach and Jonathan Nott.

In 2007, during his advanced course and with the support of the Meyer Foundation and the Paris Conservatory, he recorded “cross(E)road”,

a DVD consisting of Sequenza XIVb by Luciano Berio, Valentine by Jacob Druckman, Ala by Franco Donatoni (duo with cellist Alexis Descharmes), Cronica del oprimido by Lucas Fagin, as well as improvised music with clarinetist Christian Laborie.

In 2012, along with the collective Multilatérale which he is a member or, the show Je vois le Feu was created at the Archipel Festival in Geneva in close collaboration with writer Yannick Haenel and saxophonist Vincent David. With the pianist and jazz composer Roberto Negro, he created Newborn, an original experiment for piano/double bass/percussion trio and ensemble, between improvisation and composition in 2021.

Since 2016, Nicolas Crosse is professor of double bass at the Conservatoire de Paris.

Stephen Mulligan

Stephen MULLIGAN

Credit: Simon Pauly

American Conductor and Composer Stephen Mulligan has served as Resident Conductor with the Cincinnati Opera, Associate Conductor with the Atlanta Symphony, and Dudamel Conducting Fellow with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. 2024-25 season highlights include conducting debuts with Ensemble MusikFabrik, the Filarmonica Transilvania, Junges Sinfonie Orchester Wetzlar, and at the Momentum Festival Berlin, and return engagements as a guest conductor at the University of North Texas Opera and as an assistant conductor with the New York Philharmonic.

As a composer, he will present a new work with Ensemble MusikFabrik in Cologne and begin a collaboration with percussionist David Moliner and Universal Edition, culminating in the premiere of a new work at the Elbphilharmonie in January 2026. In demand as guest conductor, he has conducted programs with the Detroit Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, National Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Phoenix Symphony, Rochester Philharmonic, San Antonio Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, and the Virginia Symphony. Stephen Mulligan is the winner of the Aspen Conducting Prize and a three-time recipient of the Solti Foundation U.S. Career Assistance Award and the Yale University Wrexham Prize. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, he began his violin studies with his father Gregory and continued with Kyung Yu at Yale University. He studied conducting with Marin Alsop, Gustav Meier, and Markand Thakar at the Peabody Institute, and with Robert Spano at the Aspen Music Festival. He has a degree in composition with Jörg Widmann from the Barenboim-Said Akademie in Berlin.

Stephen composed Haiku for the solo Doublebassist and Soprano Begüm Aslan, who premiered the work at the Boulez Saal in 2023.

Stephen Mulligan is represented worldwide by Marianne Schmocker Artists New York and Munich.

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