This Year

Enrique Azurza was born in 1973 and studied choral conducting in the Basque Country with Javier Busto, José Antonio Sainz and Miguel Amantegui, and in Stockholm with Anders Eby. He has also attended courses run by Eric Ericson and Carl Högset and currently teaches choral singing at the Basque Country Advanced School of Music. In 1991 he was awarded the prize for the Best Conductor at the Varna International Competition in Bulgaria. Since 1985 he has conducted Tolosa’s Hodeiertz Choir and since 1999 has conducted the Basque Country University Choir. In 1997 he created the vocal group KEA, which specialises in contemporary music. He also conducts the Spanish Choral Federation Youth Choir and from 1993 to 2003, founded and conducted the Aragón Institute of Choral Singing Choir. He has been a guest conductor for the St. Jacobs choir in Stockholm, the Gipuzkoa Youth Choir and the Murcia Regional Choir, as well as a lecturer in choral conducting at the Basque Country, Gipuzkoa and Aragón Federations.

Peter Broadbent was born in Lancashire. He studied in Manchester, where he became Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor with the city's opera company. In 1988 he founded 'Joyful Company of Singers', a chamber choir which quickly became known as one of the leading choirs in Europe. He often sits as a judge in competitions in Hungary, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain and Germany.

Born in Saarland in 1944, Volker HEMPFLING studied religious music, organ, orchestral conducting and singing at Herford and Cologne. From 1971 to 1997 he was chapel master at Altenberg Cathedral and in 1968 founded Kölner Kantorei, a choir specialising in romantic and contemporary music. He has given courses in conducting and singing in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Spain and the United States. He often sits as a judge in numerous competitions.

Bo Johansson has been a teacher at the Adolf Fredriks Musicclasses since 1970. He studied choral conducting with Eric Ericson and in 1965 founded the 'Bromma Chamber Choir'. In 1971 he created 'The Adolf Fredriks Girlschoir' and in 1990 the 'Stockholms Vocalise Ensemble'. He has won a number of important prizes, both with his choirs and as their conductor. He has been a member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Music since 1990.

Venno Laul graduated in Choral Conducting from San Petersburg Conservatory and later served as the Vice Chancellor of the Estonian Academy of Music from 1982 to 1992. He was also Chairman of the Estonian Music Association and founder and conductor for thirty years (1971-2001) of the Estonian Boys' Choir, with whom he went on numerous international tours. He was also a member of the European Federation of Youth Choir's standing committee and adviser to the IFCM Board.

Alexander VACEK - UKRAINA

Born in Vinnica in 1955, Alexander Vacek studied choral conducting at the Odessa Conservatory. In 1986 he founded the ‘Oreya’ choir, with which he won numerous awards and prizes in a wide range of international competitions. In 1996, at the Masaryk University in Brno (the Czech Republic), he founded the Gaudeamus choir with whom he still works today and with whom he won the Grand Prix, 2 gold medals, the Public’s Prize and the title Best Conductor at the Pardubice International Competition in the Czech Republic.

Artistic director of the Netherlands Vocal Talent Foundation, Wilma ten Wolde also conducts two choirs: the Netherlands Youth Choir and the Netherlands Children’s Choir. He studied choral conducting and religious music at the Hague Royal Conservatory and the Rotterdam Conservatory and musicology at the University of Utrecht. Despite conducting various chamber choirs in Holland, his main areas of interest are children’s choirs and youth choirs, in which he always strives for the highest professional level. He teaches music theory and choral singing at the Hague Royal Conservatory.