Xabier Sarasola

Euskadi

Graduated in violin and piano, he works as a teacher of violin, harmony, choral singing and conductor of the string orchestra at the Municipal School of Music of Beasain. After studying the courses organized by the Federation of Choirs of Guipúzcoa, he attended choral conducting courses with Javier Busto, E. Ericcson, A. Eby, C. Hogset, or G. Graden. He has been director of the choir “Loinatz” (1986–2012), singer of the “Orfeón Donostiarra” and the vocal group “KEA”. He is a professor of courses and workshops in choral conducting and a member of juries such as “European Grand Prize for Choral Singing” (Gorizzia, 2004), Arezzo, 2007 and Varna 2010. He has been president of the jury in the “Certamen de Masas Corales de Tolosa”. His works have been mandatory in the “Certamen Coral” of Tolosa and are being edited by “CM Ediciones Musicales”. His music for white voice choir has been recorded by the Vocalia Taldea choir conducted by Basilio Astúlez, with the author himself on piano.

Stojan Kuret

Italy

Born in Trieste (Italy), Stojan Kuret graduated conducting from the Music academy, University of Ljubljana and piano from the Music Conservatory in Trieste, where he has been professor since 1983.

For ten years he had been the artistic director and conductor of the renown APZ Tone Tomšič choir of the University of Ljubljana (1992-2002). It is with this choir and Vokalna akademija Ljubljana (2008- ) that he reached prestigious international artistic achievements (five Grand prizes – Tours 1999, Varna 2001, Gorizia 2001, Maribor 2002, Arezzo 2009, three-times finalist and twice the winner of European Grand prix for choral singing in 2002 in Arezzo and 2010 in Varna). In 1984 he received the Gallus commendation for extraordinary achievements in music (children choir). He received the Commendation of the city of Ljubljana and the Golden commendation of the Public fund for cultural activities of the Republic of Slovenia for artistic direction of the APZ Tone Tomšič choir. In 2003 he was chief conductor of the Chamber choir of RTV Slovenia (national radio and television choir) for two years. In 2011 in Arezzo (Italy) he received the prestigeous Guidoneum award for the successful and creative work with Vokalna akademija Ljubljana. In 2012 he received the Prešeren foundation award, the highest national recognition in culture. In 2017 he recived the Highest Golden Commendation of the Public fund for cultural activities of the Republic of Slovenia for his creative and successful work for choral development in the national choral music.

Florian Benfer

Germany – Sweden

Florian Benfer is the artistic director of the Gustaf Sjökvists Chamber Choir and founder and musical director of the ARTON Ensemble. Formed in 2008, the ensemble brings together young professional musicians from throughout Europe to perform repertoire ranging from chamber music to large-scale works for choir and orchestra. With the ARTON Vocal Ensemble, formed in 2011, he performs programmes focusing principally on the vocal repertoire of the 20th and 21st centuries.

During the 2013/14 season he served as Chorus Master at the Royal Opera House Stockholm. He was the artistic director of the German National Youth Chamber Choir from 2014 to 2019 and the Stockholm Chamber Choir from 2012 to 2020.

Since 2011 he has been working regulary with the Swedish Radio Choir and Eric Ericson’s Chamber Choir, as well as leading numerous performances of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana and Mozart‘s Requiem at the Folkoperan Stockholm, where he conducted several performances in the Opera Showroom series.

In addition to these engagements, he has also worked with ensembles including the Cappella Amsterdam, RIAS Kammerchor, SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, NDR Chor Hamburg, Chor der Bayerischen Rundfunks München, MDR Rundfunkchor Leipzig, Mikaeli Chamber Choir, the German Chamber Choir, Drottningholm Barockensemble, the Orchestra of Folkoperan Stockholm and the Swedish Wind Ensemble.

He has rehearsed choirs for conductors such as Peter Eötvös, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniel Harding, Louis Langrée, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lorin Maazel, Thomas Dausgaard, Christopher Hogwood, Sakari Oramo and Masaaki Suzuki.

His musical education began in Leipzig with studies in church music, after which he went on to study choral conducting with Anders Eby in Stockholm. Further studies in orchestral conducting then took him to the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, where he studied with Kenneth Montgomery and Jac van Steen.

He completed his musical training by participating in master classes with Frieder Bernius, Stefan Parkman, Michael Radulescu, Patrick Russill and Grete Pedersen, and through experience as a member of such ensembles as the Stuttgart Chamber Choir, the Lucerne Festival Academy Vocalists 2006 and the World Youth Choir.

In addition to his work as a conductor Florian is a sought-after teacher and lecturer. He has been giving Masterclasses for conductors in Austria and Germany. Since 2020 he serves as Associate Professor at the Music Conservatory Örebro and since 2017 as guest teacher in choral conducting and ensemble singing at the Central Music Conservatory in Beijing.

In 2008, Florian Benfer was awarded the Gustaf Sjökvist Scholarship for choral conductors and in 2010 the scholarship of the Royal Swedish Music Academy Stockholm. In 2012 he received the Eric Ericsons resestipendium. In 2016, Florian Benfer was awarded the prestigious „Norrby medal“, honoring his „outstanding musical accomplishments and his engagement in swedish choir music“.

Cameron La Barr

USA

Cameron F. LaBarr is director of choral studies at Missouri State University where he leads a comprehensive choral program including over 300 singers in eight choirs. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University and he earned a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas. He has completed further study in choral music and conducting with Simon Carrington and Alice Parker. Choirs under his direction have been selected for performance at the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference, Tennessee ACDA Conference, Missouri Music Educators Association Conference, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, National Collegiate Choral Organization, National ACDA, Southwest ACDA, Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar, the China International Chorus Festival and the IFCM World Voices Conference. Dr. LaBarr has worked as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, most recently presenting at the China International Chorus Festival (2016 and 2018). In 2019, Dr. LaBarr will serve on the jury panel for the 8th Bali International Choir Festival and will guest conduct the Limerick Sings International Choral Festival (Ireland).

Jānis Ozols

Latvia

Jānis Ozols studied in Emīls Dārziņš Music School between 1989 and 1996 and the Riga Dome Choir School (RDCS) in choir conducting class between 1996 and 1999. A year after graduating from the choir conducting class in RDCS, he studied music management in RDCS culture management department.

In 2004 he received his professional bachelor’s degree in Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, the choir conducting class with professor Sigvards Kļava. In 2013 with professor Jānis Zirnis holds a master’s degree in choral conducting. In 2013 and 2014 studied orchestra conducting (master study direction) at the Swedish Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Jānis Ozols has been a singer, conductor and artistic director of several choirs and vocal groups in Latvia. Ozols was a conductor of choirs “Atskaņa” (1997–2012), “Rīga” (1999–2000), “Jūrmala” (2000–2002), “Dziesmuvara” (2002–2004) and “Vanema” (2010–2015). He has been an artistic director of vocal group “Jauna nianse” (2000–2003). Now works with Garkalne mixed choir “Pa Saulei” (2010) which is led by his wife Marta Ozola along with colleague Margarita Dudcaka. Currently Jānis Ozols is the artistic director and conductor of youth choir “Maska”. Established in 2000, youth choir “Maska” is currently one of the best amateur choirs in Latvia.

He has been a member of the jury in several competitions and local television shows.

Avip Priatna

Indonesia

Avip Priatna Mag. Art is one of Indonesia’s most prominent conductors nowadays. He studied orchestral conducting with Leopold Hager and choral conducting with Prof. Gunther Theuring at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, Austria. Avip is the founder, conductor and music director of the Jakarta Concert Orchestra, Batavia Madrigal Singers, and The Resonanz Children’s Choir. He is also founder of The Resonanz Music Studio where he actively teaches in vocal and conducting class.

He won Champions in European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2018 with The Resonanz Children’s Choir, and with Batavia Madrigal Singers in 2022. He also won Best Conductor award and Best Song Interpretation awards several times in international competitions.

In 2015, Priatna received the Cultural Appreciation from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture in the Creator, Pioneer and Reformer category. In 2021, he was awarded Decoration of Honour in Gold by the government of Austria for his dedication in maintaining good relationship between the Austria and Indonesia through music. In 2022, Avip Priatna was appointed as an Executive Committee member of the Asian Choral Association from Indonesia.

Cesar Alejandro Carrillo

Venezuela

Venezuelan composer, arranger and choir conductor. He studied Composition with Modesta Bor. He graduated as Choral Conductor in the Conservatory of the National Youth Orchestra (1987) and he is a Licenciate in Music by the Institute of Music Studies (1997) with a special mention in Choral Conducting and a cum laude diploma. His work as a composer has been awarded in more than 20 occasions, and he is one of Venezuela’s most interpreted choral music composers and arrangers. He has performed concerts in Europe, Asia and America. He has obtained many distinctions and several prizes in choir competitions and has participated as a juror, speaker and workshop coordinator in many events, both at national and international level.
He is the director of Cantarte and Antiphona and a founding member and arranger of Bolanegra.

Martina Batič

Slovenia

Martina Batič is musical director of the Choeur de Radio France in Paris and holder of the Slovenian National Prize “Prešeren Fund Awards 2019”, awarded for her artistic achievements in choral conducting for the past three years. She is a former choirmaster of the Slovenian National Opera House Chorus, choral director of the Slovenian Philharmonics, and artistic director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir. Martina regularly collaborates with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, The Netherlands Radio Choir, Flemish Radio Choir, etc. Her most notable recent performances include her collaboration with the Radio France Choir, the concert for the 150th birthday of the Chorégies d’Orange, and a concert opening the season 2019-2020 at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence.

Mats Nilsson

Sweden

The Sewedish choral conductor, Mats Nilsson, took a conducting diploma at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, having previously studied the piano with Greta Erikson alongside studies in ensemble leadership, choral conducting and teaching. His conducting teachers have included Eric Ericson and Andrew Parrott with whom he has studied early music. Mats Nilsson worked at Musikhögskolan Ingesund in Arvika (1985-1990) From 1998 to 2003, he was Musical Director of the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs, Australia’s largest choral organisation. During his time in Sydney he directed many works for choir and orchestra in Sydney Opera House, including the Verdi’s Requiem, W.A. Mozart’s C Minor Mass, and the majority of J.S. Bach’s major choral works. He also taught choral conducting at the Sydney Conservatory of Music (1999-2002). At present Mats Nilsson teaches choral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm (since 2004) and is director of Maria Magdalena Kammarkör (since 2009) and Maria Magdalena Vokalensemble (since 2011). He has previously worked with the Swedish Radio Choir, Swedish Bach Choir, Latvian Radio Choir, Choir of Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (1990-1998) and Coro de Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Shin-Hwa Park

South Korea

Dr Shin-Hwa Park is the Director of Ansan City Choir, Professor at the Ewha Womans University, President of the Korean Federation for Choral Music (KFCM), former president of the Korean Choral Directors Association (KCDA), Director of the Ewha Chamber Choir and presenter of the FEBC-FM Christian music radio programme. He received his degree and doctorate in church music and vocal music from Yonsei University in Seoul and his DMA in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado Boulder. Dr Park is one of the most sought-after choir directors in Korea for leading choral courses and workshops. He has served as guest conductor of the National Chorus of Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus, Busan City Chamber Choir and many other ensembles. He gives more than 40 lectures every year and between 1996 and 2015 his choirs released some 83 CDs. He also directs the Calvary Choir of Young-Nak Presbyterian Church, which comprises 150 singers. Dr Park was the first winner of the Ulrim Grand Prize in 2004 and received the Ansan Art Prize that same year. The following year he was selected as one of the best professors of the Ewha Womans University and in 2007 he was awarded the Korean Music Prize. He is regularly invited to serve on the judging panel at various choral competitions both at home and abroad. In 2011 he conducted Ansan City Chamber Choir in the Vatican by invitation of the Papal Household. His choir also performed at the 2012 ACDA Northwestern Division Convention in Seattle, Washington, and at the 2015 ACDA Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Petra Grassi

Italy

Petra Grassi is the co-director of the Italian National Youth Choir, artistic director of two semi-professional groups Vikra chamber choir from Trieste and Dekor chamber choir from Ljubljana, and guest conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir. She won several awards in competitions for Choir Conductor, such as the Choir prize as the best conductor at the World Choral Conducting Competition in 2019 in Hong Kong, 1st prize in the choir conductor competition “Zvok moji rok” in 2016 in Ljubljana and 1st prize in the choir conductor competition “Le Mani in Suono” in 2015 in Arezzo. She Graduated in piano and music pedagogy at the State Conservatory in Trieste, and with the highest grade in the biennium of Choral Conducgting at the State Conservatory in Trento with L. Donati. With the choirs she directed, she won only first prizes in national and international competitions, winning also the awards for the best conductor (Grand prix Seghizzi- Gorizia, absolute winner Maribor, Vittorio Veneto, Arezzo, Malcesine,Bad Ischl (Austria) and Olomouc (Rep. Czech). She teaches choral music at the State Conservatory in Mantova.

Frieder Bernius

Germany

Frieder Bernius (born 1947 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) is a German choir director and conductor. In 1968 he founded the Stuttgart-Kammerchor (Stuttgart Chamber Choir), with which he has made numerous prestigious recordings that have won numerous awards. In 1985 he founded the Barockorchester Stuttgart (Stuttgart Baroque Orchestra) with the purpose of interpreting baroque works with musicological criteria. of Allmänna Sången. She also teaches choral direction and singing and Russian music at courses in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. In 1987 he founded the Internationalen Festtage Alter Musik in Stuttgart, dedicated to the performance of early music.

Bernius has developed an important career as a conductor. Apart from the Barockorchester Stuttgart, he has collaborated closely with other Baroque orchestras such as Musica Fiata Köln, La Grande Ecurie et la Chambre du Roy (from Paris) and Tafelmusic (Toronto). For his recordings or his personal career he has earned numerous awards.

Marco Antonio García de Paz

Spain

Marco Antonio García de Paz was born in Luanco (Asturias), studied violin and later conducting at the Centro Superior de Música del Pais Vasco ‘Musikene’. Among his teachers are Peter Phillips, Gabriel Baltés, Johan Duijck, Lászlo Heltay and Javier Busto.

Director and founder of the choir “El León de Oro” (LDO), with which he has performed throughout Spain, Europe, Africa and USA, since 2019 he is Principal Conductor of the Young Choir of Andalusia (JCA) and has recently been appointed Titular Director of the RTVE Choir.

He has to his credit more than 60 national and international awards in cities such as London, Arezzo, Maribor, Tolosa or Tours. He has received the award for best director at the International Competition “Prof. Georgi Dimitrov”, held in Varna (Bulgaria) in 2005 and at the “Internationale Koorwedstrijd van Vlaanderen” – Maasmechelen in 2007. (Belgium).

Marco Antonio García de Paz is regularly invited to conduct numerous professional choirs such as the Coro de la Comunidad de Madrid (ORCAM), Coro de Madrigalistas de Bellas Artes de Ciudad de México (INBA) or the Coro Nacional de España (CNE) in its satellites cycle.

As a choir coach he has worked with artists such as Leopold Hager, Friedrich

Among his immediate projects are his appearances with Le Concert des Nations and Jordi Savall, Cor de Cambra de Granollers, Oviedo Filarmonía and Lucas Macias, Tallis Scholars and Peter Phillips, Festival de Granada, Cuenca and Aranjuez with ‘The Golden Lion’ or the direction of the opera ‘King Arthur’ by Purcell, as well as commitments in Italy , Finland, Greece, Mexico or Taiwan.

Peter Phillips

UK

Has achieved an impressive reputation for his research and performance of Renaissance polyphony. Having won a scholarship to Oxford in 1972, Peter Phillips studied Renaissance music with David Wulstan and Denis Arnold and gained experience in conducting small vocal ensembles and experimenting with the rarer parts of the repertoire. He founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in over 1600 concerts and made nearly 50 albums, encouraging interest in polyphony all over the world. As a result of his work—concerts, recordings, magazine prizes, published articles on music and composition—Renaissance music has, for the first time, become accepted as part of the traditional classical repertoire.

Peter Phillips continues to work with other specialist ensembles. He has appeared, among others, with the Collegium Vocale of Ghent, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Choeur de Chambre de Namur, the Finnish radio choir, Musix from Budapest, the Montreal Studio of Ancient Music and various others across the world. Peter also works extensively with the BBC Singers, with whom he gave a concert at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in July 2007 in collaboration with the Tallis Scholars. The performance was broadcast live and attended by more than 5000 people. Peter gives numerous master classes and choral workshops every year throughout the world and is also artistic director of the Tallis Scholars summer schools—annual courses based in Oakham (UK), Seattle (USA) and Sydney (Australia)—which explore the heritage of Renaissance choral music and develop an appropriate performance style. Peter was recently named Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford, where the new choral foundation he helped to establish began singing services in October 2008.

In 1995 he took over and became editor of The Musical Times, the oldest continuously-published music journal in the world. His first book, English Sacred Music, 1549-1649, was published by Gimell in 1991 and his second, What We Really Do, was published in 2003.

Peter Phillips has participated in numerous television and radio broadcasts. Besides those featuring The Tallis Scholars (which include live broadcasts from the 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2008 BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival in 2007, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Bath Festival), he has appeared several times on the BBC’s Music Weekly and on the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, National Public Radio in the US and on German, French and Canadian radio, where he has enjoyed displaying his love of languages. In 1990, ITV’s The South Bank Show featured Peter’s ‘personal odyssey’ with the Tallis Scholars and in 2002 a special television documentary was made for the BBC about the life and times of William Byrd.

Since 2014 he has been Principal Director of the London International A Capella Choir Competition and has contributed to promoting choral music since then.
He is also actively involved with various Spanish choral groups.

Helene Stureborg

Sweden

Helene Stureborg graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Church Music in 1990, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Choral Conducting in 1993 at the Royal University College of Music in Stockholm. She has studied conducting with professor Gustaf Sjökvist, professor Eric Ericson and professor Kjell Ingebretsen. Since 1990 she has been working as a conductor and music teacher at the Stockholm‘s Musikgymnasium. In 1994 she became the conductor of Kongl Teknologkören at the Royal Institute of Technology and held that position until december 2002 when she became the conductor of the Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium Chamber Choir. In 2011 she started her own ensemble – Helene Stureborg’s Chamber Choir. Helene Stureborg has also been teaching choral conducting at the Royal University College of Music between 1996 and 2014. In 2014 she was appointed a member of the Artistic Council of Statens Musikverk. Helene is frequently engaged as a conducting teacher and choral pedagogue at varying courses.

Enrique Azurza

Euskadi

Photo: by Ivan Yohan

Born in Tolosa, he studied choral conducting in the Basque Country and in Stockholm, sponsored by the Council of Gipuzkoa, with Anders Eby. He has also participated in other courses given by Eric Ericson and Carl Högset. Artistic director of Sociedad Coral de Bilbao since 2016. He has conducted since 1985 the Choir HODEIERTZ of Tolosa. In 1997 he founded the professional Vocal Ensemble KEA with the aim of promoting contemporary and ancient music. He teaches choral singing in Musikene – Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco. He is President of the Confederation of Choirs in the Basque Country. He has conducted the Choir of the University of the Basque Country (1999-2016), the Choir of the Choral Singing Institute of Aragon (Zaragoza, 1993-2003), has directed the Spanish National Youth Choir. . He is member of the musical committee in the International Choral Contest of Tolosa, and the World Simposyum Barcelona 2017 and artistic director of the National Choral Contest of Ejea de los Caballeros. In 1991, he received the Prize to the Best Director in the International Contest of Varna (Bulgaria). He has been the Spanish representative in the World Choral Symposia held in Sydney in 1996, with Hodeiertz, and in Puerto Madryn (Argentina) in 2011, with KEA vocal ensemble.

Helena Fojkar Zupančič

Slovenia

She works as choral conductor and vocal coach at Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in Ljubljana. She leads St. Stanislav’ Girls’ Choir , the 100-members (Re)Mixed Choir of Diocessan Classical Gymnasium Ljubljana and St. Nicholas Choir in Litija.

Her most important achievements are with the St. Stanislav’s Girls’ Choir absolute victory at the EBU competition Let the Peoples Sing 2009 in Oslo, performance at the European Festival of Youth Choirs Basel 2014, the World Choral Symposium in Barcelona 2017, and, in 2019, at the National Conference of American Choral Directors Association in Kansas City. She has been earning highest places with her choirs in competitions and is the recipient of special awards. She was awarded the Gallus plaque (2012) and the prize of the Republic of Slovenia in the field of musical education (2016).

In 2004 and from 2007–2009, she led the Slovenian Children’s Choir. Between 2009-2015, she recorded and performed with the Radio Slovenia Chamber Choir. She conducted the project RTV Slovenia Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra in 2014 at the season concert part of Mozartines. In 2015, she conducted the Slovenian Chamber Choir (now Slovenian Philharmonic Choir) at the opening concert of Ljubljana Festival.

Alain Louisot

France

Founder of several choirs since 1991 within the Choral Association A Coeur Joie, he has devoted himself for twenty years to developing a demanding interpretation of contemporary polyphony, through the refined choral writing of the greatest composers. With his vocal ensemble Alter Echo, he became a finalist for the European Grand Prix in 2009 after winning seven prizes at the Florilège Vocal de Tours in 2008.

Artistic advisor of the Festival des Chœurs Lauréats in Vaison-la-Romaine, he visits the biggest European competitions and festivals.

He is also artistic advisor and member of the jury of the Florilège Vocal de Tours.

President of the A Coeur Joie France association since April 2020, he devotes a large part of his time to developing the French amateur choir network in conjunction with European bodies.

Maria Goundorina

Russia – Sweden

Maria Goundorina was born in Novosokolniki in Russia and grew up near Moscow, where she started singing in choirs at the age of seven, taking up conducting when she was fifteen. She studied at the Ippolitov-Ivanov Music College and the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory (with Boris Tevlin) and later at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm with Anders Eby, also following courses in musicology at the University of Vienna.

Her ideals in terms of choral sound have been influenced by these cities and her studies, but also by her own experiences as a singer and conductor.

She has been a member of the Chamber Choir of the Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor and Mikaeli Chamber Choir, and has conducted numerous Swedish choirs, including the Swedish Radio Choir, Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the choir of the Royal Swedish Opera. Since 2010 Maria Goundorina has been artistic director of Allmänna Sången. She also teaches choral direction and singing and Russian music at courses in Austria, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden.

Loïc Pierre

France

Founder and artistic director of the Mikrokosmos Chamber Choir since 1989, Loïc Pierre is also a director, stage designer, composer and visual artist. Plural artist and always looking for originality, his work draws its influences from Sam Francis, Ariane Mnouchkine, Bob Wilson, Alfred Hitchcock or Martin Scorsese. Always in search, he tries to free himself from the immutable ritual of the concert for propose another ceremony in the hope of inventing a choral theater in the service of a choral art of today.

His shows testify to this claimed merger:
Tenebrae (2001) Bright Shadows, Another History of Cinema (2006), The Night Unveiled (2013) Back to the Earth, on music by Meredith Monk (2014), Jumala (2016), Chronicles of forgotten peoples (2018) The day amazes me (2019).

Paul Phoenix

UK

Paul Phoenix’s long career in the music business spans five decades, from Ivor Novello Award-winning Chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, through seventeen years and a Grammy Award as tenor in the world-renowned a cappella group, The King’s Singers, with whom he performed more than 2000 concerts, to founder of PurpleVocals, a coaching consultancy which draws upon his vast experience as a singer and performer. His work not only as a speaker, coach and mentor, but also as a soloist continues to take him all around the world as he shares his passion for singing and choral music. His coaching specialises is encouraging audience engagement and confidence-building with soloists, conductors, choirs and ensembles.

He lives in Cambridge, England, with his wife, Helena and two sons, Will and Ed and when not working he enjoys cycling vast distances on his bikes and supporting Manchester City!.

Mikael Wedar

Sweden

Mikael was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm. He has a degree in conducting, piano and classical singing. He is since 2012 employed as a church musician in the parish of Farsta in Stockholm. During 2003-2011 Mikael worked as a teacher at Kungsholmens gymnasium/Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium, teaching choral singing. The school is for gifted young singers. Mikael has in his career worked with some of the most notable choirs in Stockholm, among them Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir. In 2007 Mikael founded S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble (former Youth Choir) and have been its musical and artistic leader since. In November 2013, the choir took part in 45th Tolosa choral contest in Basque Country, Spain. Out of five possible prizes S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble won all of them and qualified for the European Grand Prix of Choral Music in Debrecen, Hungary 2014, where the choir won the whole competition. In 2017 the S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble represented Sweden in the 11th World Symposium on Choral music in Barcelona. Mikael has taken part as a jury member in the Grand Prix Competitions of Choral music in Varna-Bulgaria, Tolosa-Basque Country-Spain, Debrecen-Hungary, Tours-France. He also conducts masterclasses in choral singing around the world, emphasizing on modern repertoire. In 2018, they were invited to participate at the 50th Anniversary Tolosa Choral Contest and won a 1st Prize.

Nadezhda Averina

Russia

Nadezhda Averina is a graduate of the Ponomaryov VESNA Children’s Choir School (Moscow) and the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. She holds a Doctor of Art History and teaches at the Moscow Conservatory. She has won international contests and is an Artist of Merit in Moscow.

Since 2012 she has directed the Ponomaryov VESNA Choir School in addition to being Artistic Director and Director of the VESNA Children’s Choir. Under the leadership of Dr Averina, the choir won first prizes and various Grand Prizes at international choir contests in 2006 (Tolosa), 2010 (Nyíregyháza, Hungary), 2012 (Malcesine, Italy), 2014 (Neerpelt, Belgium and Halle, Germany), 2016 (Debrecen, Hungary) and 2017 (Daugavpils, Latvia). In 2017 the choir won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing, even beating the adult choirs competing for the prize.

The VESNA choir has taken its concert programmes to 12 European countries as well as Canada, Japan, China and around 50 towns and cities in Russia. The choir has sung in the best concert halls in Moscow with many celebrated orchestras and conductors.

Its vast and varied repertoire includes hundreds of classical works from different periods and countries and a range of styles and genres. The choir’s programmes have been recorded for radio and TV.

Dr Averina has written articles on the methodology of teaching, has arranged several pieces and has compiled numerous choir music collections (seven of which were included in the Golden Library of Choirmaster series). She holds regular seminars and master classes for choir directors and sits on the judging panel for many Russian and international choir competitions.

Gary Graden

Sweden – USA

Born in Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), Gary Graden studied at Clark University, the Hartt School of Music, the Aspen Summer Music Festival and with Eric Ericson at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. He is a former member and tenor soloist with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the vocal ensemble Lamentabile Consort.

Gary Graden has been choral director at S:t Jacobs Church in Stockholm since 1984 and is also choral director at Stockholm Cathedral. He also taught at Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium, where he founded and directed the Stockholms Musikgymnasium Chamber Choir. With this ensemble and the S:t Jacobs Chamber Choir he has won first prizes at many of Europe’s most prestigious choral competitions, including the European Grand Prix. He has also participated in various national and international festivals including the IFCM World Symposium in Minneapolis and Kyoto and the ACDA National Convention in the USA.

Gary Graden was formerly the artistic director of the Orpheus Vocal Ensemble in Ochsenhausen, Germany. With his trio WÅG (Wager Åstrand Graden) he is developing and exploring improvisational music for voice and instruments. With S:t Jacobs/ Stockholm Cathedral Vocal Ensemble he performs a solo and small ensemble repertoire encompassing all periods. Above and beyond his expertise in the performance of contemporary music, he has also performed such large works as George Frideric Handel’s Messiah, W.A. Mozart’s Requiem and Mass in C minor, J.S. Bach’s passions and Mass in B minor (BWV 232) as well as the requiems of Johannes Brahms, Maurice Duruflé, Gabriel Fauré and Michael Haydn.

Gary Graden is sought after throughout the world as a conductor, choirmaster and judge. He has shown a unique capacity for combining a wide variety of musical genres with the sounds of Swedish choral tradition. With the curiosity of a true musician, he also enjoys performing newly written works. Gary has worked with prestigious international choirs including the SWR Vocal Ensemble (Stuttgart), Orpheus Vokalensemble (Ochsenhausen), Jauna Muzika (Vilnius), Pro Coro Canada, the Formosa Singers (Taipei), the Singapore Ensemble Singers and the IFCM World Youth Choir, among others. His work as a conductor and singer is documented on many CD and radio recordings (BIS, Carus, Proprius, Caprice, Phono Suecia, Gehrmans, nosag, Camerata Tokyo, among others).

Gary was awarded the Johannes Norrby medal for his contribution to Swedish choral music and was elected Sweden’s Choir Director of the Year in 2005. In 2009, he and his choir received the Guidoneum Award from the Fondazione Guido D’Arezzo in Italy.

Stojan Kuret

Italy – Slovenia

Born in Trieste (Italy), Stojan Kuret graduated from the Academy of Music of the University of Ljubljana and finished piano studies at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste, where he has been teaching since 1983. He served as artistic director of the APZ Tone Tomšič choir of the University of Ljubljana for 10 years. With them, as well as with the Ljubljana Vocal Academy, he made notable international artistic achievements (five grand prizes in Tours (1999), Varna (2001), Gorizia (2001), Maribor (2002), and Arezzo (2009), and three-time finalist and two-time winner of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Arezzo (2002) and Varna (2010)).

In 1984 he received the Gallus commendation from the State of Slovenia for his exceptional musical achievements as well as an honour from the city of Ljubljana for his artistic direction of the APZ Tone Tomšič choir. He directed the RTV Slovenia Chamber Choir (a national radio and TV choir) for two years and also led the Italian Youth Choir for two seasons from January 2007. In September 2011 he received the prestigious Guidoneum Award in Arezzo for his successful and creative work with the Ljubljana Vocal Academy, and in 2012 he was bestowed the Prešeren Foundation Award, the greatest national cultural accolade in Slovenia.

For 15 years he has been artistic advisor for the Jacobus Gallus Choral Festival in Maribor, Slovenia.

In addition to having directed the Italian Youth Choir, he is a member of the artistic advisory group FENIARCO (National Federation of the Regional Choral Associations in Italy).

Peter Phillips

UK

Peter Phillips has achieved an impressive reputation for his research and performance of Renaissance polyphony. Having won a scholarship to Oxford in 1972, Peter Phillips studied Renaissance music with David Wulstan and Denis Arnold and gained experience in conducting small vocal ensembles and experimenting with the rarer parts of the repertoire. He founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973, with whom he has now appeared in over 1600 concerts and made nearly 50 albums, encouraging interest in polyphony all over the world. As a result of his work—concerts, recordings, magazine prizes, published articles on music and composition—Renaissance music has, for the first time, become accepted as part of the traditional classical repertoire.

Peter Phillips continues to work with other specialist ensembles. He has appeared, among others, with the Collegium Vocale of Ghent, the Netherlands Chamber Choir, the Choeur de Chambre de Namur, the Finnish radio choir, Musix from Budapest, the Montreal Studio of Ancient Music and various others across the world. Peter also works extensively with the BBC Singers, with whom he gave a concert at the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall in July 2007 in collaboration with the Tallis Scholars. The performance was broadcast live and attended by more than 5000 people. Peter gives numerous master classes and choral workshops every year throughout the world and is also artistic director of the Tallis Scholars summer schools—annual courses based in Oakham (UK), Seattle (USA) and Sydney (Australia)—which explore the heritage of Renaissance choral music and develop an appropriate performance style. Peter was recently named Director of Music at Merton College, Oxford, where the new choral foundation he helped to establish began singing services in October 2008.

In 1995 he took over and became editor of The Musical Times, the oldest continuously-published music journal in the world. His first book, English Sacred Music, 1549-1649, was published by Gimell in 1991 and his second, What We Really Do, was published in 2003.

Peter Phillips has participated in numerous television and radio broadcasts. Besides those featuring The Tallis Scholars (which include live broadcasts from the 2001, 2003, 2007 and 2008 BBC Proms, the Edinburgh Festival in 2007, the Aldeburgh Festival and the Bath Festival), he has appeared several times on the BBC’s Music Weekly and on the BBC World Service, BBC Radio 4, National Public Radio in the US and on German, French and Canadian radio, where he has enjoyed displaying his love of languages. In 1990, ITV’s The South Bank Show featured Peter’s ‘personal odyssey’ with the Tallis Scholars and in 2002 a special television documentary was made for the BBC about the life and times of William Byrd.

Since 2014 he has been Principal Director of the London International A Capella Choir Competition and has contributed to promoting choral music since then.
He is also actively involved with various Spanish choral groups.

Jordan Šrámek

USA

Jordan Šrámek is Founder and Artistic Director of The Rose Ensemble from Saint Paul, Minnesota. The driving force behind the repertoire of one of the most creative ancient music ensembles in the USA, Jordan is renowned as one the most innovative leaders on the North American music scene. He is highly respected for his meticulous research of sacred and spiritual folk music. He often travels in order to carry out this work—most recently involving the search for manuscripts—and has collaborated with musicologists and linguists in Israel, France, Spain, Sweden and Hawaii.

Jordan has developed a sharp and acclaimed talent for putting together concert programmes, creating a rich tapestry of vocal music which works for all concerts whether in the USA or in Europe. He is frequently invited to speak at musicology conferences and to give workshops and master classes. A talented choir director and vocalist known for his warm and welcoming personality, Jordan has worked with amateur and professional singers alike on a highly diverse vocal repertoire. Recent conferences and teaching appearances include the Festival d’Ile de France (Paris), the University of Indianapolis, the University of Rhode Island, the University of Vermont, Grinnell College, the University of Oklahoma, the University of Louisiana Lafayette, Luther College, the American Choral Directors Association and Chorus America.

Māris Sirmais

Letonia

Māris Sirmais is one of the most important names in the world of choral music. He is a pillar and guide for Latvian choir culture and a voice respected by thousands of participants in the Latvian Choral Festival. He has been Artistic Director of the Latvian National Choir since 1997. Sirmais also helped develop one of Latvia’s brightest cultural symbols, the Youth Choir Kamēr…, of which he was principal director from its founding in 1990 until 2012. He is Head of the Department of Choral Conducting and Professor at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and has served on several occasions as a member of the judging panel at national and international choral competitions. Māris Sirmais was also awarded the Order of the Three Stars and is an honorary member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and recipient of numerous titles and awards for his cultural achievements and for popularising Latvia throughout the world.

Māris Sirmais regularly works with Latvia’s various professional orchestras and has conducted collectives including Kremerata Baltica, the Umeå Symphony Orchestra, Helsinki Strings and the Evgeny Svetlanov State Academic Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with world renowned soloists, including Maxim Rysanov, Kristīna Blaumane, Egils Siliņš, Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Julius Berger, Gidons Krēmers, Nicolas Altstaedt, Douglas Webster and Inese Galante, among others.

Māris Sirmais is a member of the artistic committee of the Latvian Choral Festival.

Shin-Hwa Park

Corea del Sur

Dr Shin-Hwa Park is the Director of Ansan City Choir, Professor at the Ewha Womans University, President of the Korean Federation for Choral Music (KFCM), former president of the Korean Choral Directors Association (KCDA), Director of the Ewha Chamber Choir and presenter of the FEBC-FM Christian music radio programme. He received his degree and doctorate in church music and vocal music from Yonsei University in Seoul and his DMA in Choral Conducting and Literature from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Dr Park is one of the most sought-after choir directors in Korea for leading choral courses and workshops. He has served as guest conductor of the National Chorus of Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Chorus, Busan City Chamber Choir and many other ensembles. He gives more than 40 lectures every year and between 1996 and 2015 his choirs released some 83 CDs. He also directs the Calvary Choir of Young-Nak Presbyterian Church, which comprises 150 singers.

Dr Park was the first winner of the Ulrim Grand Prize in 2004 and received the Ansan Art Prize that same year. The following year he was selected as one of the best professors of the Ewha Womans University and in 2007 he was awarded the Korean Music Prize. He is regularly invited to serve on the judging panel at various choral competitions both at home and abroad. In 2011 he conducted Ansan City Chamber Choir in the Vatican by invitation of the Papal Household. His choir also performed at the 2012 ACDA Northwestern Division Convention in Seattle, Washington, and at the 2015 ACDA Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Stephen Connolly

United Kingdom

For many years, Stephen Connolly was a bass singer and co-director of the world famous vocal ensemble The King’s Singers. He interpreted over 120 concerts per year for nearly a quarter century, appeared frequently in both radio and TV shows, and recorded many CDs with EMI, BMG Records, Signum Records and Sony –including three Grammy Award nominations and a Grammy Award. More recently, he has acted as a judge in several contests and has taught many choral workshops. In 2008, Stephen founded the International A Cappella School, which offers international residences for singers and choirs. In 2010, Stephen was appointed Head of Vocal Studies of the Cheltenham Ladies’ College. He lives in Gloucestershire.

Georg Grün

Germany

Georg Grün is considered to be one of the most sought-after international choral conductors and specialists for choral sound. He founded the KammerChor Saarbrücken in 1990 and has been its artistic director ever since then. He has won important international and national choir competitions, he gives concerts at numerous renowned music festivals and he regularly produces CDs with CarusVerlag and Rondeau Productions. From 2000 until 2012 he held a professorship for choral conducting at the Musikhochschule in Mannheim. There, he founded a chamber choir with which he also won several international prizes. In 2012, Georg Grün changed to the Hochschule für Musik Saar as a professor and became artistic direction of the Ev. Chorgemeinschaft an der Saar.

Georg Grün works as guest conductor guest professor, juror and tutor at international masterclasses for choral conducting both nationally and internationally. He is a mentor at the forum for conductors of the German Music Council and Chairman at the international jury of the chamber choir competition in Marktoberdorf. In 2017 concerts, lectures, master classes and guest performances will take him to Estonia, France, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Turkey and the United States.

Stojan Kuret

Slovenia

He was born in Trieste (Italy). He is a graduate of the Music Academy at the University of Ljubljana and obtained his Piano Degree at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory of Trieste, where he has been a professor since 1983. He was the artistic director of the APZ Tone Tomši choir of the University of Ljubljana for 10 years. With that choir and the Vokalna akademija Ljubljana, he has achieved many prestigious artistic recognitions (fi ve grand prizes –Tours 1999, Varna 2001, Gorizia 2001, Maribor 2002and Arezzo 2009–, three-time fi nalist and two-time winner of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing – in 2002 in Arezzo and in 2010 in Varna). In 1984, he was honoured with the Gallus Award for his extraordinary achievements in the fi eld of music and the Ljubljana City Award for the artistic direction of the APZ Tone Tomši choir. He conducted the RTV Slovenia Chamber Choir (national radio and TV choir) for two years. Starting January 2007 and for two years, he conducted the Italian Youth Choir. In September 2011, he was awarded the prestigious Guidoneum Prize in Arezzo, due to the successful and creative work he has done with the Vokalna akademija Ljubljana.

In 2012, he received the Prešeren Foundation Award, the highest cultural recognition of Slovenia.

Bengt Ollén

Sweden

He studied under Gösta Ohlin and Gunnar Eriksson at the Music and Drama Academy of Gothenburg, and Orchestra Conducting under Lennart Hedvall, Jorma Panula, Robert Reynolds and Everett Lee. Bengt Ollén is Sofi a Vokalensemble’s founder and conductor. Since 1995 he has led the vocal ensemble with great passion and a never-dying enthusiasm, taking the choir to the highest artistic levels. Bengt’s vision is to create music “beyond the notes”. In his opinion, music should move the listener. Therefore, each singer’s commitment is a vital piece in the musical progress: for the music to be a success, everybody must participate. That is Bengt’s musical belief.

Bengt is also the founder and conductor of the Södra Dalarnas Chamber Orchestra. This orchestra participates yearly in the “Musik vid Slijan” festival.

Bengt is frequently engaged as a judge in contests, as a guest lecturer and conductor in festivals, workshops and concerts, both at national and international levels. Since 1994 he works as a choir professor in the internationally renowned Stockholms Musikgymnasium. With his choirs, he has found remarkable success in choral contests all over the world.

Ko Matsushita

Japan

He was born in Tokyo in 1962. He obtained his Composition Degree at the Kunitachi College of Music and graduated in Choral  Conducting at the Kodály Institute in Hungary. His works as a music composer are interpreted in Japan and all over the world. As a conductor, he has led several choirs of the Greater Tokyo Area, and has received many awards in international choral competitions.

In 2005, he was the fi rst Asian to be recognised with the Robert Edler Prize of Choral Music.

Alexander Vatsek

Ukraine

Choir and orchestra conductor, vocal coach, judge at international contests, choral advisor, speaker and arranger. He is the founder of the Oreya Choir and the Gaudeamus Brno Choir (1996), and has won 10 Grand Prizes and 37 1st Prizes with them. He has been recognised as an Honorary Artist in Ukraine and honoured with the I. Ohiyenko Award. He has taught choral seminars and workshops worldwide, and has conducted symphonic projects in France, Germany, Romania, Ukraine and the Czech Republic. He has been a jury member of the Choir World Games in Busan (South Korea), Bremen (Germany), Xiamin (China) and Wernigerode (Germany). As well in Tolosa (Spain), Marktoberdorf (Germany), Maribor (Slovenia), Riva del Garda (Italy), Artek (Ukraine), Tallin (Estonia) and Bergen (Norway). In addition, he has been the choral advisor of the Czech Republic (2002-2006).