2022 EDITION
WINNERS
Grand prize tolosa choral contest and nomination for the european grand prix of choral singing on 2023
SOFIA CHAMBER CHOIR (Ukraine)
Prize given by the basque government to the best performance of a basque song
ELLERHEIN GIRLS’ CHOIR (Estonia)
For their performance of the work: ERROTA, Junkal Guerrero
Chamber choirs: polyphony
1º SOFIA CHAMBER CHOIR (Ukraine)
2º ST. STANISLAV GIRLS’ CHOIR (Slovenia)
3º BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SINGERS (USA)
Chamber choirs: basque song and popular music
1º SOFIA CHAMBER CHOIR (Ukraine)
2º EXAEQUO: ST. STANISLAV GIRLS’ CHOIR (Slovenia)
BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SINGERS (USA)
3º MIXED CHOIR MASKA (Latvia)
Audience prize
SOFIA CHAMBER CHOIR (Ukraine)
Children choirs
1º RIGA CATHEDRAL GIRLS’ CHOIR TIARA (Latvia)
2º ADOLF FREDRIK’S GIRLS’ CHOIR (Sweden)
3º VEUS – COR INFANTIL AMICS DE LA UNIÓ (Catalonia, Spain)
CHAMBER
CHOIRS
The Veus Juntes Choral School (Quart de Poblet, Valencia, 1983) is a large choral singing project for people as young as four and up. The school currently has more than a hundred children, young people and adults split across six choral groups. The members of Ad Libitum, the school’s chamber choir, are young people with a robust musical and singing education. Their repertoire ranges from classical polyphony to 21st-century compositions. Ad Libitum has performed in large venues and at historical sites, including Manzanares El Real Castle (Madrid) and the Basilica of Santa Maria del Popolo (Rome). The choir was the resident ensemble at the Early Music Morella festival (2019), directed by Marco García de Paz, and at the Acadèmia de Capella de Ministrers. Ad Libitum has won some of the most prestigious prizes on the national scene, including the National Grand Prize for Choral Singing (2017), first place, the audience award and the FIRACOR special award at the Fira de Tots Sants de Cocentaina Choral Contest (2015 and 2016) and first place at the Ejea de los Caballeros Choral Contest (2022). The group recently completed a concert tour performing Tomás Luis de Victoria’s Requiem in collaboration with Musica Ficta and under the baton of Raúl Mallavibarrena. Their first record – essència – won the audience award at the Carles Santos Valencian Music Awards.
The impressive vocal talents of the Brigham Young University Singers perform a range of styles. Led by Dr Andrew Crane, the group performs pieces in almost all musical genres in addition to many original works written or arranged for the choir.
BYU Singers comprises 40 students from a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas including physical sciences, law, accounting, social sciences, visual arts and more. The ensemble has its roots in the Music School of the Faculty of Fine Arts and Communication at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. With a student body of 30,000 young people from across the country and from 120 foreign countries, BYU is one of the largest private universities in the USA. The choir was founded in 1984 by the prestigious conductor and composer Ronald Staheli.
In May 2021, BYU Singers won first place in the mixed choir category and the Grand Prize at the Aegis Carminis International Youth Choir Festival. In the 2021-2022 season, BYU Singers has appeared with the Broadway legend Brian Stokes Mitchell. The choir was also invited to the conference of the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association in Long Beach, CA, and has taken part in a tour of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In March 2022, the choir performed in An Evening with Eric Whitacre and the BYU Choirs under the baton of this esteemed composer and conductor.
The Ellerhein Children’s Choir, the predecessor of the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir, was established in 1951 by professor Heino Kaljuste (1925-1989), who directed and developed the choir until his own passing. Tiia-Ester Loitme began working with the choir as second conductor in 1970 and was its chief conductor from 1989 to 2012. The choir became known as Ellerhein in 1969, the centenary of the Estonian Song Festival. Over the years, Ellerhein has become a choral studio that encompasses the Ellerhein Preparatory Choir, the Ellerhein Children’s Choir and the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir. In addition to concert performances, all chorists are trained in singing, music theory and harmony. The choir follows the Kodaly system when embarking upon a new repertoire.
Ellerhein marked its 60th birthday in 2012 with a magnificent concert in Estonia Concert Hall. Ingrid Kõrvits has held the position of chief conductor since 2012. Ülle Sander is the choir’s director and music theory teacher, Egle Veltmann teaches vocals, Kadri Toomoja is the pianist and Sigrid Leppmets manages the choir. The choir’s repertoire includes classical and contemporary choral pieces by noteworthy composers from across the world.
Ellerhein has enjoyed success at many international choral contests. In April 2013, it won 1st prize in the children’s choirs category and Ingrid Kõrvits was named Best Conductor at the Tallinn 2013 International Choral Contest. In July 2013, the choir took part in the 31st Cantonigros International Choral Contest, where it took 3rd place in the female choirs category and 2nd prize in the folk music category. In July 2014, the Ellerhein Girls’ Choir won the Grand Prize at the 53rd Seghizzi International Choral Singing Competition. And in February 2015, Ellerhein performed Johann Sebastian Bach’s St Matthew Passion at MustenonFest in Israel.
With 16 powerful young voices, Ensamble Escénico Vocal (EEV), part of Mexico’s National System for Musical Development, has been a member of the choral scene for more than 10 years. Its singers, all under 27 years old, join the choir through a national public application process. Successful applicants gain access to a multidisciplinary environment that provides training and professional support for these stage singers. The programme includes tools for physical expression, acting, solo and choral singing, and basic training for teaching in the Community Groupings of the National System for Musical Development. EEV gives multidisciplinary performances of its repertoire in more than 40 annual concerts and there is always a social theme. Examples include the Choral Music of the Spanish Exile season, multidisciplinary shows with music and dance from West Side Story and Wonderful Town to mark the centenary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth, and Negritud, a reflection on the black cultural legacy.
Formed in Gothenburg, Sweden in 2007, the Härlanda Chamber Choir has always sought the utmost musical quality in all its performances. Most of its members are music students or experienced singers with a musical background, hence the choir’s fresh yet mature sound. The choir has taken part in choral contests in Italy (2010), Poland (2011) and France (2012), taking first place in its class on all occasions.
Härlanda’s repertoire ranges from the Renaissance of the 16th century through to works by living composers. It primarily stems from the western classical tradition but with the inclusion of traditional music. The Härlanda Chamber Choir has performed some of the great classical works, including Monteverdi’s Vespers, Brahms’ Requiem and Bach’s Mass in B Minor. The record A Bright Star Shineth, released on Footprint Records in 2016, received excellent reviews in Sweden’s leading newspaper, Dagens Nyheter (4 out of 5 stars).
The MASKA mixed choir from Babīte, Latvia was founded in 2000 by orchestral conductor and artistic director Jānis Ozols. One of Latvia’s best mixed choirs, “MASKA” is unique in its ability to introduce creative innovations in its performances of classical music.
The choir is proud of its success. Ambitious and creative from the very beginning, MASKA is active in Latvia and abroad and takes part in international choral contests in Italy, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Australia, Japan, Sweden and elsewhere.
Its repertoire covers a range of genres, from sacred to folk and classical to contemporary. The choir tries to achieve new interpretations of choral music and enriched performances, and often surprises the audience with its ingenious techniques. MASKA collaborates with musicians from Latvia and elsewhere, including the marimba and percussion virtuoso and composer Rihards Zaļupe, Renāte Stivriņa, Jānis Šipkēvics (Shipsea), Jānis Ķirsis, the world-famous pianist and composer Vestards Šimkus, and the Lithuanian composer Vytautas Miškinis. The Estonian composer Pärt Uusberg has dedicated his compositions to the MASKA choir.
New Dublin Voices, founded by its current conductor Bernie Sherlock, is Ireland’s most famous choir. Known for its innovative and exciting programme, the choir particularly enjoys exploring the music of living composers and has performed more than 65 world premieres. New Dublin Voices leads the way in commissioning, premiering, performing and disseminating Irish choral music both at home and abroad, and is a pioneer in bringing music from beyond Ireland’s borders to local audiences. New Dublin Voices has enjoyed great success on the European contest circuit, winning top awards in France, Hungary, Germany, Finland, Belgium, Spain, the UK, Slovenia, Latvia and Italy. In 2019, the choir won first place at the International Choir Festival in Derry, and third place in Marktoberdorf, Germany. The group took first place in the mixed choir category at the Béla Bartók International Choral Contest in 2018 in Hungary, and the overall Grand Prize at the Baltic Sea International Choral Contest in Latvia in 2017. New Dublin Voices also travels to give guest performances at international festivals. This includes tours in Switzerland, France, Spain, the UK and the USA.
The Paderewski Chamber Choir was founded in 2012 by its conductor, professor Marek Gandecki. Its members are students from a range of degree programmes and specialisations, including conducting, musical composition, instrumental studies, music theory, jazz, stage music, musical education and sacred music. Despite their diverse educational backgrounds, all the chorists are united by a passion for making music and for learning new and fascinating choral works.
In its early years, the choir won the top prizes at Poland’s main choral contests, including the Grand Prize at the Legnica Cantat National Choir Meet (2015, 2018) and a special award at the Stefan Stuligrosz Grand Prix for Polish Choral Singing (2018). The Paderewski Chamber Choir also won the Grand Prize at the Grieg International Choir Festival in Bergen, Norway in 2016, and the Grand Prize at the 25th Cantate Domino International Choir Festival and Sacred Music Contest in Kaunas, Lithuania in 2017. The choir’s repertoire includes vocal and vocal/instrumental pieces from different eras, with an emphasis on contemporary composers. The choir has organised various premieres (including collaborations with the Dresdner Kammerchor) and some of the pieces have been dedicated to the choir. In 2019, the choir recorded its first record: Współistnienie/Coexistence, a double CD neatly packing together the choir’s first seven artistic years. The choir receives its artistic direction from Marek Gandecki (conductor), Sławomira Raczyńska (assistant conductor), Przemysław Czekała (vocal trainer) and Małgorzata Pawłowska (manager).
Punkt is a mixed choir currently comprising 25 voices. Founded in the Prague Conservatory by conducting students, the choir was set up for young people interested in choral music with a view to performing compositions by the students themselves. This original idea still drives the choir today. The choir focusses on more experimental pieces combining sound and movement, for example.
Punkt performs regularly in the Prague Conservatory Concert Hall and across the Czech Republic and since spring 2017 has been active at national and international choral contests. In March 2022, the choir took the top prizes at Choralia 2022 national contest, winning 1st prize in the mixed choir category and the Golden Prize for best choir.
The Sophia Chamber Choir from Kiev founded in 2008 by young director Ivan Bogdanov. Sophia have singed motets and madrigals by Lasso, Monteverdi and other renaissance composer’s in many cities in Ukraine. Step by ste, they widened their repertoire and in Easter 2009 they performed pieces by Mykola Leontovich.
Since 2010, Alexey Shamritsky, who back ten was still a student of the National Music Acadamy of Ukraine, has taken over the choir’s direction. In November 2010, they performed cantatas by Sviridov (“Songs of Timelessness” and “Night Clouds”), a series of treatments about Ukrainian folk songs.
In September 2011, they recorded their first CD, Liturgy, which includes works by Russian composers Rachmaninoff, Tchaikovsky, Arkhangelsky, Chesnokov, Schnittke, etc.
Since 2012, the choir takes part regulary in choral festivals and meetings such as the “KIEVMYUZIKtest”, Easter Assembly and many others.
In 2013, Sophia Chamber won the First Prize of the “Victoria” International Vocal-Choral Contest (May 2013).
In May 2014, they won the first again in the XXXII International Festival of Orthodox Church Music, “Hajnówka”.
In July 2016, they performed in the 27th “Béla Bartók” International Choir Competition in Debrecen (Hungary), and obtened the First Prize in the Category of Chamber Choirs and the Diploma to the Best Director.
In July of “017 and 2019, they won the “Grand Prix” in the International Choral Competition “Seghizz” in Gorizia (Italy).
The St. Stanislav Girls’ Choir is one of the best choirs from Slovenia on the international stage. Its achievements at national and international contests mean it ranks prominently in the global choir scene. It was invited to participate in two of the most renowned choral meets: the World Symposium on Choral Music in 2017, and the ACDA 2018 National Convention, where it was one of only five non-American choirs.
The choir was set up to provide girls with vocal and musical training to enable them to tackle a more demanding repertoire at the highest level of singing and performance. Helena Fojkar Zupančič has been the choir’s conductor since it was founded in 1996. The choir’s repertoire is highly versatile, including classical music from diverse periods as well as pop. The choir is proud to have premiered several works by Slovenian composers and to have performed some of the most important vocal/instrumental pieces.
CHILDREN
CHOIRS
The Adolf Fredrik Girls Choir is a select ensemble from the oldest, best and most renowned school for musically gifted children in Sweden. The choir comprises 40 girls ages 11 to 16. Girls can audition for the choir in their fifth year of school. Some members of the choir go on to pursue a career in music, and many have found success as singers in the opera, jazz and pop worlds.
The choir performs regularly throughout the school year, including the traditional Saint Lucy’s Day concert on 13th December popular with the Stockholm locals and tourists alike. The Adolf Fredrik Girls Choir was formed in 1972 by the legendary music maestro and orchestral conductor Bosse Johansson, who directed the choir for almost 40 years.
The choir has completed numerous tours and visited countries across Europe and beyond. In 2018, the choir competed at the IstraMusica international choral contest in Poreč, Croatia, sweeping the board to take first place in all three categories it completed in. To top it off, conductor Fredrik Winberg was awarded a special prize by the panel. The following year, the choir became the de facto “European Children’s Choir Champion” after taking second place behind a wonderful Chinese choir at the European Choir Games in Gothenburg. This year, the choir released its first album, titled Music is My Name.
La Música is a youth choir founded in 1992 at N.º 16 F. Chopin Primary School in Lublin. The founder and first conductor of the choir is Zdzisław Ohar, while Karolina Filipczak-Sulima has been its second conductor for the last 10 years. The choir has participated in more than 100 national and international contests and festivals in its 30-year history. Throughout this period, it has won 16 grand prizes, more than 30 first prizes, 6 second prizes, 4 third prizes, 2 special mentions and 2 audience awards. La Músic was awarded the Medal of the Mayor of the City of Lublin and the Medal of the 700th Anniversary of the City of Lublin.
The choir has been working as two groups in recent years: one comprising its oldest members, and another with singers ages 6 to 11. By the close of 2021, the choir had taken part in and/or won: the Grand Prize at the 40th National A Cappella Choir Contest for Children and Youths in Bydgoszcz; distinction in the S. Stuligros Grand Prix for Polish Choral Music 2021 in Poznań; and the Golden Diploma and Judges’ Award at the 5th Cantu Gaudeamus International Unofficial Contest in Białystok.
Set up in 2000 as part of “The Golden Lion” choral project (Spanish acronym LDO), the choir provides a choral education to the youngest singers to create a pool of young talent. With this in mind, the LDO Choral School was created in 2019 to provide robust and comprehensive choral training to the “Children of the Golden Lion”. The choir currently has 40 young voices and covers a broad and varied repertoire, from Renaissance artists to the most current and popular pieces. From the outset, the choir was invited to take part in numerous choral festivals in the local region as well as prestigious national contests.
On the international scene, the choir won 2nd prize at the 43rd Tolosa International Choral Contest (Basque Country) in 2011, 2nd prize at the 54th Montreux Choral Festival (Switzerland) in 2018, and took the audience award and 1st prize in the under 19s category and 3rd prize in the under 15s category at the Aegis Carminis International Choral Festival (Slovenia) in 2019.
The choir collaborated with the recording of two CDs (2003 and 2007) by the adult Leon de Oro choir and has also worked on important projects with professional orchestras. For example, this April’s interpretation of the St Matthew Passion with the Il Gardelino orchestra and the Vocalconsort Berlin under the baton of Marcus Creed.
Founded in 2006, the Girls’ Choir of Musamari Choral School is made up of girls ages 12 to 16. The ensemble has participated in several musical projects, festivals and contests in Estonia and abroad, and has collaborated with the best musicians, singers and composers in Estonia, including six concert projects with the Estonian Youth Symphony Orchestra. Musamari has won numerous awards in various competitions:
• The Grand Prize and 1st prize at the Grieg International Choir Festival & Nina Solo Competition for Young Voices in Bergen, Norway in 2010.
• Silver in the Children’s and Youth Choir Competition at the European Choir Championships in Graz, Austria in 2011.
• Best Programme and Best Choreography at the Il Garda in Coro International Children’s Choir Competition in Malcesine, Italy in 2012.
• Three gold medals at the 41st Festival of Songs International Choral Festival in Olomouc, Czech Republic.
• 2nd prize in the children’s choirs category at the 62nd Guido d`Arezzo International Choral Festival in Arezzo, Italy in 2014.
• 1st prize in the children’s choirs category at the 14th Tallinn International Choir Festival in Tallinn, Estonia in 2015.
• 2nd prize in the children’s choirs and folk music categories at the World Peace Choral Festival in Vienna, Austria in 2015.
• 1st prize in both the children’s choirs and folk music categories at the Neerpelt European Music Festival for Young People in Belgium in 2018.
• 2nd prize in the children’s choirs category at the 67th Guido d`Arezzo International Choral Festival in Arezzo, Italy in 2019.
Tiina Mee is the conductor and Marian Heinmaa is the pianist.
The Riga Cathedral Girls’ Choir Tiara is one of the most important groups in Latvian musical life. Founded in 1997, the choir is now a concert ensemble with 67 singers ages 9 to 16 under the artistic direction of Aira Birziņa. The choir has won various international choral contests and is a creative laboratory for many composers and new musical ideas. The sweet voices and bright eyes of its singers are loved and admired by choral singers from across the world. The choir prioritises collaboration with contemporary composers and has premiered many works by both Latvian and foreign talents.
The Riga Cathedral Girls’ Choir Tiara performs at all of Latvia’s major events, including the Festival of Song and Dance, various international events and world premieres of Latvian choral music. TIARA has received high praise at international contests and festivals in Austria, Australia, Estonia, Germany, the UK, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Sweden and Spain. In December 2018 and January 2019, the choir released the albums Winter Songs and I Walked Through A Silver Grove, containing folk and original songs by Latvian composers, many of them dedicated to TIARA. The choir was involved in the 2022 Grammy-award-winning album Women Warriors: The Voices of Change (Best Classical Compendium).
The choir was established in 1996 as part of the music school set up within the Societat Coral Amics de la Unió in Granollers. Led by Josep Vila Jover from the outset, this soprano choir is known for the quality, eclecticism and uniqueness of its work. Veus has taken part in numerous international festivals and has won awards at important contests. Recent accolades include the Premi Clavé for Best Recording for Els Colors del Mar (2018), the Guido de Arezzo (2017) award, 1st prize at the 47th Tolosa International Choral Contest (2015) and the Silver Rose Bowl – the overall prize – at the EBU’s Let the Peoples Sing! contest (2013). The choir’s releases include Revolution (2019), Els Colors del Mar (2018) and VEUS (2017), comprising recordings of their successful shows. It also released Un barret de cançons (2016), with songs by Josep Vila i Casañas, and Un Conte de Nadal (2014) by Albert Guinovart. In the coming season, Veus will work with Escolania de Montserrat on a piece for two choirs commissioned from the prestigious composer Bernat Vivancos, including concerts in the Basilica of Montserrat and the Palau de la Música Catalana.
SPECIAL
CONCERTS
Kammerchor Stuttgart is considered one of the best ensembles of its type. Founded 54 years ago in January 1968, Frieder Bernius has since turned the choir into a phenomenon celebrated by the public and the media alike. The choir’s repertoire spans the 16th century to the 21st century. “No superlative is wasted on praising this choir”, wrote ZEIT. Its vocal brilliance, purity of intonation and artistic declamation of extremely complex texts are unparalleled.
Kammerchor Stuttgart is invited to all major European festivals – including the 1st, 4th and 10th world symposia on choral music in Vienna, Sydney and Seoul – and gives concerts in iconic venues. Since 1988, the choir has toured regularly in the USA and Asia and has also completed a tour of South America, all of which have cemented its global reputation. In August 2018, this chamber choir was invited to perform in eight concerts in China and Taiwan.
Since 1984, the choir has been invited to perform in Israel every two years, including in 2015 to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Israel and Germany.
40 of its 100 records have won awards, most recently in 2017 when the choir was awarded the German Record Critics’ Award for its album Mendelssohn Lieder im Freien and for its recording of György Ligeti’s Requiem.
2022/10/31
KUP TALDEA
TOLOSA (Basque Country) / Conductor: Gabriel Baltes
16 women / 14 men
A partnership agreement between the Tolosa Coral Contest, Musika Bulegoa and Musikagileak, to present the two works awarded in the Composition Competition for Amateurs Choirs, held during the Centenary of ISCM (International Society for Contemporary Music).
Kup Taldea was born in the spring of 2003 around Musikene (Higher Music Center of the Basque Country) and under the leadership of Gabriel Baltes. Who was the choir conduction teacher at the time. Since then, it has been endlessly provided with singers from all corners of the Basque Country, until the small 16-members group has become the choir we know today.
19 years of career with a variety of demanding projects and diverse programs. They have all been very different from each other, but they have always retained the characteristics and distinctions that have become the hallmarks of KUP Taldea: accuracy in the interpretation of music from different periods and styles, and quality in general for all appearances, both in voice and scene. In this path, the choir has always devoted its place to Basque music, whether by retaking the works of classical authors, or by cooperating with the newest Basque composers, and by those means, promoting the Basque choral music.
The innumerable achievements obtained during all these years are proof of it: prizes and awards in international competitions and festivals, and unanimous recognition by the critics.
JURY
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.
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).
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