Ralf Eisenbeiß was born in 1952 in Zeulenroda. After his secondary school examination he studied pedagogy, German philology and musical education. He received his PhD in 1979 at the Pedagogical University of Zwickau. From 1978 to 1981, he studied choir and orchestra conducting at the Franz Liszt Conservatory in Weimar.

Ralf Eisenbeiß was working as the director of the choral department at the Pedagogical University in Zwickau and appointed professor for choir conducting and choral singing in 1987. He was conductor of the renowned Pedagogical University Zwickau Choir. With his choir he performed a wide repertoire of compositions for a cappella choirs and with orchestra, too. Under his direction the choir won numerous prizes at national and international choir competitions.

Ralf Eisenbeiß was lecturer at the central seminar for choral conductors in Berlin and organized numerous workshops himself. He often appears as guest conductor at home and abroad. Since almost 30 years he works as artistic director of INTERKULTUR. Ralf Eisenbeiß is founder of the Int. Robert Schumann Choir Competition in Zwickau and one of the founders of the World Choir Games. Since 1992 he was responsible for more than 150 international competitions of INTERKULTUR in Germany, Italy, Korea, Indonesia, China, Austria, Spain, USA and other countries. Ralf Eisenbeiß is very often invited as a juror in national and other international choir competitions all over the world.

Giovanni Acciai was born in 1946, is a renowned Italian composer, university professor, juror, workshop leader and conductor. He studied organ, composition, and choir conducting at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, and took his master degree in musicology at Pavia University. Giovanni Acciai was conductor of the Chamber choir of the Italian Brodcast and of the Symphonic Choir of the Italian Broadcast in Turin.

Presently, he is the conductor and artistic director of the vocal and instrumental ensembles “I Solisti del Madrigale”, and the collegium vocale “Nova ars cantandi”, with which he has made concert tours and recordings; he has published several articles and reviews on early music, musicological essays, as well as recordings of unreleased works for the publishers Antes, Stradivarius, Sarx, Unda maris Archiv Deutsches Grammophon and Tactus.

His latest CD production with Nova Ars Cantandi, the "Armonici entusiasmi di Davide" by Giovanni Battista Bassani, has been nominated for the International Classic Music Award as the best CD of the year 2017 in the category Early Music.

He teaches musical history and early music semiography at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, moreover he is the artistic director of the International choir competitions of Grado and Quartiano. He is regularly invited as an international jury member and jury president in most renewed choir competitions; he is sought after as a lecturer at conferences of musicology and asked to hold masterclasses for choral conducting in Italy and abroad.

For his high-ranking international artistical achievements in 1991, he was appointed honorary member of the American Choral Directors Associations (ACDA). Giovanni Acciai was a member in the panel of the International juries at the Choir Olympics as well as the World Choir Games and since 2004 he is an active member and official representative for Italy in the international World Choir Council.

Since 2014, he is artistic director of the Accademia di Musica Antica of Milan and active member of the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne” (REMA) of Versailles.

- in memoriam -

Christian Ljunggren was born in 1942. He studied music at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm as well as musicology and theology at the University of Uppsala. For many years he worked at the Music Department of the Swedish National Broadcasting Company, and was responsible for the presentation and programming regarding music.

He was the conductor of the Adolf Fredrik Madrigal Choir since their foundation (1965 and 1974). He was the first President of the Swedish Choral Directors Association (1986 – 1998) and President of KÖRSAM, the joint committee of the Swedish choral organisations (1997 – 2004). From 1997-1999  he worked for the of IFCM, the International Federation for Choral Music, as the Secretary General from 1997-1999 and as a liaison officer (until 2005).

He was one of the Artistic Directors of INTERKULTUR and the Artistic Director of the World Choir Games. Due to his engagement as a clinician for seminars and workshops around the world and having built up the INTERKULTUR series of seminars in China the Swede gained growing recognition since 2003.

Christian Ljunggren has written numerous articles in Swedish and international magazines and was also a keen arranger of choral music.

Maria Emma Meligopoulou holds a Master Degree in Choral Conducting from Boston University CFA and a PhD in Choral Conducting and pedagogy for Children and Youth Choirs from Ionian University. She has also studied Law at Aristotle University. She teaches Choral Conducting Techniques and directs the University Choir at the University of Macedonia in Thessaloniki.

She also teaches at the master’s program of Choral Conducting at Ionian University and is professor of Choral Conducting at the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki. She has performed many choral concerts and international tours in Greece, Europe (Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Finland, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Switzerland, UK), Asia (Israel, Turkey, Singapore, China, Japan), Africa (Egypt, South Africa), USA, Canada. As Choral Director she has been several times recipient of First Prizes with her own Choir “Ss. Cyril & Methodios Choir”, among them the Moscow Sounds Festival, Interkultur Festivals, Loto Quebec Festival (Canada), etc.

She is council member of the World Choir Games, Artistic Advisor of Interkultur Festivals, and she is on demand as lecturer, guest conductor and adjudicator in international symposiums, festivals and workshops worldwide. In 1992 she founded the Ss. Cyril & Methodios Children’s and Youth Choir, the largest choral organization in Northern Greece with over 300 singers in five departments (preparatory choir, children’s choirs, mixed youth choir and chamber choir).

She is author of the textbook Introduction to the Art of Choral Praxis (2011) 3rd Edition in 2013 and the Music Editions: Choral Works for Equal Voices by Greek Composers (2014), and Christmas Choral Works for Equal Voices (2016), all of them available by Nakas - Papagregoriou Editions, Athens.

Franco Radicchia holds university degrees in different musical subjects: He passed choir conducting at the Conservatory of Perugia with distinction, completed the Master exam in Musicology at the University of Perugia and achieved the DAS (diploma in Gregorian Musicology) at the Conservatory of Lugano. He received further training by important European choir and orchestra conductors and participated in workshops at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He is the founder and conductor of the female vocal ensemble "Armoniosoincanto" with whom he intensively takes part in international concert activities and rehearses early music such as "L’Ufficio Ritmico di P. Giuliano da Spira" together with "Sagra Musicale Umbra", medieval pilgrim songs such as "O Roma Nobilis", edited by "Bongiovanni", and "Ave Donna Santissim"a, edited by "Tactus"(Bologna). Together with the ensembles Armoniosoincanto and Coro Giovanile Vivae Vocis Concentus Perugia he has achieved numerous national and international awards. Franco Radicchia is a member of the committee of the Italian section of the International Association for Studies of Gregorian Chant and is often booked for seminars and further trainings regarding early music and Gregorian musicology. Furthermore he is also working at the grass-roots level: As a teacher for music theory, music analysis and composition at the School of Music Perugia and as a conductor of several youth choirs such as the choir of the Mariotti Secondary School, the Coro di Voci Bianche del Conservatorio di Perugia and the Coro Giovanile Umbro.

Alexander Vatsek, born in 1955, is choirmaster, conductor, vocal teacher, adjudicator and is also acting as workshop leader and arranger. In 1986 he founded the choir “OREYA” Zhytomyr Municipal Folk Choir Cappella and ten years later, the “GAUDEAMUS” University Brno choir. Within the years, these choirs took part in several national and international competitions as 1993 in Meinhausen, 1995 in Tours, 1996 in Lindenholzhausen, 1998 in Montreux, 1999 in Wernigerode, 2007 in Kyiv, 2008 in Maribor, 2011 in Tolosa and 2014 in Arezzo. They achieved many first prizes under the conduction of Alexander Vatsek.

Alexander Vatsek has led workshops and was artistic director of various symphonic projects throughout Europe. He was invited as jury member to the second, third and fourth World Choir Games, which were held in Pusan (South Korea, 2002), Bremen (Germany, 2004), Xiamen (China, 2006), and also on other international choral competitions in Tolosa (Spain), and Marktoberdorf and Wernigerode (Germany), Riva del Garda (Italy), Artek (Ukraine), Bergen (Norway) and Tallinn (Estonia).

From 2006 to 2009, Alexander Vatsek was member of the Music commission in Europa Cantat as well as Choir Council member of INTERKULTUR and IFCM.

Alexander Vatsek is honorary member of art in the Ukraine.