Unanimously recognized as one of the greatest interpreters of the Renaissance and Baroque vocal repertoire, Giovanni Acciai studied choral music, choir conducting organ and organ composition at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, and took his master degree in musicology at Pavia University.

He was conductor of the Chamber Choir and of the Symphonic Choir of the Italian Broadcast and of the Corale Universitaria of Turin. Presently, he is the conductor and artistic director of the vocal and instrumental ensembles “I Solisti del Madrigale”, and “Nova ars cantandi”, with which he carries out an intense concert and recording activity; 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, Tactus and Archiv Deutsches Grammophon.

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.

His CD "Contrafacta" was named album of the month for the magazines Classic Voice and Amadeus as well as his CD "Responsoria" by Leonardo Leo for the music critic review Musica. 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 Quartiano, Grado, Perugia and Lucca. 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 World Choir Games International World Choir Council. Since 2014, he is artistic director of the Accademia di Musica Antica of Milan and since 2005 active member of the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne” (REMA) of Versailles.

Christiane Fischer was born 1969 in Ravensburg, Germany. She studied singing, oboe, and school-music at the School of Music and Performing Arts in Stuttgart and completed a postgraduate study at the School of Opera in Stuttgart.

At the Federal Academy for Musical Youth Education in Trossingen, Christiane Fischer obtained another postgraduate degree in Children’s Choral Conducting. In 2010, she successfully completed an 18-month Master Class for choral conducting under the instruction of Professor Erwin Ortner from Vienna.

Until 2005, Christiane Fischer was vocal coach, singing teacher, head of the department, and head of the Children and Youth Choir Heidelberg at the Music and Singing School Heidelberg. She also was the Artistic Director of the Franconian Children’s Choir. The same year, she obtained a lectureship at the Conservatory in Vienna.

In 2006, Christiane Fischer took over the direction of the School of Singing in Vienna and founded the children and youths choirs of Vienna’s School of Music.

She is a consultant for trainings at pedagogical universities and at the Austrian Music Schools, juror at singing and choral competitions and is working on committees on the subject of voice training and choral conducting with children and teenagers.

This is her second juror assignment for an INTERKULTUR choir competition.

Prof. Fritz Hinterdorfer was born in Upper Austria in 1936. He has been conductor of the Chor Chemiepark Linz choir since 1964. He is also conductor of the VHS-Singkreis Freistadt and was conductor of the Linz Chamber Orchestra. Fritz Hinterdorfer has conducted several choral and orchestral parts, including “Orpheus and Euridike“ by Gluck, “Die Jahreszeiten“ by Haydn, “Messiah”, “Utrechter Te Deum“, and “Alexanderfest“ by Händel, “Te Deum” and “Psalm 150” by Bruckner and several masses by Schubert, Puccini, Haydn and Mozart. Furthermore, he has conducted opera concerts with compositions of Verdi and Puccini. He was a guest conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Hungary and of the Symphony Orchestra of the City of Vaasa in Sweden. Fritz Hinterdorfer has been president of the IDOCO (Internationale des Organisations culturelles Ouvrières) since 1998. He was one of the initiators and members of the artistic direction board of the 1st Choir Olympics in Linz. He later on served as adjudicator at the Choir Olympics in Busan, Korea in 2002, Bremen, Germany in 2004, and Xiamen, China in 2006 along with the Anton-Bruckner Choir Competition in Linz, Austria. Vocationally, he works in the cultural management of Linz and has therefore been awarded several prizes including the “Goldenes Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich”, the highest honor one can receive for meritoriousness of the Republic Austria.

Māra Marnauza was born in 1963. She has graduated the “Jāzeps Vītols Latvian State Conservatory” in 1987.

Māra Marnauza is the founder, conductor, and artistic director of the chamber choir FORTIUS and the female choir BALTA; a chief conductor at the Baltic States’ Student Song Festival Gaudeamus and the XXV General Latvian Song and XV Dance Festival in 2013.

Māra Marnauza won the Best Conductor’s Award (Riga, 1999), received the international jury’s Special Best Conductor’s Prize (Námestovo, 2009).

She has gained recognition as a conductor in many international choir festivals and competitions, recorded CDs and DVDs, lead international artistic projects, master classes in Latvia and abroad in cooperation with Ragnar Rasmussen, Bob Chilcott, Christoph Schönherr and others.

Māra Marnauza is the Riga Teacher Training and Educational Management Academy’s vice-rector for research, PhD, professor in music pedagogy, Latvian Science Council expert, author of several scientific publications.

Māra Marnauza is a regular jury member in several choir festivals. This is her first adjudication for an INTERKULTUR event.