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.

He was born in Pineda de Mar (Barcelona) and he began his singing studies at the Conservatori del Liceu with Cecilia Fontdevila and Enriqueta Tarrés, where he graduated with top grades and received an honourable mention. He has been awarded in several singing competitions, like the International Competition XVI for singers Francesco Cilea of Reggio di Calabria and the Young Musicians Festival VI in Catalonia. He has been awarded by the Jaume Aragall Foundation with a scholarship. He has also attended to master classes given by Montserrat Caballé and other opera singers. His repertoire includes operas like La Bohème, La Traviata, Tosca and many others; lieder and zarzuela, as well as oratorios and cantatas. He has performed in theatres around Europe and Central America, including the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

He is a pupil of maestro Salvador Brotons at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. In 1998 he started giving singing lessons at the music academy Centre Musical Can Salom, where he became director in 2002. He is the director of Cor i Orquestra Simfònica Harmonia and the artistic director of the Temporada Lírica Ciutat de Calella.

Fred Sjöberg, born 1953, is an educated singer and choral conductor at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and Örebro. Among others he has studied with Prof. Solwig Grippe, Prof. Eric Ericson and Prof. Helmuth Rilling. He has been the first conductor to conduct the three major international youth choirs as World Youth Choir (1991 and 2005), World Chamber Choir (1993) and European Youth Choir (1999).

When the Swedish organization for young choirs “UngiKör” started he was elected as their first president. In 2000 he was appointed as the “Conductor of the Year” in Sweden by SCDA (Swedish Choral Directors Association) appointed with the Johannes Norrby Medallion for outstanding and 2001 service and development to the Swedish Choral Life. From 1997 to 2004 he was the Music Director and conductor of the project “Notes for Millions”.

From 2000 to 2004 he was also Music Director of the Swedish Choral Centre as well as Artistic Director for Lund International Choral Festival from 2005 to 2006. Since 2009 he is Music Director of Swedish International Choral Centre in Örebro. Fred Sjöberg has been Vice President of Europa Cantat as well as President of the Music Commission of Europa Cantat and has also been Vice President of IFCM.

He is Council Member of INTERKULTUR and also on the Artistic Directorium of INTERKULTUR.

From 2015 he is General Artistic Director of INTERKULTUR.

- 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.

conductor, pianist, adjudicator

• licenciate of the Royal Schools of Music in Choral Conducting
• pianist and pedagogue
• founder and director of the children's choir "Cor Vivaldi of Barcelona"
• national and international adjudicator in Tours, Cantonigròs, Linz, Calella, Torrevieja and others
• has commissioned and premiered several new works dedicated to him and his choir

He was born in Pineda de Mar (Barcelona) and he began his singing studies at the Conservatori del Liceu with Cecilia Fontdevila and Enriqueta Tarrés, where he graduated with top grades and received an honourable mention. He has been awarded in several singing competitions, like the International Competition XVI for singers Francesco Cilea of Reggio di Calabria and the Young Musicians Festival VI in Catalonia. He has been awarded by the Jaume Aragall Foundation with a scholarship. He has also attended to master classes given by Montserrat Caballé and other opera singers. His repertoire includes operas like La Bohème, La Traviata, Tosca and many others; lieder and zarzuela, as well as oratorios and cantatas. He has performed in theatres around Europe and Central America, including the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Gran Teatre del Liceu.

He is a pupil of maestro Salvador Brotons at the Escola Superior de Música de Catalunya. In 1998 he started giving singing lessons at the music academy Centre Musical Can Salom, where he became director in 2002. He is the director of Cor i Orquestra Simfònica Harmonia and the artistic director of the Temporada Lírica Ciutat de Calella.

Tommyanto Kandisaputra is the founder, music director and conductor of Studio Cantorum Bandung Choir & Orchestra, which actively performs important music repertoire in Indonesia.

He is working as voice consultant and conducts many choir development programs all over Indonesia for singers and conductors by giving choral seminars, workshops, voice building, choir clinics and organizing competitions.

He is the chairman and founder of the Bandung Choral Society that organizes concerts and collaborations, symposium on Church Choral Music since 2003 until now. This year, he organize the 5th Symposium on Church Choral Music.

He was a World Choir Council member. He is a chairman of INTERKULTUR Indonesia since 2006.

Tommyanto Kandisaputra was the Artistic Director of The 1st Asian Choir Games in November 2007, taking place in Jakarta/ Indonesia. Also, Tommyanto was the Artistic Director of the North Sulawesi International Choir Competition 2008 in Manado and the Tomohon International Choir Competition 2009 and 2010 in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Now he organizes the Bandung International Choir Competition in his home town and the successful Bali International Choir Competition in Denpasar every year. And now he have been organizing another big Choral event "INDONESIA CHOIR FESTIVAL" in Indonesia.

At the end of 2014, he had been asking to be the Representatives of Indonesia for One Asia Cultural Ambassador organized by Music for one Foundation, South Korea. This organization dedicated to working with children and communities worldwide to reach their full potential through music and music education.

Recently, he conducted Taipei Philharmonic Youth Choir, May 4 performed the richness of Choral Music from Indonesia at National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan.

Primož Kerštanj graduated from the Conservatory of Music in Ljubljana and has studied at Ljubljana University, Academy of Music. His current professional position is teaching piano and solfeggio at Willems Music Center DO RE MI Bled, where he also conducts the children‘s choir DO RE MI and the vocal group DO RE MI. Kerštanj is specialized in working with children with special needs and children with autistic spectrum disorder.

He has conducted several choirs in his career: Milko Škoberne female choir Jesenice, Vox Carniolus and from 2000 to 2010 Akademski pevski zbor France Prešeren Kranj. He has been directing Dekliški pevski zbor Gimnazije Kranj from 2006 to 2014 and has brought it to a high quality level.

Primož Kerštanj was awarded as best conductor in the competitions in Riva del Garda in 2007 and in Calella/Barcelona in 2013.

The female choir Carmen manet is one of the three choirs Primož Kerštanj conducts nowadays. Most important achievements of the choir was winning the Grand Prix at 50th Montreux Choral Festival in April 2014 and a gold plaque in the Slovenian national competition in Maribor in April 2016. 2017 Carmen manet became "Eurovision Choir of the Year 2017" which was broadcasted on TV in 12 European countries.

Primož Kerštanj is further an internationally sought-after composer, arranger and juror.

Bernard Krüger is currently the Director of Music at Kearsney College, a leading independent school for boys in South Africa. Prior to this post, he was the Artistic Director of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School – a specialist educational institution using choral singing as a vehicle to teach music and all other academic applications to boys in South Africa.

He is a composer and arranger for local and international ensembles, a cappella groups, choirs and orchestras. Krüger studied conducting at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatory) in The Hague, Netherlands, with Jos van Veldhoven and Jos Vermunt, received masterclasses from Simon Halsey, Paul Hillier, Jaap v Zweden, Tonu Kaljuste, Steve Reich, Masaaki Suzuki and Nathalie Stutzmann.

He is frequently in demand for workshops at conferences and festivals in South Africa and abroad, particularly for South African choral music and performance practice and was member of the jury at the Johannes Brahms Competition (2011), the European Choir Games (2013), the World Choir Games (2014), Canta al Mar (2016) as well as competitions and eisteddfods in South Africa.

In 2017, the Drakensberg Boys Choir, under Bernard’s direction, toured to Japan and performed in front of 38,500 people over 25 concerts in all major cities and in 2018, the Drakensberg Boys Choir was crowned Champions of the WCG in Tshwane in the category Scenic Pop. In 2019, Bernard led the DBC to perform at the official 20th Anniversary concert of The Lion King on the West End in London, in a joint performance with Lebo M and the cast.

Bernard is no stranger to the Kearsney College Choir and worked with them from 2009-2015 as well, and during this time, the choir was twice crowned WCG Champions (2012 and 2014).

Bernard Krüger is actively involved in the promotion of choral music in South Africa and believes choral music will one day be the driving force to bring peace and understanding across cultures, borders, religions and all nations on Earth.

Born in Vendryně, a small Moravian village, she acquired her first choral experience as a chorister and soloist in the Štývar Children’s Choir of Třinec. After graduating from Ostrava Conservatory, where she majored in piano, she worked as a choirmaster and pianist for the Permoník Children’s Choir of Karviná. In 1996 she moved to Prague and founded a Children Choir Studio at Prague Music School. With its concert department Zvonky – Praha (Prague Bells) as well as with the chamber choir Abbellimento she has participated in numerous festivals and international competitions (Italy, France, England, Belgium, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Canada, USA) and was awarded many prizes, among which she respects most the special prize for her pedagogic achievements (2001) as well as Petr Eben Prize (2003) and two Grand Prix awards for her choirs from Graz (2011). Since 2008 she has been a member of Czech Ministry of Culture grant committee for choral singing. Among other activities she collaborates with many outstanding teachers and musicians. Her choirs have been frequently participating in TV and theatre projects.

Meng-Hsien Peng is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Müller Chamber Choir (2013-), and also the Artistic Director and Conductor of NTU EMBA Chorus (2015-), the President, Music Director, and Conductor of the Rong Shing Children's Chorus under the Rong Shing Cultural Foundation (2016-), the Conductor of The Voice of Great Love Chorus (2011-), and the founding Conductor and Music Director of CCJHS Girls Choir (2000-). She is also a member of the ACDA.

Passionate and eager to realize her vision for the Taiwanese choral scene, Peng has dedicated herself to promoting the art of choral music. In 2012, Peng received the ‘Distinguished Teaching Award’ from the Ministry of Education for excellence in teaching. In 2016, the Ministry of Education honored her with the ‘Arts Contribution Award’ in appreciation of her extraordinary efforts in music education.

Under her direction and conducting, The Müller Chamber Choir was winning the Grand Prix at the 9th International Johannes Brahms Choir Festival and Competition 2015 in Wernigerode (Germany) and was awarded the title “Champion of the World Choir Games” in Sochi 2016. Now the singers are ranked #2 in the overall list of the 1000 top choirs in the world. Furthermore, the choir is the new number one among the Chamber Choirs & Vocal Ensembles.

Peter Schmitt holds a degree in music education from the Hochschule fuer Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, Germany, where he studied choral conducting with Professor Uwe Gronostay. In addition, he participated in many workshops and masterclasses with renowned choral conductors.

At the Liebig School, Peter serves as the director of choral activities and teaches general music classes in grades 5 through 13.

He has also been working with several choirs in and around Giessen: “Saengerkranz” Watzenborn-Steinberg, “Harmonie” Daubringen, and the chamber choir “Klangfarben Giessen”.

Peter is sought after as a clinician at festivals and frequently serves as juror at choir competitions. In addition, he has won many prizes with his own choirs at regional and international competitions, most notably first prizes at international choral festivals in Linz, Austria, and Wernigerode, Germany, as well as first prize at the Choir Competition of Hessen in 2013.

In November 2014, the choir of the Liebig School sang under his direction at the Memorial Day Celebration of the German Parliament, which was broadcasted live on ZDF, one of the biggest German television channels.

Born and brought up in Wales, UK, Katie Thomas read Music at Cardiff University before pursuing postgraduate studies in Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in London.

She is the conductor of the Royal College of Music Junior Department choirs and vocal coach/assistant chorus master to the BBC Symphony Chorus. She also directs her own professional concert project group, The Constellation Club.

Katie is proud to be a conducting mentor for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and enjoys working as tutor of conducting technique for the Association of British Choral Directors.

Alongside her conducting career, Katie has performed as a singer on the international concert platform with professional vocal ensembles including the Monteverdi Choir (with whom she also acted as rehearsal assistant conductor to Sir John Eliot Gardiner), Polyphony, Academy of Ancient Music, and Tenebrae.

Noted for her authoritative yet encouraging approach and sound stylistic awareness, she is considered a leading choral music specialist in the UK.

conductor, lecturer, scholar

• conductor of five choral ensembles
• singer of professional vocal ensemble Lumen Valo
• teacher of choral conducting, chairman of the Finnish Choral Directors' Association
• Doctor of Music, Renaissance music scholar