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 more than 20 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 about hundred 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.

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

Enrique Azurza is the Artistic Director of Sociedad Coral de Bilbao since 2016. He studied choral conducting in the Basque Country and in Stockholm with Anders Eby, Eric Ericson and Carl Högset.

He has conducted the choir "Hodeiertz" of Tolosa since 1985. In 1997 he founded the professional Vocal Ensemble KEA with the aim of promoting contemporary and ancient music. He has been the Spanish representative in the World Choral Symposium with "Hodeiertz", Sydney 1996, and with KEA vocal ensemble in Argentina 2011.

He teaches choral singing in Musikene, Centro Superior de Música del País Vasco and is President of the Confederation of Choirs in the Basque Country.

Azurza has conducted the Choir of the University of the Basque Country (1999-2016), the Choir of the Choral Singing Institute of Aragon (1993-2003), the Spanish National Youth Choir and the Coro Lírico de Cantabria (2011-2015). All of the choirs have successfully participated in national and international contests and has recorded several CDs.

He gives regularly workshops and has been member of the jury in different festivals. He is member of the musical committee in the International Choral Contest of Tolosa, in the World Symposium Barcelona 2017 and artistic director of the National Choral Contest of Ejea de los Caballeros.

Dr. Michael Joseph Barrett is an internationally acclaimed conductor, educator, composer, and choral clinician. He was the conductor of the University of Pretoria (TUKS) Camerata and a full-time faculty member in choral conducting at the University of Pretoria's Department of Music from 2013-2025. Since April 2025, he has been appointed as a Research Associate at the University of Pretoria. Dr. Barrett earned his Doctor of Music (DMus) in Choral Performance from the University of Pretoria in 2017. His choirs have received numerous national and international awards, and he is frequently sought after as a guest conductor, lecturer, adjudicator, and choral clinician. His work spans across the globe, with recent engagements including conducting the Texas All-State Choir (TMEA 2024), the Missouri All-State Choir (MMEA 2022), and the Florida ACDA High School Honor Choir (2019). He has held university residencies at institutions such as Missouri State University, Texas State University, San Jose State University, and the University of Washington, among others. Dr. Barrett is also a passionate advocate for collaboration and regularly works with high school festivals and university programmes in the United States, Europe and Asia.

Internationally, Dr. Barrett has conducted and presented workshops in countries including the United Kingdom, USA, New Zealand, Singapore, China, Russia, and South Korea. He will debut at Carnegie Hall in April 2026, marking a significant milestone in his career. As the conductor of the TUKS Camerata, an 80-voice choir consisting of full-time students from diverse academic fields, Dr. Barrett had led the group to great success, including winning the prestigious Grand Prix of Nations for Best Mixed Youth Choir in Riga, Latvia, in both 2014 and 2017. The Camerata has also performed at the World Symposium of Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain (2017), and recorded six critically acclaimed albums. Their most recent projects include Light The Whole Sky (2025) and uJehova (2024), while their 2022 tour of the United Kingdom included a performance with the renowned vocal ensemble Voces8. In March 2025, the Camerata performed as a Headline Choir at the American Choral Directors Association National Conference in Dallas, Texas.

As a composer and arranger, Dr. Barrett has over 40 works published by Santa Barbara Music Publishers and Walton Music (USA). He has earned a Y2 rating from the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa for his contributions to South African Choral Music Research. Dr. Barrett also serves as the Executive Director and Co-Producer of Capital Singers, South Africa's largest community choir project, further solidifying his commitment to choral music both locally and internationally.

Hans van den Brand studied Music in Education, Piano and Choral Conducting at the Brabants Conservatorium Tilburg. He attended master classes in Orchestral conducting (Lucas Vis -NL), Opera conducting (Miescyslaw Dondajeweski - PL) and Arranging (Damon Meader, Steve Zegree - USA), Vocal Jazz & Pop (Darmon Meader, Kim Nazarian, Michele Weir-USA, Matthias Becker – GER, Peder Karlsson – SE, Jim Daus Hjernøe, Jesper Holm - DK).

In 1978 Hans founded vocal jazz group Kluster which was successful in The Netherlands and abroad. He conducted the ‘Souvenir des Montagnards’ opera choir (’89-’02) and created many interesting opera, operetta and musical productions. From ’94 till ’01 Hans was artistic leader of the Zuid-Nederlands Kamerkoor with a focus on performing the passions from J.S. Bach and contemporary repertoire. Hans was also the conductor and musical leader from several promising Dutch vocal groups.

In ’08-’09 he was the MD of one of the most famous Dutch musicals Ciske de Rat, a production of Stage Entertainment Holland.

Hans is academic teacher in Conducting Choir & Ensemble, both at at the Conservatory of Amsterdam as the Fontys School of Fine Arts. He supervises the choirs at both institutes.

In 2003 Hans founded the Fontys Jazz Choir, 12 vocalists with a healthy ambition in singing and performing jazz, pop, gospel and fusion repertoire from the highest musical standard. The choir won the Dutch TV Competion ‘Battle of the Choirs’ in 2010, toured through China during the 10th anniversary in 2013 and won two gold medals (jazz and pop) during the World Choir Games in Riga 2014. In October 2015 the choir won the BALK Top Festival Direct Mics Competition and was with the highest scores over all winner of the Festival. In July 2016 the Fontys Jazz Choir became world champion the Jazz Category of the World Choir Games in Sochi (RUS).

Hans was the artistic leader of five editions of the International Vocal Group Festival Holland (’96-’02) and is a well-known adjudicator, clinician and coach at national and international choral festivals.

He was the guest conductor at the International Singing Week (Europa Cantat–Nevers-F) and workshop leader Vocal Jazz in Curacao (NL). He is de co-founder of the Vocal Pop & Jazz Days (Soesterberg–NL) and guest teacher at the Choral Conducting Course from BALK (Dutch choral organisation for pop, jazz, gospel and musical choirs).

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.

Tove Ramlo-Ystad is an educated singer and conductor with a Master Degree from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim. Her teachers and mentors in conducting have been Stefan Sköld, Anders Eby and Mogens Dahl.
Tove is one of Norway's most acknowledged choir conductors. She is a popular and inspiring guest conductor, and is frequently invited as an adjudicator in international choir competitions. Tove is representing Norway in The World Choir Council. Since 2015 she has been the artistic director of The Norwegian National Championship for Choirs.
Ramlo-Ystad has conducted both mixed and male choirs through the years, and has kept conducting the female choir Cantus since their beginning in 1986. Through Tove's leadership has Cantus received a lot of attention, won several competitions and has recorded 9 CD’s. The three last recordings got a Grammy nomination. Cantus is known by their Nordic sound. This sound was the reason Disney discovered Cantus, and led to the choir being asked to sing in their animation movie 'Frozen' 1 and 2. Several of the works commissioned for Cantus through the years have become an inspiration for many other female choirs around the world.
Tove Ramlo-Ystad is music director for the Norwegian Choral Association.