Address: Untere Donaulände 7, 4010 Linz

Designed by Finnish architect Heikki Siren, the Brucknerhaus has been the symbol of Linz since it was opened in 1974 by Herbert von Karajan. The famous concert hall’s Bruckner Festival and “Klassisch Anderen” program delight audiences of all ages with a crosssection of diverse musical styles performed by top artists from around the world. The competition performances of the competing choirs as well as the pedagogical offers take place in the Brucknerhaus.

Text and photo: INTERKULTUR

Address: Herrenstraße 26, 4020 Linz

The Cathedral of St Mary was completed in 1924 and offers space for around 20,000 people. Of particular interest are the window paintings such as the "Linz Window" or the "Emperor Window". The interior gallery is open to the public on guided tours and provides a fascinating view from a height of 15 meters. There are daily guided visits of the spire with its magnificent views over Linz. The Opening Concert will take place in the Mariendom.

Text and photo: INTERKULTUR

Address: Stiftstraße 1, 4490 St. Florian

St. Florian, the oldest Monastery of the Augustinian Canons Regular in Austria, is an outstanding Baroque jewel and landmark for the entire Central Upper Austrian Region. The Monastery was constructed over the grave of Christian martyr Saint Florian. The imposant pile of buildings is an outstanding and superb example of baroque architecture. The Augustinian Abbey provided a wealthy and culturally sophisticated milieu for the creation of paintings, compositions, and scientific research. On your way around you can visit the splendid Collegiate Church, the Library, the Marble Salon, the Imperial Apartments, and the Picture Gallery with elaborate works by Albrecht the Library, the Marble Salon, the Imperial Apartments, and the Picture Gallery with elaborate works by Albrecht Altdorfer, a master of the Danube School of Painting. The greatest composer of church music in 19th century Austria, Anton Bruckner became the organist at St. Florian as a young man. You can visit his crypt as well as the room where he lived for about a decade. Both, in the Collegiate Church and in the Marble Salon, international choirs perform in Friendship Concerts.

Text and photo: INTERKULTUR

Marleen De Boo (Antwerp-Belgium) obtained both an MA in Music Pedagogy and in Choral Conducting.
She lectures choral conducting at the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp and is conductor of the Great Choir at that same institute.
At the Podiumacademie Lier she teaches choral conducting in courses for amateurs, but also for semi-professionals and professionals. One of these programs focuses on working with children and youth.
Marleen is artistic director of VZW Waelrantkoren, a non-pro t organization with eight choirs, ve of them conducted by her.
Her conducting practice covers various age groups with a strong emphasis on the pedagogical aspects of choral singing. Her main motivation is to allow amateurs, especially children and young people, to discover the beauty of choral music. She strives for her choirs to be a gentle environment for young people searching for their identity, a place where everyone can show their true self.
With Waelrant Youth Choir, she participates in international festivals and competitions. This choir currently holds the 15th place in the Interkultur World Ranking.

Andreas Salzbrunn graduated at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (subjects: vocal, piano and choir conducting) and attended several master classes in choir conducting (Robert Sund, Yuval Benozer, Thomas Caplin, Johann van der Sandt, Johannes Prinz) and vocal (Andreas Strunkeit, Heinz Zednik). He was member of the music department at the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vienna and led several performances (Kasimir und Karoline, Geschichten aus dem Wiener Wald, Wie im Himmel – As it is in Heaven). At the moment he is teacher for music, vocal and choir at the BORG 3 in Vienna.
He leads the "Chor im Hemd" (winner of the "musica sacra" choir competition in Bratislava) an amateur he himself founded 20 years ago, the “ensemble focus”, a professional 16 voices vocal ensemble and the school choir.
For many years he performed at the Wiener Burgtheater as a singer ("Faust", "Antigone", "Mea culpa") and was choir conductor for the "Opernfestival Retz". He gives lectures on singing and conducting all over the world (Italy, France, England, Slovenia, Norway), is head of the music department of the Austrian Choral Association and was assistant conductor of the Austrian Youth Choir.
He arranges and composes regularly for different vocal ensembles and casts, two of his compositions are printed at publishers Doblinger and Helbling.

Conductor, composer and pedagogue, Josep Vila i Casañas was born in Sabadell, Spain, in 1966. His specialism is the a cappella repertoire, as well as choral and orchestral literature down the ages.
He conducts the Lieder Càmera Chamber Choir from Sabadell and collaborates often as guest conductor with the Francesc Valls Chamber Choir, a professional vocal ensemble engaged to the Sagrada Família church and to Barcelona’s Cathedral. He has served as the resident conductor of the Orfeó Català choral society (1998-2016), the Cor de Cambra of the Palau de la Música Catalana (2011-2016), the Radiotelevisión Española Choir (2007- 2010).
He has worked as a guest conductor with choirs and orchestras such as the Spanish National Choir, the Swedish Radio Choir, the World Youth Choir (2010 and 2019), the Turkish State Choir, the Choir of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, the Venezuelan Simón Bolivar National Youth Choir, the Radiotelevisión Española Orchestra, and the Catalan Baroque Orchestra.
As a composer, his main area of interest is music for voice and instruments, and he has written an extensive body of works for children’s and youth choirs, for mixed a cappella choirs and for choir and orchestra.
Since 2005, he has taught choir conducting at the Catalonia Music Highschool.