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.

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

Javier Busto was born in Hondarribia (Basque Country - Spain) in 1949 and graduated in Medicine and Surgery from the University of Valladolid. He gained his musical knowledge through self-teaching with inspiration by the maestro, Erwin List.

Javier Busto was conductor of Ederki Choir in Valladolid (1971-1976) and was founder and conductor of the Eskifaia Choir in Hondarribia from 1978 to 1994 as well as founder and leader of Kanta Cantemus Korua (1995-2007) and Aquam Lauda Korua (2014).

Javier Bustos's choral works are published in the Basque Country, France, Germany, Japan, the USA, the United Kingdom and Sweden and is regularly invited as conductor and jury member to different choral festivals and competitions in Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Norway, Panamá, Poland, Shout Korea, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey, the USA and Venezuela.

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.

As Director of Choirs at Brigham Young University, Utah, Rosalind Hall oversees the largest university choral program in the USA, in which 1,000 students participate each semester. Here, in addition to teaching classes in choral music, she conducts the BYU Concert Choir, a mixed choir of 100 advanced-level singers and the BYU Men’s Chorus, an entry-level choir of 180 singers. In both 2013 and 2014, the Princeton Review named her as one of the top 10 professors in the USA.

Before coming to the US to pursue a post-graduate degree in choral music, Professor Hall’s British training in vocal performance was at London’s Royal Academy of Music and Edinburgh and London Universities. Although she has now lived and worked in the US for 25 years, the strong choral traditions of her homeland, Wales, still paly a large role in her work. Renowned for her innovative and vivacious approach to vocal and rehearsal technique, she is a busy clinician on both sides of the Atlantic.

Christoph Mac-Carty was born in 1969 in southern Germany. He studied music at conservatories in Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland.

For more than 20 years Christoph Mac-Carty has been living and working in the Netherlands both as a pianist and as a choir conductor.

His choir "Dekoor Close Harmony" won first prizes at the "World Choir Games" in the categories Pop (2012 & 2014) Jazz (2010, 2012 & 2014). In 2014, "Dekoor" was invited by the "Rolling Stones" to sing with them at the "Pinkpop" (Netherlands) and "Werchter Classic" (Belgium) Festivals. In 2016 & 2018, "Dekoor" performed at the well known "Sziget Festival" in Hungary.

Christoph Mac-Carty gives masterclasses and workshops for choirs, has been a jury member at choir festivals around Europe and teaches vocal ensembles at the Conservatorium Enschede (Netherlands).

Besides being a conductor he is an in demand jazz pianist in the Netherlands. With his trio "Robinson, Freitag and Caruso" he won the "Dutch Jazz Competition" in 2005 at the North Sea Jazz Festival.

Another part of his artistic work is composing for and performing in music theater productions.

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.

Dr Aleksander Ryzhinskiy was born in 1981 in West Siberia. He received his first musical education as a member of Choir of boys and young men "Nightingales" (Omsk). During his training in Omsk musical college (1996-2000) he was a choirmaster of this choir. From 2000 to 2005 he studied choir conducting at the Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. In 2008 he defended the dissertation devoted to studying of Schoenberg’s choral music. Since 2009 he has been teaching at Gnesins’ Russian Academy of Music in Moscow. Here he based The Gnesins’ Ensemble of contemporary music «Altro coro» for the promotion of unknown western and domestic composer's compositions of the XX-XXI centuries. During his history the choir executed works by A. Schoenberg, S. Gubaidulina, A. Pärt, J. Tavener, H. Holliger, L. Dallapiccola and other composers in various concerts. This choir is a winner of different international choral competitions. «Altro coro» is owner of a Franz-Schubert-choral-prize 2014. Besides pedagogical and choirmaster's work A. Ryzhinskiy writes articles devoted to studying of choral music of the West European vanguard.

Dr. Beverly Shangkuan-Cheng is the President of the Philippine Choral Directors Association, Associate Professor of Music at the University of the Philippines, Artistic Director of the Las Piñas International Bamboo Organ Festival, and Music Director of the New Millennium Evangelical Church.

She is a First Prize Winner at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Graduate Conducting Competition.

Highlights of the 2023 Season include serving as one of the artistic directors for the World Symposium on Choral Music, being a featured presenter at the American Choral Directors Association National Conference, and serving as guest conductor of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra. Performance and adjudication engagements have brought her to South Africa, Germany, Sri Lanka, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, China, Spain, Vietnam, Portugal, and Singapore. She also regularly leads workshops in different parts of the Philippines.

Dr. Shangkuan-Cheng received a Bachelor of Music (summa cum laude) from the University of the Philippines, a Master of Music from the Yale School of Music and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Michigan.

Tony Margeta (b. 1972) received a Music exam and Master of Choir conducting from Academy of Music and Drama at the University of Gothenburg with renowned teachers such as Jan Yngwe and Gunnar Ericsson. He has extensive experience of choral music while working with several choirs in Sweden. In October 2008 he was awarded a scholarship from the Madeleine Uggla foundation for considerable efforts in his work with Swedish choirs. From 2010-2012 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the National Swedish Choral Association. 

During 2004-2015 he was the conductor and artistic leader of the mixed choir, Falu Kammarkör, with whom he won several choir competitions such as Grieg Grand Prix in Norway and Grand Prix in Bad Krozingen.