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.

Johan Rooze studied Piano and Conducting at the Utrecht Conservatory, the Netherlands. Later he went to the U.S. to specialize in Jazz Piano, Singing and Arranging.

He was founder and 23 years Musical Director of the Utrecht University Vocal Group “Dekoor”. They won many prices such as The Dutch Choir Festival, The International Vocal Group Festival and the “Idols for choir” TV show, “Korenslag” 2007 in the Netherlands. He was Conductor of the Utrecht Student Symphonic Choir and Orchestra. With these choirs he toured all over the world. Johan Rooze founded the “Dudok-Ensemble”, an outstanding Project Choir, conducted the monthly Bach Cantatas in Utrecht and was guest conductor with the National Radio Choir.

Furthermore he was Professor for Vocal Jazz, Conducting and Arranging at the Conservatories of Rotterdam and Alkmaar, a member of the board of Musical Advisors for the Dutch Royal Christian Music Association and Artistic Director for the International Choir Festival, Netherlands 2005.

In 2008 he moved to South Korea and teaches Choral Music and Jazz Piano at the Yeongnam University. He is musical director of a new Jazz Choir (Yaenoeul Jazz Singers) and in 2010 he founded the professional Daegu Students Choir. He is a frequent guest conductor with other choirs. Besides his choral work he is very active as a Jazz Pianist and Arranger. He works as Artistic Director for INTERKULTUR and is a frequently asked adjudicator, speaker and workshop-leader internationally.

Giovanni Acciai was born in 1946, is a renowned Italian composer, university professor, juror, workshop leader and conductor. He studied organ, composition, and choir conducting at the Conservatory “Giuseppe Verdi” in Milan, and took his master degree in musicology at Pavia University. Giovanni Acciai was conductor of the Chamber choir of the Italian Brodcast and of the Symphonic Choir of the Italian Broadcast in Turin.

Presently, he is the conductor and artistic director of the vocal and instrumental ensembles “I Solisti del Madrigale”, and the collegium vocale “Nova ars cantandi”, with which he has made concert tours and recordings; 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 Archiv Deutsches Grammophon and Tactus.

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.

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 Grado and Quartiano. 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 international World Choir Council.

Since 2014, he is artistic director of the Accademia di Musica Antica of Milan and active member of the Réseau Européen de Musique Ancienne” (REMA) of Versailles.

- 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.

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.

Søren Birch studied choral and orchestra conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus, Denmark. After his graduation he has made further studies in choral conducting in Sweden and in orchestral conducting in the Czech Republic.He is the founder and conductor of the chamber choir Coro Misto, Aalborg and of Midtjysk Kammerkor (Central Jutland Chamber Choir). He has an extensive concert activity, and several cd’s with a comprehensive a cappella repertoire has been published.He is vocal coach for the Symphony Orchestra of Aalborg. With this and other orchestras he has performed a great deal of the repertoire for choir and orchestra.Søren Birch has conducted the Danish Radio Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir.

Alongside his conducting career Søren Birch is active as a composer. He is a representative of the  “Nordic style”, and has published several of his works on Music Sales Classical.For many years Søren Birch has been an associate professor the Royal Academy of Music and he has an extensive activity as an instructor of choral events and conducting courses in Denmark.

Selga Mence – a composer, who has gradually taken her place as one of Latvia’s significant composers of choral music, as well as vocal and instrumental chamber works.

She studied composition at Latvian State Conservatory. Since 1985 she has been lecturer at Latvian Academy of Music, currently a professor and head of the Composition Department. Mence’s choral music has been performed by the The Latvian Radio Choir, the State Choir Latvija, at Latvian National Song Festivals as well as various festivals outside Latvia. Many choirs performing her works have taken victory titles in international competitions.

Selga Mence’s vivid emotions, lively musical images, admiration for Latvian folk songs and their traditional and firm ethos find their expression in choir songs. Popular Latvian folk melodies and texts (often blurring the boundaries between folksong arrangements and original music) are related to the national romantic tradition but are developed through contemporary compositional techniques. The compositions of Selga Mence explore sonorities and improvisation games characteristic to the aleatoric technique. Melodic material as one the most important facets of her music is purposefully and logically developed to set the work alight.