CANT’ELLA was founded in 1994 by a handful of singers, all qualified by individual vocal training and experienced in singing music from all epochs in high-level mixed choirs. Already in the first year of CANT’ELLA’s activities the choir attracted attention by its musical quality and select concert programs.

CANT’ELLA’s basic idea is to perform music for female choirs on a professional level, to explore and express the variety of styles and sounds that can be produced by an ensemble of equal voices and also to display the very specific quality of choir music: the blend of music and poetry.

The realisation of these ideas has successfully been displayed in several national and international competitions as the “Deutscher Chorwettbewerb” in 1997/1998, the International Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf in 1999 and the International Choir Competition Maasmechelen in 1996 and 2006.

CANT’ELLA is in close touch with several contemporary composers and wishes to contribute to the enlargement of high-quality music for female choirs. Recent compositions by Siegfried Strohbach, Volker Wangenheim and Alfred Koerppen, initiated by CANT’ELLA, are encouraging results of this activity and aim.

Bine Becker-Beck, CANT’ELLA’s conductor, first studied history and music at the teacher’s training college in Aachen, followed by studies of choir conduction with Fritz Ter Wey, Hermann Max & Wilhelm Schepping, Karl Suttner and Andreas Göpfert. After several years as an assistant professor for choir conduction at the University of Cologne she now works as a music teacher. In addition she also acts as an adjudicator in national and international choir competitions.

Capella Vocale Gandersheim was founded in 1982 by Martin Heubach and participated in more than 120 concerts both at home and abroad (Poland, Denmark, Sweden, France and Italy) during the past 25 years. Since its formation the choir has performed over 500 compositions in services and concerts which established the small town of Bad Gandersheim in the state of Lower Saxony as an acknowledged centre for the cultivation of sacred music. The predominant part of the repertoire consists of a cappella music from the 16th to the 21st century. Furthermore, the choir regularly cooperates with different professional ensembles that are specialized in the performing practice of Early Music. Thus, during the last years the choir performed Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, the complete sacred works by J. Ph. Rameau (premiere performance in Germany), J. S. and C. Ph. E.

Bach’s Magnificats, several Bach cantatas, the b-minor Mass and the smaller ‘Lutheran Masses’, St. John’s Passion (in a staged version) and St. Matthew’s Passion, Mozart’s Requiem and c minor Mass as well as the German Requiem by J. Brahms (together with the Oldenburg Chamber Choir).

In the context of the ‘Gandersheim Choir Academy’ Capella Vocale has participated in workshops with Peter Kooy, the Hilliard Ensemble and Johannes Prinz (principal conductor of the ‘Wiener Singverein’). In 1994 a CD of works by Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Te Deum, Motets) was released. The choir was awarded a prize already three times at the Lower Saxony choir competition and was invited in 2003 to participate in the 8th International Chamber Choirs’ Competition in Marktoberdorf where it achieved the fourth place and was awarded the distinction ‘Internationally very good’.

COIS CLADAIGH (Ireland)

Cois Cladaigh is based in Galway on the west coast of Ireland and has travelled widely throughout Ireland and has made a number of foreign tours, including to Italy, France, Belgium, Portugal, The Netherlands, USA, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and Estonia. Plans are in place to visit Iceland in May 2009. The choir’s tours have always been a great success with a blend of both European and Irish choral music with traditional Irish song and dance music. This is thanks to the choir having some excellent musicians and traditional singers.

Cois Cladaigh regularly commissions contemporary composers to write works including John Buckley, Micheál Ó Súilleabháin, Hugh Kelly, Marion Ingoldsby, Martin O’Leary, Peter Michael Hamel, Jenny Walshe, Eamonn Murray, Br. Ben Hanlon, Ann Hoban, Máire Ní Dhuibhir and the contemporary New Zealand composer, David Hamilton. The Basque composer, Javier Busto wrote a piece to celebrate the choir’s 20th anniversary. Their most recent commission was by American composer Matthew Harris which was premiered in Galway in April of this year. The choir has also commissioned Michael McGlynn and for 2009 will commission Albert Alcaraz.

In September 2000, Cois Cladaigh launched its first CD called “Lux Aeterna” which is a selection of the choir’s Renaissance and Contemporary spiritual music. The second “An Equal Music” focuses more on contemporary secular and religious music and to a lesser extent Renaissance music and was launched in the autumn of 2007. The third CD is a live recording of last year’s concert at the 53rd Cork International Choral Festival and will also launch at the same time while the fourth will focus on Christmas music.

CONSONO Chamber Choir was founded from a vocal ensemble in 1995 by conductor Harald Jers. Today it acts as a Chamber choir with about 34 young singers. Since many years, the choir sings concerts with rarely performed music from different epochs and countries. A special “trademark” of the choir is to work out interesting unknown a-cappella-literature by contemporary composers and their authentic stylistic performance-practice. Intense voice raining and an epoch-adapted choir sound are the main aspects of the rehearsals. The choir very often experiments with different formations and refers to the acoustic knowledge of their conductor in connection to the advantages of different choir formations for various choral pieces. Especially for the sound of Romantic music this leads to an enhancement of sound. CONSONO made appearance with radio broadcasts and diverse awards at national and international choir competitions: 2004 German first performance and radio broadcasting WDR of Einojuhani Rautavaaras “True & False Unicorn”, several prizes in Germany, among others 1st prize at the 7th German National Choir Competition in Kiel 2006, 2nd prize at the 10th International chamber choir competition 2007 in Marktoberdorf at the highest achievement level “international excellent” and the special prize for the best premiere performance, 1st prize and special prizes for the best choir of the competition. Best performance of the compulsory piece and prize of the audience at the 9th International Belgium choir competition in Maasmechelen 2007 and invited guest choir at “Namur en Choeurs” for the 25th anniversary celebration of IFCM.

Helsinki Academic Female Choir KYN is a bright and versatile female voice choir from the Helsinki School of Economics, whose members are either students or young women just commencing their careers. KYN’s musical strengths lie in its expressiveness and its unique and varied repertoire.

KYN was founded in 1981. Heikki Saari was appointed KYN’S first artistic director. He was followed by Laila Tarpila (now Kangas). KYN’S present artistic director is Kaija Viitasalo. Viitasalo graduated master of Music in 1989 and was asked to be artistic director of KYN that same year. Kaiija Viitasalo conducted several choirs whilst still studying at the Sibelius Academy. Currently she is also employed as a music teacher for intermediate and upper secondary classes.

With its first two artistic directors KYN focused on Finnish folk songs, musical tunes and American barbershop arrangements. However under the direction of Kaiija Viitasalo the choir has profiled itself particularly as an interpreter of Finnish as well as foreign jazz music. Modern arrangements of traditional Finnish folksongs that are rich in harmonies bring additional diversity to the repertoire.

KYN has published five recordings, the last of which Kynnyksellä (On the Treshold), came out in 2006. Kynnyksellä comprises of contemporary Finnish jazz music. All songs on the album are from pens of front rank Finnish composers. Some of the songs are without accompaniment, others feature a jazz band. KYN has played a pioneering role in combining choir music with a jazz band.

KYN has participated successfully in competitions at home and abroad. In 2000 KYN took second place in the female category, and was third in the overall competition of “Europe…and its songs” an international choir competition in Barcelona. In the summer of 2001 KYN received a gold stamp in the Tampere Vocal Music Festival. In June of 2002 KYN won the Klemetti invitational choir competition for female choirs and song groups held in Orivesi, Finland. In the autumn of 2003 KYN won the female folk song category of the international “In…Canto sul Garda” competition held in Riva del Garda, Italy. In the same competition KYN received a gold medal in the jazz category and a special mention for best jazz interpretation with its rendering of Lady Day composed by Jukka Linkola. In the summer of 2007 KYN received yet another gold stamp in the Tampere Vocal Music Festival.

Molto cantabile had its beginnings in 2003 and worked initially on a project-by-project basis, before it became a permanent formation with its official foundation in September 2005. The choir is directed by the committed conductor Andreas Felber, who is only 24 years old. He finished his studies with degrees in singing and choral conducting in 2007. Andreas Felber attended several workshops and master classes headed by Jakob Stämpfli, Margreet Honig, Anders Eby and Ton Koopman.

Molto cantabile have already drawn attention to themselves on several occasions – for example at the Swiss Choral Contest 2005 (audience award and special award of the jury) or at the Lucerne Choral Festival 2006 (laureate of the ‘Prix d’Excellence’). To the most memorable experiences in the young history of the choir also belong two journeys abroad; The first journey led molto cantabile to the 52nd European Music Festival in Neerpelt, Belgium in May 2004 (1st Prize summa cum laude, 99 out of 100 points). The second one was a trip to the renowned International Choral Festival in Tolosa, Spain (molto cantabile made a 2nd place in the category ‘Polyphony’ and ranked fourth place in ‘Folklore’). Furthermore, molto cantabile won the nationwide ‘Valiant Forum for Young Orchestras and Choirs’ of the Murten Classics Festival.

Molto cantabile have a comprehensive repertoire enfolding music from the renaissance up to contemporary music. A selection is recorded on the CD ‘molto cantabile – aufgezeichnet’. Molto cantabile also premiered a couple of compositions, for example ‘Lass dir Zeit’ of Romanian Composer Violeta Dinescu. This work has been rehearsed in a master class headed by the reputable conductor Monica Buckland.

Molto cantabile face a very active schedule of performances and regularly host own concerts such as its widely noticed programme ‘mystisch hören’ which premiered in December 2006 and was released on the choir’s second CD in may 2007.

The choir also pays attention to foster musical and cultural interchange with choirs from abroad. For instance, molto cantabile cooperated with an Armenian girl’s choir on the occasion of the European Youth Choir Festival 2007 in Basel, Switzerland.

In June 2007, molto cantabile appeared for the first time on television in a popular Swiss folk music broadcast.

Molto cantabile is not just about singing – various events are being organized to make the participation in this choir as enjoyable as possible. With wide documentation being available on both the internet and on DVD, molto cantabile can give their audience a real look behind the scenes.

NEW DUBLIN VOICES (Ireland)

The Chamber Choir New Dublin Voices was assembled by well-known conductor Bernie Sherlock in October 2005. Within two years it has given thirteen concerts in venues including The National Concert Hall, The Waterfront Hall in Belfast, the national Gallery, Draiocht in Blanchardstown, Solstice in Navan, the John Field Room, St. Ann’s, Dawson Street, Trinity Chapel and the Hungarian Embassy. In the sane period the choir has participated in a number of competitions. Their many awards include National Choir of the Festival in the Cork International Choral Festival 2006, both mixed choir competitions at Feis Ceoil in both 2006 and 2007 (including inaugural Ite O’Donovan Award of €1000), the Schutz Trophy in the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition at the Cork International Choral Festival 2007, and three first prizes in Navan 2007.

New Dublin Voices performs a wide and exciting repertoire from the medieval to the contemporary with concerts including all-Italian and all-Hungarian programmes as well as Christmas concerts and most recently a concert on the theme of childhood. The choir has a special love for the performance of new music and has given the Irish premières of James MacMillan’s Cantos sagrados, Miklós Kocsár Missa Tertia, János Vajda’s Stabat Mater, Libby Larsen’s Sweet and Sour Nursery Rhymes, Jaako Mäntyjärvi’s Die Stimmes des Kindes, and recently the world première of Garrett Sholdice’ geben.

The singers who make up the choir are drawn from many backgrounds but all share high levels of experience and musicianship and above all a love of performing excellent choral music.

ST JOHANNES CHAMBER CHOIR (Sweden)

St Johannes Chamber Choir was founded in 2002 by its conductor and artistic director Karin Oldgren. During its first five years the choir has established itself as one of Stockholm’s foremost ensembles. The choir comprises around 35 singers with various musical backgrounds but with a common passion for music, a love for singing and an ambition to explore different possible ways of musical expressions on high musical standards.

St Johannes Chamber Choir has a rich and broad repertoire which enhances all kinds of vocal music, with instruments and soloists and a capella, from renaissance to contemporary music. They also regularly work with established soloists and musicians, such as the soprano saxophonist Anders Paulsson. The Choir has made many first performances by different Swedish composers. With the scenic oratory Deeds by Carl Unander-Scharin (commissioned by the St Johannes Church and first performed by the choir in 2004) the choir was elected to represent the future of church music at the Swedish National Symposium of Church Music in 2006. The choir has made several tours within Sweden and abroad. In 2006 the choir visited Romania and the Republic of Moldova, invited by the Swedish Embassy in Bucharest.

Conductor Karin Oldgren is educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where she studied church music, orchestral and choral conducting. She is also conductor of the Stockholm Academic Male Choir and is regularly invited to work with other ensembles, such as the Swedish Radio Choir. She also works as a teacher in choral conducting.

STOCKHOLMS MUSIKGYMNASIUM (Sweden)

Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium (an upper secondary school of music)is located in the heart of Stockholm and has existed since 1959. The school is connected with a primary music school named Adolf Fredrik’s music classes which is a school that prepares students for a life within choir, and they can later apply for the Musikgymnasium to continue with their singing. The students that have chosen to go to the music programme get to sing at least four hours per week, and during the first two years (of a total amount of three years of education) they also get to study music theory. They sing very many different songs, genres and composers. Amongst the repertoire you may find classical works such as Mozart’s Requiem, Frank Martin’s Mass for two choirs and works of Francis Poulenc, but also folk songs and other arrangements. The Musikgymnasium has many different concerts during the year. Together with Adolf Fredrik’s Music Classes, they are an important part of the culture life in Stockholm and are often performing in different locations such as ‘The Stockholm Concert Hall’ (in November they will take part as a choir in a concert with music from The Lord of the Rings), ‘Berwaldhallen Concert Hall’ and different churches. The biggest event of the year is the Lucia concert that takes place in ‘The Globe Arena’. This is a yearly tradition and there are 1,200 students performing, most part a cappella but also with orchestra, and 30,000 people in the audience.

During the last school year every class gets to take an international choir tour. Earlier tours have included festivals and choir competitions in Italy, France, China and South Africa. This choir from Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium has 60 students that have either chosen to take the Social or the Nature Sciences Programmes with special programmes to include choir in their curriculum. The students have been singing for many years, many of them from Adolf Fredrik’s Music Classes, others have gained experience of singing from different choirs in Stockholm.

This choir is conducted by Helene Stureborg, who has received her education at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm and has been a professor at Kungsholmen’s Gymnasium for 17 years.

Tartu University Academic Female Choir (Estonia)

Tartu University Academic Female Choir was founded in 1945 by R. Ritsing. Since 2005, Triin Koch has been the chief conductor of the choir. The majority of the 50 choir members are students and graduates of Tartu University. The choir performs music from different time periods and countries – ranging from classical to modern. A special emphasis in the repertoire is put on Estonian composers such as Veljo Tormis, Ester Mägi, Arvo Pärt etc. The choir has successfully taken part in a large number of international and national choir competitions, achieving good results in competitions like Florilege de Tours (France 1992), Franz Schubert Chorwettbewerb (Austria 1996), Fleischmann competition Cork (Ireland 1997), International Choir Contest of Flanders-Maasmechelen (Belgium 2001), and Estonian national choir contests (2004, 2005).

Triin Koch (born in 1975) has graduated from Estonian Music Academy with a diploma in choir conducting. In spite of being a young conductor, Triin Koch has been recognized by the juries of many international and national choir competitions and has herself been a jury member. In 2003, she was awarded with the prize of The Young Conductor of the Year in Estonia. In addition to the female choir, Triin Koch is also a conductor of Tartu University Chamber Choir. The latter has also successfully participated in many international competitions. Triin Koch also works in Tartu Music School as a teacher of conducting.

The Mixed Academic Choir of Russian State Social University was founded in September 2000. Konstantin Kostrikov, Doctor of Philosophy, Honoured Culture Worker of the Russian Federation, is the Artistic and Music Director of the choir and the sympho-pop orchestra of the university. He has written a number of compositions, arrangements and adaptations for the choir. The choir performs works of composers of 13th, 19th, 20th centuries and of modern composers as well.

Achievements:
2007 - Alta Pusteria international choir festival of Italy (a laureate nomination)
2006 - “Mozart’s Prague” Festival in Prague, Czech Republic (the first prize in the golden section)
2005 - Victor Rosov’s “Crystal Rose” prize
2004 - International Schubert Choir Competition in Vienna, Austria (diploma)
2003 - International Shalyapin Choir Competition in Yalta, Ukraine (first prize).
2004, 2005, 2007 - Moscow festival of student creative works “Festos” (“Choral Spring” nomination), Russia (competition winner)
2001, 2002, 2003 - Moscow festival of student creative works “Festos” (“Choral Spring” nomination), Russia (diploma)

The choir has recorded four discs to present a kaleidoscope of choral musical compositions.

Konstantin Kostrikov has worked for Russian State Social University since November 1991. He obtained a position of Culture Rector Assistant of the university in 2004. He is a member of Russian Composers Association.

The Mornington Singers were established in 1997 by a group of graduates from Trinity College, Dublin who wished to continue singing together. Today, the choir has around thirty-five singers from a wide variety of backgrounds including Ireland, England, Wales, Estonia, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Australia and the United States.

Awarded first prize in the National Competitions for Chamber Choirs and Mixed voice Choirs at the Cork International Choral Festival in 2004 and 2005 respectively, The Mornington Singers has established itself as one of Ireland’s leading choirs.

In 2005 the choir collaborated with Torino Vocalensemble, sharing with them the opening concert of the Turin Sacred Music Festival and performing twice with the choir in Dublin in May of that year. The Mornington Singers celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2007 with a tour to St. John’s, Newfoundland as part of the Festival 500: Sharing the Voices choral event. For further details, including a list of concerts and repertoire, see www.morningtonsingers.org.

Orla Flanagan has conducted the Mornington Singers since 2002. She studied conducting in Hungary with Péter Erdei, and has participated in masterclasses in Ireland, England, Sweden and Italy. Orla is a lecturer in the Department of Music in Trinity College, Dublin and a regular guest conductor with the National Chamber Choir of Ireland.

The UAB Concert Choir is the premiere choral ensemble at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. The choir has developed an outstanding reputation across the United States and Europe with recent performances in France, New York’s Carnegie Hall and the 2006 Southern Regional Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).

The choir recently returned from their first tour of France, a trip that featured performances in historic Notre Dame Cathedral and participation in the 34th annual Florilege Vocal Tours in Tours, France. The choir won two awards at the competition: the Prix Du Ministère de la Culture, an award given for the best interpretation of a French choral work, and shared the top award in the Mixed Choirs Category.

The UAB Concert Choir frequently collaborates with the Alabma Symphony Orchestra in performances that include Brahms and Verdi Requiem, Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Solemn Vespers.

Dr. Philip Copeland conducts the UAB Concert Choir and is in his seventh year of teaching where he serves as Director of Choral Activities. Choirs under Dr. Copeland’s direction have distinguished themselves on the national and international stage. While on faculty at the University of Mississippi, his choir won the top award and gold medal as the first-ever Choral Olympics in Linz, Austria. Dr. Copeland recently presented sessions at state, regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association in the area of technology. He is married to Leigh and they have three four-year old daughters, Catherine, Caroline, and Claire.

Under the direction of Dr. Leonard Ratzlaff, the 40 voice University of Alberta Madrigal Singers have emerged in the past two decades as one of the foremost university chamber choirs in Canada. Frequent first prize winners in the CBC’s Choral Competition for Amateur Choirs (most recently in 2004), the Madrigal Singers have also had several successes at major international competitions in Germany. In 1999 they earned first prize for their performance in the International Choir Competition in Cork, Ireland.

Two of their compact disc recordings, Balulalow: Anthems, Carols and Lullabies for Christmas, and The Passing of the Year (the premiere recording of British composer Jonathan Dove’s cycle of the same name), have been awarded the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors National Choral Award for Recordings. Their CD My Soul, There is a Country also features another premiere recording of British composer Gavin Bryars’ On Photography.

The Madrigal Singers are frequently recorded by the CBC, and have made several appearances as guests of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In 2005 they appeared with renowned soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian and the ESO. They have participated twice in University Voices, a festival of Canadian university choirs sponsored in Toronto by Soundstreams, performing under the direction of Swedish conductor Robert Sund. The Madrigal Singers were invited to perform at the National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Los Angeles in 2005, and in May 2007 they performed as guests of the Royal Society of Canada’s annual meeting on the U of A campus.

The Vocal Ensemble of Risbergska High School is a mixed chamber choir of about 40 singers, ranging in the ages from 16 to 19. All the choir members get musical and vocal training within the Art program at Risbergska High School. The choir was founded in 1996 by the present conductor, Björn Johansson. The Vocal Ensemble primarily performs a cappella music. Their repertoire is very wide and ranges from renaissance to contemporary classical music as well as pop and jazz arrangements.

The choir has made concert tours and participated in festival in Poland (1998), Italy (1999 & 2005), Rhodes (2002), Hungary (2003), Helsingborg, Sweden (2004), Ireland (2006), Tallinn (2007) – and of course in many parts of Sweden.

During 2007 the Vocal Ensemble had made two CD recordings.

The Vocal Ensemble has established itself among Sweden’s foremost youth choirs.

Competitions:
2002 Rhodes Choir Festival, category youth choir: First prize with gold medal
2002 Stockholm, Toner för Miljoner, nation wide final, all categories: Second prize
2003 Budapest Musica Mundi, category youth choir: Third prize with gold medal
2004 Helsingborg, Musica Mundi International choir festival: First prize with gold medal
2006 Cork International Choral Festival, 4th rank in the Fleischmann International Trophy Competition with special prize for best performance of a part-song.
2007 Tallinn International Choir Competition: 2nd rank in youth choir category.

Björn Johansson was born in 1950 and undertook the examination in music from the Conservatoy of Gotheburg in 1977. Studies in choral conducting with Gösta Ohlin, Gunnar Eriksson, Erland Cullberg, Anders Öhrwall. Performs as pianist and singer. Teacher in musical history, theory, ensemble, conducting, choir and piano within the Music Arts program at Risbergska High School in Örebro. For many years conductor of adult chamber choir as well as youth choirs in Örebro.