Sivan Albo Ben-Hur
Israel
Luc Anthonis
Belgium
Pablo Boggiano
Argentina / 
Austria
Jimmy Chiang
Austria
Alma Deutscher
UK
Christoph Ehrenfellner
Austria
Alexandre Grandé
France
Andy Icochea Icochea
Peru / Austria
Hermann Pallhuber
Austria
Philipp Pointner
Austria
Mariana Rosas
Argentina
Pearl Shangkuan
USA
David Slater
Australia
Saul Zaks
Denmark / Argentina
Sivan Albo Ben-Hur
Born in 1982, Sivan Albo Ben-Hur earned her Bachelor of Music degree in violin performance and conducting from the Jerusalem Academy of Music, and her Master of Music degree in conducting from the Buchman – Mehta School of Music at the Tel Aviv University, under the tutelage of Maestro Mendi Rodan.
Mrs. Albo Ben-Hur has worked with many orchestras around the world, including the Israel Chamber Orchestra, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, Porto Symphony Orchestra, Cyprus Symphony Orchestra, Israel Symphony Orchestra Rishon Le’Tsion, Haifa Symphony Orchestra, Israel Stage Orchestra, the Jerusalem Academy Orchestra, Israel Sinfonietta Beer Sheva, Ashdod Symphony Orchestra, and the St. Petersburg Royal Orchestra “Classica” as a representative of the Jerusalem Academy of Music. She was invited to conduct the Buchman – Mehta School of Music Orchestra celebrating the 60th birthday of world renowned violinist and Professor Zakhar Bron.
As the associate conductor of the Ra’anana Symphonette Orchestra from 2006 until 2009, Sivan presented educational concerts of “The Nutcracker” in many venues throughout Israel, and in 2009 she conducted the orchestra in a tour of Poland.
Mrs. Albo Ben-Hur is the chief conductor and the Music Director of the Israel Andalous Orchestra.
In summer of 2011, Sivan was one of seven conductors worldwide (out of 120) who received an invitation to be an active participant in the prestigious conducting workshop with Maestro Jorma Panula (Finland) and the Porto Symphony Orchestra. For this international endeavor, she won a scholarship granted by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation.
As a finalist of the Yuri Aharonovich “Aviv” Competition for Young Conductors (both in 2008 and 2011), Mrs. Albo Ben-Hur has won the audience choice prize in the competition, given by the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, dedicated to Meira Gera.
In the last few years, Sivan has been a frequent guest in a variety of conducting masterclasses and workshops, nurturing the next generation of conductors and musicians.
Luc Anthonis
At the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory of Antwerp Luc Anthonis received qualifications for solfeggio, flute, chambermusic, harmony, choral conducting.
He rounded out his knowledge on choral conducting in master classes with Eric Ericson, Simon Halsey, Péter Erdei, Jan Eelkema, Michael Scheck and others.
In 1980 Luc Anthonis took over the choir Cantilene from its founder Jozef Cleymans and in 1989 he himself founded the Vocal Ensemble Cantando. He still is the conductor of both choirs. The latter has won a great number of prizes in (inter)national competitions.
He conducts the Flemish Radio Choir on a regular basis and has been choirmaster of an international choir in Italy for four years. He gave choralconducting masterclasses in Bludenz (Austria).
Luc Anthonis is a standard member of the jury for the international youth choir competition in Neerpelt (EMJ-Belgium). In September 2007 Luc Anthonis became professor of choral conducting at the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp. Since 1982 Luc Anthonis has taught flute and instrumental ensemble at the Ekeren music academie (Antwerp-Belgium).
Over the years his “Strings Ensemble” has grown to become the “Symphonic Ensemble of Ekeren” (SEE), one of the few “School Symphonic Orchestras” in Belgium.
Pablo Boggiano
Pablo Boggiano was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He studied conducting at the national conservatory “Lopez Buchado” with Mario Benzecry and at the Argentinean Catholic University. At the age of 18 he made his debut at the cathedral of Buenos Aires with the Requiem of Faurè and became assistant of the National Youth Symphony Orchestra.
In Europe he studied with Prof. Scott Sandmeier Conservatory of Paris, with Thomas Doss Konservatorium Wien, Erwin Accel as well as with Jorma Panula in Helsinki. Prof. Berau, a former student of Olivier Messiaen, grants him the prize as winner of international competitions and conducted the Orchestra Boréal in Paris.
In 2003 he was invited by Ivan Fischer to work with the Budapest Festival Orchestra. Pablo Boggiano works regularly in Eastern Europe in Romania, Ukraine, Bulgaria, and Slovakia with Orchestras such as Sofia Philharmonic, Kiev and Kharkov Philharmonic, Bratislava Philharmonic, Budapest Philharmonic, and others.
In Argentina he works also regularly with the Sinfónica Nacional and Orquesta Filarmónica del Teatro Colón, and was second conductor at the production of “Der Rosenkavallier” from New Yorok Metropolitan at Teatro Colón in 2017.
After ten performances of “The Magic Flute” in Niederösterreich with the support of Austrian government, he produced the World Opera-Tango premier in Theater Akzent Wien, with “Maria de Buenos Aires” from Piazzolla and “Mateo” from Martin Palmeri.
In 2013 he worked with the Royal Philharmonic orchestra of London in CADOGAN HALL.
During the season 2018-2019 he will work with the Tonkünstler-Ochester in Wiener Musikverein und Sankt Pölten and in 2020 will start his collaboration as a conductor with the Wiener Concert Verein, in Musikverein and Villach.
In May 2019 he will record a CD for Naxos Europe with music of the composer Esteban Benzecry and the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Lviv- Ukraine.
Pablo Boggiano has been invited to work with the Tonkünstler Orchestra and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder at the Grafenegg Festival in 2021.
In February 2022 he worked with the Wiener Concert Verein (Chamber Orchestra of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra) on tours of Switzerland and Austria and in 2023 France, Germany and Austria, culminating in a concert at the Musikverein Vienna.
Pablo Boggiano was invited by Maestro Gustavo Dudamel to collaborate with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar.
Jimmy C.B. Chiang
Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys’ Choir
Bösendorfer Ambassador
Winner of the 4th “Lovro von Matacic” international competition for conductors
In a cover article in 2009, the international opera magazine Orpheus described Jimmy Chiang under the title, “Versatility comes through Hard Work, Discipline and Respect!”
Born in Hong Kong, Austrian National, Chiang began piano lessons when he was four. Later he also studied violoncello and composition. At the age of 13, he made his first public appearance as a concert pianist with the Hong Kong Pan Asia Symphony Orchestra, in which he was also a cellist from 1994 to 1996 and has been its principalconductor since 2008. He received his Fellows Diploma in piano performance from the Trinity College of Music London at 16. He then graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Baylor University in the USA, where he studied with the renowned pianist Krassimira Jordan and the legendary Polish-born Jewish conductor, Daniel Sternberg. He continued his education and obtained the “Magister Artium” degree with distinction at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, where he was the last student of Leopold Hager and studied with German pianist Wolfgang Watzinger. In 2003, he studied with Seiji Ozawa and appeared at the Rohm Music Festival in Kyoto, Japan upon the maestro’s invitation.
Chiang has performed at prestigious stages and festivals such as the Wiener Musikverein, Carnegie Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Komischen Oper Berlin, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, FACYL in Spain, and the Macao International Music Festival, among others. In 2016, he became the first artistic director of a newly founded Hong Kong-Vienna Music Festival.
From 2007 to 2009, he worked as assistant music director of the Wagner “Ring” cycle at Theater Lübeck as well as opera productions at the Eutin Festival. From 2009 to 2011, he was the principal conductor at Theater Freiburg. There, he directed numerous premiere productions, including a howling success of Ligeti’s opera Le Grand Macabre with stage director Calixto Bieito. Since 2021, Chiang has been guest conductor frequently in Italy such as the Taranto Opera Festival and the Piccolo Opera Festival in Gorizia.
In 2013, Chiang was appointed as Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys’ Choir, becoming the first Hong Kong born Chinese conductor to ever hold this title in the choir’s 500 years of history. In the year of 2025 he also served as the associate artistic director of this traditional Viennese Institution. Chiang has led the Vienna Boys Choir in numerous productions with the Vienna Philharmonic under the directions of Riccardo Muti and Franz Welser-Möst. He appeared also in numerous CD albums under Deutsche Grammophon and DECCA.
Alma Deutscher
Alma Deutscher (born 2005) has been composing since the age of five. She is also a conductor, violinist and pianist. At the age of six she composed her first full piano sonata (available in the UE catalogue), at nine she composed a concerto for violin and orchestra, which she has performed as soloist with renowned orchestras around the world. Her first full-length opera, Cinderella, was premiered in Vienna at the age of eleven and caused a worldwide media sensation.
In the years that followed she continued expanding the opera, and it has been performed on three continents. It was hailed by Opera Today as “the once-in-a-lifetime opera-going event that had audiences standing and cheering”. Conductor Zubin Mehta described Alma Deutscher as “one of the greatest musical talents today.”
Deutscher’s Waltz of the Sirens, which transforms the ugly sounds of police sirens into beautiful melodies, has captivated millions of people around the world and gone viral on social media platforms. Alma Deutscher’s compositions have been released on several CDs and DVDs, including by Sony Classical.
She has received the European Culture Prize and was chosen by the German Stern magazine as one of its twelve ‘heroes of tomorrow’.
Christoph Ehrenfellner
Salzburg-born violinist-conductor-composer Christoph Ehrenfellner combines the Viennese traditional art of composing, conducting and violin playing in unique style. After finishing his studies in singing, violin, chamber music, conducting and composition in Vienna and Salzburg he started as a violinist at the Wiener Symphoniker, and then worked as Chef Assistant at the National Opera Nancy in France. He was composer in residence at the Orchestre Symphonique Mulhouse, the Seiji Ozawa Academy Geneva, the Theatre Nordhausen and at various European festivals. Today he works worldwide in the classic genres of music-theatre, ballet, symphonic, concert, Lieder and chamber music.
The successful premiere of Karl&Anna at Mainfranken Theater Würzburg 2024 marked already the 4th opera-sensation in a row. Likewise his 3 Symphonies had acclaimed success, No.3 at Wiener Konzerthaus in 2023. His ballet on Schillers Ibykus 2018 earned enthusiasm just like the Chamber Music Theatre on Kafkas Verwandlung 2017. Christoph Ehrenfellner is awarded the European ICMA Composers Award 2025.
Ehrenfellner conducts repertoire from Baroque to Modern music. Strawinski’s Le Sacre and Xenakis Metastaseis at Carinthian Summer Festival 2022 were just as successful as Kalevi Aho and Tan Dun’s percussion concertos with Martin Grubinger on the drums. He conducted the passwort:Klassik series of the Vienna Philharmonic and their Youth Opera Project Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Salzburg Festival 2024, or rthe premiere of his latest Orchestra Fantasy with the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker at the ICMA Gala-Concert 2025 in Düsseldorf.
Special cooperations with the violinists Beni Schmid, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian and Tomo Keller mark successful projects with The Academy St.Martin i.t.Fields, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester, Musica Vitae Sweden, Salzburg Soloists, RSO Wien, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, where his compositions and arrangements are performed and recorded.
From Salzburg Festival, Wiener Festwochen, Grafenegg, Styriarte, Carinthian Summer to Liszt Biennale Weimar and Viola Space Tokyo, from Mainfranken Theatre Würzburg, Theatre Nordhausen und Teatro Carrena Caracas to State Opera Ruse, from Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Mexico City Phil, Turku Phil, Philharmonic Orchestras Würzburg, Wuppertal, Mulhouse, Nancy, Praha to Tonkünstler Orchestra NÖ, Loh-Orchestra Sondershausen up to Academy St.Martin i.t.Fields, Cremerata Baltica, Camerata Salzburg, Wiener Kammerorchester, Krasnojarsk Chamber Orchestra, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester etc he enjoys his partners.
Musicians like Martin Grubinger, Vivi Vassileva and Christoph Sietzen, Leif Segerstam, Daniel Klajner, Erwin Ortner, Enrico Calesso and Yutaka Sado, Gidon Kremer, Emmanuel Tjeknavorian, Pekka Kuusisto, Tomo Keller, Sacha Soumm, Sergey Malov and Beni Schmid, Enrico Pace, Denes Varjon, Gottlieb Wallisch and Hyung-Ki Joo – all of them enthusiastic partners for his music.
Great reviews about his music come from NY Times, Spiegel online, Die Bühne, via German Feulleton Fränkische Nachrichten, MainPost, Frankfurter Rundschau, Thüringer Allgemeine to Austrian papers Presse, Salzburger Nachrichten, Kurier, Krone, Wiener Zeitung. The Tjeknavorian-CD-recording of Ehrenfellners Suite des Alpes at SONY-Classical won the prestigious OPUS-classic-prize 2018 in Germany. Elbphilharmonie, Royal Albert Hall, Cité de la Musique, Concertgebouw or Vienna Musikverein: in nearly all the leading European Concert Halls the music of Christoph Ehrenfellner has won enthusiastic audience.
His music is edited by Doblinger Edition Vienna and the Universal Edition.
Since more than 10 years Christoph Ehrenfellner is a devoted coach and jury member at SCL Festival in Vienna Musikverein. His broad background of violin, singing, chamber music, orchestral and opera life has proven a rich source of inspiration for young musicians and Youth Orchestras. Since 2021 he is tutor at the prestigious Grafenegg Academy in the team of Hakkan Hardenberger. He was teaching string-orchestra at the KUG University Graz, guest-lecturing Composition at the Manhattan Scool of Music (with Prof.Edward Green) and guest-teaching at the Tohou Gakuen University Tokyo. The encounters with many of the leading Youth Orchestras worldwide resulted in cooperations from USA to Bangkok. 4 times already he went on tour with the Vienna Jeunesse Orcherstra.
He has been Chef assistant at Opéra National de Lorraine/Nancy 2010-2013, Chef and artistic director at Beethoven Philharmonie Baden 2011-2016, and Chef at the seasonal Wallersee Philharmonic Orchestra 2008 – 2018.
Ehrenfellner is honorary member of the Japan Austria Cultural Association. His thesis Art&Money is edited at the Akademic Edition Saarbrücken.
Find more about Christoph Ehrenfellner at www.christophehrenfellner.at
Alexandre Grandé
Born in Russia (1972), Alexandre Grandé began studying music at the age of seven at the prestigious School of Choral Art in Moscow. Eleven years later, he graduated with a diploma in choir conducting and music pedagogy. He also studied conducting at the Moscow Conservatory, graduated from the Paris Regional Conservatory in composition and orchestration, and received an Excellency Prize in orchestra conducting at the Rueil-Malmaison Conservatory.
To improve his conducting level, Alexandre Grandé went to Israel to study at Rubin Academy of Music of Jerusalem with maestro Mendi Rodan.
Upon his return to Paris in 1999, where he lives now, he was named as the assistant conductor of the Polyphorum Orchestra and conducted Mascagni’s «Cavalleria Ruscticana». In 2000, he created the Calli-Phonia Orchestra which he conducted until 2003.
In August 2005, he conducted the first performance in Holland of Chostakovitch’s «Story of a silly baby mouse» (for the Orlando Festival).
In 2006, he conducted a production «Comme des Bêtes» at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées (Paris), a musical show including his own music and music of Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Stravinsky...
Since then, Alexandre Grandé has been invited to conduct the Ural Philharmonic Orchestra (Russia), Bielorussia Philharmonic Orchestra, Minsk Opera Bolchoï, Orchestre National d’Ile-de-France, Orchestre de Massy, Opéra de Toulon, Opéra d’Avignon, Beethoven Orchester in Bonn, Vinteuil Ensemble, Académie de St. Louis Orchestra (Paris), Carpe Diem Ensemble in a program of contemporary music, etc. Furthermore, he participated in musical projects of the Chostakovitch International Association in Paris.
Today he is one of artistic directors of the Ensemble Orchestral Integral, which he formed in 2006.
With this orchestra, among the most importants projects, he created the «Songe dune nuit d’été. Variation printanière », which he performed with Ensemble Orchestral Integral in the theater of Fontainebleau. In the same theater, he conducted 2 operas buffa «Rayon de Soieries and La Poule Noire» by Manuel Rosenthal.
The repertoire of Alexandre Grandé consists of contemporary music as well. He gave the premiere «Noctifer» by Vincent Manac’h for choir, orgel and percussions group, «Qui sème le vent» by Xavier le Masne for flutes orchestra, and the French premiere of «Crossing II» by Franghiz Ali-Zadeh, «New York song» by Christine Massetti…
Professor of orchestra conducting, he is today a director of the Conservatoire Régional d’Aubervilliers - La Courneuve, an spécial music / dance / theatre school (about 1500 students).
Andy Icochea Icochea
Andy Icochea Icochea is a multi-faceted musician who regularly appears as an orchestral and opera conductor, choral conductor and accompanist, and whose compositions and arrangements are performed internationally. He has appeared in over 500 concerts in 29 countries and four continents, in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Suntory Hall, Wiener Musikverein, Tonhalle Zürich and Berliner Konzerthaus. As a guest conductor, he has led the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Ciudad de México, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional del Perú and the Brookline Symphony, among others.
Icochea Icochea has collaborated as choral conductor and rehearsal accompanist with Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Adam Fischer, Franz Welser-Möst, Bertrand de Billy and Bernard Haitink. His choruses have performed with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Symphony, the Royal Stockholm Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Symphony. He has conducted world premieres of operas in Austria, Italy and the United States. Additionally, he has served as guest clinician for the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s education programs.
He served as Music Director of Superar, a non-profit organization that provides high quality music instruction free of charge to 2000 children in six countries in Central and Eastern Europe. Previously, he has served as Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys Choir and Artistic Director of Voices Boston and Harvard Pro Musica.
Hermann Pallhuber
Hermann Pallhuber completed his musical education at conservatories in Innsbruck and Vienna (piano, trombone and ensemble direction), after which he went on to further studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and then again in Innsbruck (musical pedagogy with special emphasis on ensemble and choir conduction, trombone and piano). At the same time, he also completed his studies in classical philology (Latin).
From 1994-2004, he focused mainly on conducting and teaching at various high schools and musical academies. He also deepened his interest in conducting and composition at the Pedagogical University Tyrol, the University of Innsbruck and the Musical Universities of Zürich and Augsburg respectively, after which he obtained an artistic diploma in “Conducting, Wind Band Direction and Instrumentation” from the Musical Academy of Nüremberg-Augsburg. For many years, Hermann Pallhuber led professional and semi-professional wind ensembles and orchestras (Wind Music Project of the State University of Music and the Performing Arts in Stuttgart, Three Lions Brass Band Stuttgart, Brass Band Tirol, The Symphonic Wind Orchestra Innsbruck, and many more), with which he achieved numerous impressive musical successes. Furthermore, he was in charge of running and moderating factual programmes on wind music for the Austrian national television broadcasting service (ORF) from 2001- 2016. Internationally, Hermann Pallhuber, functions as a guest conductor, juror, composer and lecturer in wind orchestration.
His compositions were published by Faber Music London and Beriato (De Haske/Hal Leonard).
Since 2009, he has been teaching at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts in Stuttgart, where he was awarded the title of Honorary Professor for wind orchestra conduction in 2013. He has also been leading a class in wind orchestra direction at the Tyrolean State Conservatory.
In October 2016, Hermann Pallhuber was awarded the professorship for conducting and direction of wind orchestras at the State University of Music and the Performing Arts in Mannheim.
Philipp Pointner
Viennese-born conductor Philipp Pointner started his career at Cape Town Opera/South Africa. There and at Gauteng Opera Johannesburg he is still a regular guest.
He continued his way in Germany, where he was Erster Kapellmeister at the Staatstheater Nürnberg for many years. He is guest at many European opera houses such as Staatsoper Hamburg, Oper Köln, Staatstheater Mannheim, Staatstheater Braunschweig, Opera Vlaanderen Antwerp/Belgium, just to name a few. In Austria he conducted at the Volksoper Vienna and the Oper Graz.
In concert Philipp Pointner is working with orchestras like WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln, Tonkünstler Orchester Nieder-österreich, Staatsphilharmonie Braunschweig, Brandenburgisches Staats-orchester Frankfurt, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg and Oviedo Philharmonic/Spain. He is regular guest conductor at the Filarmonia de Stat Transilvania Cluj/Romania. In 2017 he debuted with the RSO Vienna.
Mariana Rosas
Mariana Rosas is an Argentinian conductor based in the UK and Chorus Director of the London Symphony Chorus. In that role, she has collaborated with Sir Antonio Pappano, Giannandrea Noseda, Michael Tilson Thomas, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Nathalie Stutzmann, Susanna Mälkki, Teodor Currentzis, Gustavo Dudamel, and Dr André J. Thomas.
She has worked with the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne, Royal College of Music, Birmingham Opera Company, National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, Rundfunkchor Berlin, BBC Symphony Chorus, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Chorus, SWR Symphony Orchestra (Stuttgart), WDR Rundfunkchor (Cologne), London Voices and the West Midlands Inclusive Choir. Also, she holds teaching and conducting positions at the University of Birmingham. In 2022, she founded Cantoras Upper Voices Chamber Choir, a group dedicated to exploring repertoire from all ages, especially a cappella.
Mariana was educated in Italy and Argentina, where she studied at the National University of Arts of Argentina and the Conservatoire of the City of Buenos Aires “Manuel de Falla”, with maestros Antonio Russo and Saul Zaks. In 2018, she moved to the UK to study at the University of Birmingham with Simon Halsey CBE. She was a Jette Parker Young Artist at the Royal Opera House, a Britten-Pears Young Artist. She is currently a Royal Philharmonic Society Conductor.
Prior to her move to the UK, she was Assistant Professor of Choral Practice at the National University of Arts in Buenos Aires, and has worked as a guest conductor in Denmark, Canada, Italy, and Switzerland. She enjoys working with singers of all abilities and ages and is engaged regularly as a guest conductor with amateurs and professionals alike.
Pearl Shangkuan
Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and workshops on six continents. She is the National President-elect of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), having previously served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America, as well as ACDA central division president and ACDA Michigan state president. Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she is also the chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a Grammy-nominated professional orchestra.
Appointed in 2022 as the Editor of Hinshaw Music, a major choral music publisher in North America, she also has a signature choral series with earthsongs and is the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Choral series published by GIA. She has conducted several times at Carnegie Hall and other major concert halls in the US and was an invited guest lecturer at the World Symposium for Choral Music held in Seoul, South Korea. Her guest engagements regularly take her to Europe, Asia, and across the United States.
Dr. Shangkuan has served on the jury of several international choral competitions in Europe and Asia and has led conducting masterclasses for the ACDA national conference, Chorus America conferences, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois Choral Conducting Symposium among many prominent programs, institutions and organizations in the US. She has conducted numerous All State choirs, ACDA national and division honor choirs, and choral festivals nationally and internationally and has headlined several ACDA state and other professional conferences. She has commissioned and premiered numerous choral works and her choirs have performed at ACDA national, division and state conferences.
The Michigan YWCA honored her with its Arts Tribute Award in 2007. In 2013, Michigan ACDA honored her with the Maynard Klein Choral Award for “artistic excellence and lifetime leadership in choral music.” In 2023, the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) gave her its Honorary Life Member Award for “distinguished leadership and extraordinary service to the choral community, both nationally and internationally.”
David Slater
David Slater is an Australian composer, conductor and music educator. After completing studies at the University of Sydney with legendary Australian composer Peter Sculthorpe, he received scholarships to study in Europe with Helmut Lachenmann, Cristobal Hallfter and Brian Ferneyhough. His work encompasses many genres from the concert hall to TV, film and advertising, and includes solo, chamber, choral and orchestral music. His compositions have received numerous awards over many years. He receives regular commissions and is performed throughout Australia and the world.
Mr Slater is an experienced conductor with an extensive repertoire spanning from the Baroque to the present day. He began his studies in conducting in Germany, and on return to Australia was mentored by the Chief conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Stuart Challender. He founded and directed a number of award-winning ensembles which include contemporary music groups, orchestras, choirs, youth orchestras and musical theatre companies. In recent years he has conducted student and professional orchestras and choirs from more than 20 countries: Australia, Asia and the USA to all parts of Europe, from Italy and Spain to Scandinavia, the Baltic Region and Russia.
He is a regular guest at international music festivals, where he sits on international juries, conducts masterclasses and gives lectures. His regular schedule includes engagements in Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy and Slovakia, with notable events in Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden and Russia. For 40 years Mr Slater has been teaching and lecturing in music. He is passionate about the role of music in society and in education, and has promoted the creation, study and performance of great music throughout his career. He has been a consultant on music curriculum and final year examiner in three Australian states.
He has won many major awards for composition, conducting and service to music, including the Symphony Australia Prize, the National Award of the Orchestras of Australia Network and Australia Day awards for service to music in the community. He has published articles on music and music education and represents Australia on the World Choir Council.
Saul Zaks
Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1961 and living in Denmark, Saul Zaks is an international conductor and mediator who connects people from different cultures and provides a cross-cultural communication through music and the arts.
He has been the conductor of The Musicology Students Choir at the University of Aarhus, and of The University of Southern Denmark Chamber Choir and Symphony Orchestra.
Saul Zaks is a guest professor in choral and orchestral conducting at the University of Buenos Aires, Universidad Católica de Asunción del Paraguay, Conservatorio Nacional de Bolivia, Universidad Federal de Rio de Janeiro and Universidad de Oriente, Santiago de Cuba.
He studied at The Jerusalem Rubin Academy of Music & Dance, Israel, with Prof. Mendi Rodán, and at The Royal Danish Academy of Music Aarhus.
Saul Zaks is specialized in the music from Latin America and has performed and recorded with, amongst others, the composer Ariel Ramirez, the singer Mercedes Sosa, the composer & pianist Pablo Ziegler and the bandoneón players Daniel Binelli, Pablo Mainetti, César Stroscio and Rodolfo Marcelo Zanetti.
As Chorus Master, Saul Zaks has gained a nomination for the Danish Music Award 2006 - Best Classical Album - together with the Danish National Choir & Symphony Orchestra for recordings of “Choral Symphony & Requiem” by Asger Hamerik.
Additionally he has gained a nomination for the Latin Grammy Award 2016 in the category Best Tango Album - “Sax to Tango” - together with Pablo Ziegler, Julio Botti, Franco Pinna & The University of Southern Denmark Symphony Orchestra.
Together with Argentinean composer Martin Palmeri, Saul Zaks performed the Scandinavian premiere of “Misatango”, and the World Premiere of the “Tango Credo” at Lincoln Center, New York in 2017.
Today Saul Zaks is the Artistic Director & Conductor of the Misatango Festival Vienna (www.misatango.com).
In 2018 Saul Zaks was appointed Artistic Director for the Summa Cum Laude International Youth Music Festival in Vienna.
Appointments in 2019 include the World Premiere of Martin Palmeri´s “Gran Misa” in Carnegie Hall, New York City, The International Music Festival in Bratislava and workshops and concerts at Hanover University of Music, Theatre and Media.
www.saulzaks.com