Māris Sirmais is a name well known in the world of choral music – he is also an active supporter and developer of Latvian choral culture, a charismatic conductor able to inspire thousands of amateur choristers at the Song Festival as well as professional musicians. Sirmais is generating ideas non-stop – usually grand projects are the result. He is also an ardent Latvian patriot of wide international scope when it comes to his work.

Artistic Director of the State Choir Latvija since 1997, Māris Sirmais has also reared one of the most splendid symbols of the Latvian choral culture, the Youth Choir Kamēr… he conducted since its foundation in 1990 to 2012. Head of the Choir Conducting Department at the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Sirmais is also a jury member of international contests in choir singing and conducting. A recipient of the Order of the Three Stars, the Honorary Member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences, Sirmais has received many titles and awards for his achievement in culture and his contribution in making Latvia known throughout the world. Māris Sirmais has appeared with the State Choir Latvija and choir Kamēr… in many prestigious European festivals, where he also has given master-classes and workshops.

Māris Sirmais obtained a Bachelor’s degree in conducting from Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, later pursued studies in orchestra conducting at College of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria.

He has collaborated with such acclaimed soloists as Maxim Rysanov, Kristīne Blaumane, Egils Siliņš, Aleksandrs Antoņenko, Julius Berger, Gidon Kremer, Nicolas Altstaedt, Douglas Webster, Inese Galante and others. He has regular performances with Latvian National Opera Orchestra, Liepaja Symphony Orchestra, State chamber orchestra Sinfonietta Rīga, chamber orchestra Kremerata Baltica, Moscow chamber orchestra Musica Viva, Umeå Symphony Orchestra and string orchestra Helsinki Strings.

Orla Flanagan is Assistant Professor of Music at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. She studied conducting with Prof. Péter Erdei at the Kodály Institute in Hungary and holds a doctorate in performance from the Royal Irish Academy of Music.

Orla conducts the mixed-voice choir Mornington Singers, an award-winning Dublin ensemble which has appeared at international festivals in Ireland, Italy, Canada, France, Latvia and Slovenia. The choir was awarded the Grand Prix at the 2019 International Baltic Sea Choir Competition in Jūrmala, Latvia. As a conductor, Orla has also gained numerous awards at international competitions, including the MacCurtain & McSwiney Award for programming at Cork International Choral Festival on three occasions, and a special prize for interpretation at the 10^th International Choral Competition, Maribor, Slovenia. Orla and the choir are committed to the creation and promotion of contemporary music and have recently released two CD recordings of contemporary Irish choral works: Under-Song (2017) and To the Northeast: The Choral Music of John Buckley (2019).

Orla’s work with professional choral ensembles includes Milltown Chamber Choir, EnsemBéal, Resurgam, and Chamber Choir Ireland, with whom she performed at the White House for President Barack Obama. She enjoys giving choral workshops and adjudicating at festivals nationally and internationally. Orla is Artistic Director of the Sing Ireland International Choral Conducting Summer School.

Aarne Saluveer – estonian conductor, producer, educator has served choral world as Board member of IFCM, Estonian Choral Association and Music Council, Council of  World Choir Games, Artistic Director/Founder of Estonian Television Girl’s Choir and Children‘ choir,  Principal of Tallinna Georg Ots Music College etc.

Nominations, Grand Prix, awards:

• Arezzo, Gorizia, Tolosa, European Broadcast Union radio-live competion „Let the People Sing“, Pohlheim, Arnhem, etc.
• educator and producer, juror and guest conductor for choral and orchestral projects – masterclasses, atelies, presentations / World Music Forum, IFCM World Symposium, ACDA, Polyfollia, Europa Cantat, Cheltenham Festival/UK, Singapore Youth Festival, Hongkong TCF, Zimrija/Israel etc.
• worked with ETV Children’s Choir with Michael Jackson in “HiStory World Tour”,
• since1993 conductor of Estonian Song Celebration Choir with 25 000 singers
• Artistic Director 2007 Youth Song Celebration „Ilmapuu/World Tree“
• TV- and radio productions and recordings incl. Eurovision Song Contest, RAI UNO World Christmas Concert, BBC, West Deutsche Rundfunk, Danish Radio, finnish, latvian and russian TV-channels, Estonian National Broadcast etc.
• premiers and recordings music of Arvo Pärt, Veljo Tormis, Eric Whitacre, Roxanna Panufnik/Warner Classics, Urmas Sisask and many other contemporary composers in prestigious venues  – Lincoln Center/New York, St.Paul’s Church/London, St. Peterburg Great Hall of Tschaikovsky, Shanghai Oriental Art Center
• Artistic Director of HM Elizabeth II and Their Majesties Japanese Emperor and Empress State Visit Concerts, European Film Awards TV-live Gala
• Order of the White Star of the Republic of Estonia
• Arezzo Foundation‘s Guidoneum Award 2012/Italy,
• Annual Prize of Estonian Cultural Endowment in 1999, 2006 and 2007
• Prize of the UNICEF Estonian National Committee in 2002 and 2007
• Heino Kaljuste Foundation in 2007, Riho Päts Foundation in 2008, Gustav Ernesaks Foundation 2012
• Musician of the Year by Estonian Public National Broadcast
• Conductor of the Year by Estonian Choral Association

Christo Burger is regarded as one of South Africa’s foremost conductors and clinicians of choral music. Christo (*1978) was born in Kempton Park and was a member of the University of Pretoria Camerata from 1997 to 2003. During his studies at the University of Pretoria, he obtained the degrees BMus, BMus Hons (Performing Arts) cum laude as well as MMus (Performing Arts). Christo attended master classes in choral conducting at the Juilliard School of Music in New York, USA, as well as master classes in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music in London, UK.

Christo was a full-time lecturer in Choral Conducting as well as conductor of the Tuks Camerata from 2009 at the University of Pretoria until 2012. From here he established the St Mary’s Singers Choral Program at the St Mary’s Diocesan School for Girls in Pretoria where he is also the conductor of this award-winning school choir, The St Mary’s Singers. With this program he incorporates a singing program for the juniors in the school by establishing a firm singing basis for them to grow as soloists in singing.

Since 2010 his AKUSTIKA CHAMBER SINGERS are ranked globally as the 2nd best mixed choir on the Interkultur world-rankings for mixed choirs. Choir has won many choral competitions worldwide:

• 2024 Grand Prize Champion in Vox Lucensis Concorso Corale Internazionale, Lucca, Italy.
• 2018 – 5 Gold medals and crowned the “Champion of the World Choir Games” for the Category: “Musica sacra a cappella”, World Choir Games, Tshwane, South Africa.
• 2015 – Gold medal, Grand Prix of Nations, Magdeburg, Germany.
• 2010 – Overall winner and Grand Prize Champion, Concorso Corale Internazionale, Riva del Garda, Italy.
• 2008 –  “Choir of the world”, Llangollen Intl, Eisteddfod, Wales, UK

Other choirs who have won awards and competitions under Christo’s direction:

• 2018 University of Pretoria Jacaranda Children’s Choir Gold medal, World Choir Games, Tshwane, South Africa
• 2015 St Mary’s DSG Girls Choir Pretoria awarded Gold Category Medal, A Voyage of Songs Intl choir competition, Bangkok, Thailand
• 2014 St Mary’s DSG Girls Choir Pretoria crowned National Champions of the South African ATKV National choir competition, Pretoria South Africa
• 2010 University of Pretoria Camerata awarded Gold medal, Bratislava Intl choir competition, Bratislava, Slovakia
• 2004 University of Pretoria Youth Choir awarded Gold medal, World Choir Games, Bremen, Germany

Christo is also seen as a composer of works in the “African Avant Garde Choral Music” style, combining the story-telling of African music with Western compositional techniques. Top South African choirs at leading choral events all over the world have performed his woks.

He is regularly invited as an adjudicator at national and international choral competitions.

Artūras Dambrauskas (b. 1961) is a renowned Lithuanian choral conductor and educator. He serves as the Head of the Department of Music Theory and Pedagogy at the Music Academy of Vytautas Magnus University (VDU), where he is also a professor, teaching conducting and choral disciplines.

Since 2015, Dambrauskas has been the Artistic Director and Chief Conductor of the State Choir “Vilnius” and the Artistic Director of the International St. James Festival. In 2018, he was the Artistic Director of the Song Day at the Lithuanian Centenary Song Festival “Vardan tos” and was awarded the Order of the Knight’s Cross of the Order for Merits to Lithuania.

Dambrauskas is a highly respected professional choral conductor who has frequently conducted at Lithuanian Song Festivals and other events and has served as a jury member at both international and national competitions.