Luc Anthonis
Pablo Boggiano
Renette Bouwer
Dingaan Chabalala
Christoph Ehrenfellner
Kenneth Griffith
Andy Icochea Icochea
Bernard Krüger
Carolin Nordmeyer
Philipp Pointner
Mariana Rosas
Pearl Shangkuan
Saul Zaks
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.
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
Kenneth Griffith
Kenneth Griffith is the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Boston Children’s Chorus (BCC) Premier Choir. He leads artistic programs and coaches the conducting and teaching staff. Kenneth’s warm but demanding approach and distinctive ability to connect with young people have created demand from choruses across the region, from the elementary to the collegiate level.
During his time with BCC, Kenneth has led the chorus in major performances at some of the city’s most prestigious venues, including Boston’s Symphony Hall, TD Garden, and Calderwood Hall. Kenneth’s choirs have performed in the debut of a new musical, WILD, with the American Repertory Theater featuring Idina Menzel, the WGBH Holiday Celebration with operatic tenor Lawrence Brownlee, the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Region Conference, and civic performances for the Earthshot Prize with the Prince and Princess of Wales, and the investiture of a US Attorney. Most recently, he led a regional tour in the United States and Canada.
Kenneth has experience with K-12 public and private schools and collegiate levels at institutions like Bard College, Wellesley College, and Boston University. Over the years, he has assisted in preparing ensembles heard at the Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, American Repertory Theater, and the Verbier Music Festival in Switzerland.
Kenneth is passionate about the role of music in cultivating community and positive social change. His dynamic programming and ability to unify singers across differences have resulted in an active career on stage, in schools, and in communities around New England, sharing the songs and stories of underrepresented peoples. He is a frequent adjudicator and clinician for state Music Educators Associations and has recently led several honor choirs in the States.
On the professional stage, Kenneth recently prepared the chorus and ensemble for Anthony Davis’ Pulitzer Prize-winning opera X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X with the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. This project’s recording was GRAMMY-nominated in 2023. Kenneth holds a BM in Vocal Performance from Capital University and an MM in Choral Conducting from Bard College.
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.
Bernard Krüger
Bernard Krüger is the Director of Music at Kearsney College, a leading independent boys’ school in South Africa where he is the conductor of their acclaimed choir. Previously, he was the Artistic Director of the Drakensberg Boys Choir School – the only dedicated choir school on the African continent.
He is a composer and arranger for local and international ensembles, a cappella groups, choirs and orchestras. Krüger studied music at the North West University and the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and did his conducting training at the Koninklijk Conservatorium (Royal Conservatory) in The Hague, Netherlands, with Jos van Veldhoven and Jos Vermunt. He received masterclasses from Simon Halsey, Paul Hillier, Jaap v Zweden, Tonu Kaljuste, Steve Reich, Masaaki Suzuki and Nathalie Stutzmann, among others. He is in demand as clinician and guest conductor in South Africa and abroad, particularly for South African choral music and performance practice and he regularly serves on the jury for local and international choral competitions and eisteddfods, such as the Johannes Brahms Competition in Germany, the Canta al Mar Competition in Spain, the European Choir Games and the World Choir Games.
His choirs frequently win prizes at local and international competitions and get invitations to festivals such as the European Youth Choir Festival, Europa Cantat and the ACDA National convention. Under his direction, his choirs have won a total of 9 gold medals, including 3 World Champion titles at the World Choir Games, the largest choral competition in the world. The Kearsney College Choir has been competing at this competition since 2000 and are one of the most celebrated choirs in the history of this event. In 2022, the Kearsney College Choir won the choir category at the Summa cum Laude competition in Vienna and in 2024 the choir won the Grand Prix at the Golden Voices of Barcelona competition in Spain.
Since 2023, Bernard has also been appointed as the Artistic Director for Group Projects for the Choral Celebration Foundation Network, which hosts a multitude of choral events that promote and elevate choral singing throughout South Africa. He is a firm believer that choral music will one day be the driving force that brings about peace and understanding across cultures, borders, religions and all nations on Earth.
Carolin Nordmeyer
Carolin Nordmeyer was born in 1975 in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. Having grown up “under the grand piano”, she became interested in scores and developed an eye for the big picture alongside playing piano, violin, viola and french horn.
After graduating from high school, she began studying french horn in Detmold (Germany), followed by conducting studies with a major in piano, although her focus clearly shifted towards conducting. Her contact with various conductors during her academic year as a scholarship holder at the Conservatoire National de Musique in Paris gave her important inspiration. Carolin Nordmeyer was appointed conductor and répétiteur at the Theater Bielefeld whilst still a student. She built up a broad repertoire and, in addition to her own opera productions such as Gluck’s “Orfeo ed Euridice” or Scarlatti’s “Griselda”, she conducted performances of Verdi’s “Un ballo in maschera”, Rossini’s “Il viaggio a Reims”, Mozart’s “Die Entführung aus dem Serail”, Weber’s “Freischütz”, Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel”, Stravinsky’s “Le Sacre du Printemps” or Lehár’s “Lustige Witwe”. In addition, she regularly planned and conducted youth and family concerts.
From 2009-2017 Carolin Nordmeyer was engaged as second Kapellmeister and assistant of the general music director at the Theater Augsburg. Carolin Nordmeyer conducted the premieres of Verdi’s “La Traviata”, Mozart’s “La Finta giardiniera”, Chabrier’s “Etoile” and the ballet productions “Romeo and Juliet” and “Cinderella”, the gala concerts on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day (2011/12), as well as various youth and family concerts. She expanded her conducting repertoire with numerous revivals, including Berg’s “Lulu”, Verdi’s “Aida” and “Il Trovatore”, Wagner’s “Der Fliegende Holländer” and Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” and “Die Zauberflöte”. Carolin Nordmeyer is a lecturer in Conducting, Ensemble Direction and Opera Studies at the Leopold Mozart Conservatory Augsburg.
In November 2006, Carolin Nordmeyer was accepted as a scholar into Deutsche Bank’s “Akademie Musiktheater heute” Scholarship Program.
In addition to her professional activities, Carolin Nordmeyer has a great passion for music education and musical work with amateurs and young people.
Carolin Nordmeyer is chief conductor of the Schwäbisches Jugendsinfonieorchester. Since 2013 she is chief conductor of the Academic Symphony Orchestra Munich. She has also conducted projects and performances with the Saarland Youth Orchestra, the Young Orchestra Academy of the Moselle Music Festival, the Rheinische Orchesterakademie Mainz, the Märkisches Jugendsinfonieorchester, of which she was chief conductor from 2004 to 2011, and the Freie Sinfonie Orchester Bielefeld founded by her in 2003.
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, among others. In 2018 she moved to the UK to study at the University of Birmingham with Simon Halsey CBE.
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.”
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