Jury

•--Jacques Barbier (France)

•--Laurent Gendre (Switzerland)

•--Carl Høgset (Norway)

•--Stojan Kuret (Italy)

•--Fumiaki Kuriyama (Japan)

•--Walter Marzilli

•--Theodora Pavlovitch (Bulgaria)

​Jacques Barbier

Jacques Barbier is at present Professor at the University of Tours and at the Centre for Higher Renaissance Studies, where he teaches music and musicology of the Renaissance period. A recognised specialist in the vocal repertoire of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, his research, published in the leading international musicological reviews or by specialist publishers, mainly focuses on sacred music and the manuscripts of polyphonic music. Jacques Barbier organises regular study days, colloquiums or masterclasses on sixteenth-century vocal music and its interpretation in the past and today.

Director of the music collections dedicated to the polyphonies of the Renaissance published by A Coeur Joie (France) or Labatiaz (Switzerland), he is currently concluding a work on Josquin Desprez.

Besides teaching, he is also a musician. He played the sackbut (predecessor of the trombone) with Les saqueboutiers de Toulouse and the Ensemble Guillaume de Machaut before setting up the ensemble Musicque de Joye, also specialised in ancient music. The founder of a number of vocal ensembles, the Ensemble Vocal Lille 3, the Choeur Universitaire - Lille 3, he has directed the ensemble La Chapelle des Chantres since 1999.

Choir director and trainer, Jacques Barbier attempts to bring together practice and musicology (cf. his last work on French and Latin pronunciation in Renaissance music: Une doulce parolle, Van de Velde, 2003). Musicologist and artistic consultant to a number of professional ensembles like A Sei Voci or Jacques Moderne, he regularly participates as guest director and stylistic trainer for ancient music practices in France and abroad. He has been music director of the international training course Euromusica Musique vocale de la Renaissance since 1990.

After setting up and directing the Centre d'Etudes Polyphoniques en Région Centre (CEPRAVOI), a structure connected with the practice and training of choral singing, for several years now he has been President of the prestigious "Florilège Vocal de Tours", France's only choral singing contest, and is often invited to be on the jury of other associated contests in Italy, Spain, Hungary and Bulgaria.

​Laurent Gendre

Laurent Gendre having completed his studies in pianoforte and orchestra conduction in Basel with Horst Stein and Ralf Weikert, Laurent Gendre won the prize for orchestra conductors of the Swiss Musicians' Association and went on to specialise in Germany and Austria.

He has conducted the Orchestra of French Switzerland, the Berne Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Bienne, the Orchestra of Brittany, the Orchestra of Besançon and Franche-Comté, the National Orchestra of Latvia, the chamber orchestras of Geneva and of Neuchâtel, as well as the baroque orchestras "La Cetra" and "Capriccio Basel".

He has been music director of the Symphony Orchestra of Thun since 1999.

His activity as conductor of operatic works has led him to conduct a number of performances both in Switzerland (Fribourg, Geneva and Lausanne), and France (the opera of Rennes, Rheims, Dijon and Besançon). The productions he has conducted include: Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, La Périchole, L’Etoile (Chabrier), Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Niolai), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Britten), Don Pasquale, La Bohème, Il Tabarro, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Les Aventures du Roi Pausole (Honegger) and La Pietra del Paragone (Rossini).

In 1994 Laurent Gendre founded the Ensemble Orlando Fribourg, with which he was invited to take part in a number of festivals in Belgium (Festival of Flanders), France (Festival Bach en Combrailles; Festival du Pays Basque), Spain, Germany, Italy and Russia. The Ensemble Orlando also took part in the Festival of Sacred Musics in Fribourg, the Bach Festival of Lausanne and the Agapé Festival in Geneva. They made three CDs for Cascavelle, recordings which were acclaimed by the specialist press (10 "Repertorio" and 5 "Diapason").

Conducting the Symphony Orchestra of Berne and the oratory choir of the same city, Laurent Gendre performed Le Martyre de Saint-Sébastien by Debussy, Elias by Mendelssohn, The Dream of Gerontius by Elgar and Janacek's Messe Glagolitique.

Among his numerous concerts in 2006, particularly worthy of note are Il Mondo della Luna by Haydn at the operas of Rheims, Besançon and Fribourg, and Bach's Mass in B Minor, on tour in France and Switzerland.

At the beginning of 2007, Laurent Gendre will conduct The medium by Gian Carlo Menotti and Le pauvre matelot by Darius Milhaud in Fribourg, Dijon and Besançon. He will also be giving concerts with the Berne Orchestra (Bruckner's Mass in F), the Orchestra of Thun and the Chamber Orchestra of Lausanne.

​Carl Høgset

Carl Høgset holds degrees in languages and musicology from the University of Oslo, as well as in voice and choral conducting from the Norwegian State Academy of Music. He founded Grex Vocalis - (The Singing Flock) – in 1971. The choir has been awarded the Norwegian “Grammy” for two of its thirteen albums and won 1st prizes in national and international contests: Arezzo, Gorizia, Tolosa and Marktoberdorf.

In 1999 Grex Vocalis was awarded “Il Gran Premio Città di Arezzo”.

He has also won 1st prizes in international contests with the Norwegian Youth Choir: Arezzo, Spittal, and Cantonigros. This choir won “Il Gran Premio Città di Arezzo” in 2002.

Mr. Høgset made his debut as a countertenor in a solo recital in Oslo in 1977. His solo-CD recording with songs by Purcell, Händel, Grieg and Nordheim was released in 1995. He is a member of the vocal quartet Quattro Stagioni.

Carl Høgset teaches choir conducting and singing technique both home and abroad. He is often invited to teach singing technique and conduct Japanese choirs at Tokyo Cantat. He also teaches choral conducting at “Scuola Superiore per Direttori di Coro” in Arezzo, Italy. Mr. Høgset is often invited to be on jurys in international choral competitions, like Arezzo, Gorizia, Tours, Tolosa and Marktoberdorf. In 2005 he was on the jury of the international competition for choral conductors “Mariele Ventre” in Bologna, Italy, and in 2006 he was an adjudicator at the International Choral Contest in Debrecen, Hungary.

Since 1992 he has been involved in voice research with professor Johan Sundberg of the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. Carl Høgset has created the Singing Technique program presented in a booklet including exercises recorded on CD and video. This booklet has already been translated into many languages.

​Stojan Kuret

Stojan Kuret was born in Trieste. He studied pianoforte at the Glasbena Matica in Trieste.

In 1981 he gained his diploma in orchestra conducting at the Academy of Music of Ljubljana and the following year in pianoforte at the Giuseppe Tartini Conservatory in Trieste. As orchestra conductor he specialised in Italy and Germany.

In 1974 he founded the Glasbena Matica treble voice choir, also directing the female and mixed youth choir.

In 1991 he re-established the Jacobus Gallus choir in Trieste.

Since 1983 he has taught orchestral practice at the G. Tartini Conservatory in Trieste.

For ten years from 1992 he was artistic director and director of the APZ Tone Tomšič university choir in Ljubljana, the winner of Grand Prix in the contests: Cantonigros 93 (Spain), F.Schubert-Vienna 94 (Austria), Novy Bor 95 (Czech Republic), Maasmechelen 96 (Belgium), Tours 99 (France), Bolzano 2000, Varna 2001 (Bulgaria), Gorizia 2001, Maribor 2002 (Slovenia), the finalist in the European Gran Prix for Choral Singing 2000 in Tolosa (Spain), finalist and second prize in Let the peoples sing 2001 in London, finalist and winner of the European Gran Prix for Choral Singing 2002 in Arezzo, with tours in Russia, France, South Africa, Argentina, Chile and South Korea.

His artistic activities include orchestra conducting, lecturing in seminars and master degrees and participation as juror in international singing contests (Italy, Slovenia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Spain and Great Britain). He was the last director of the Chamber Choir of the Slovenian RTV from 2003 to 2005.

​Fumiaki Kuriyama

Fumiaki Kuriyama holds a degree in Music from the University of Shimane. He studied choral conducting from Nobuaki Tanaka and Masamitsu Takashina. In 2002 Mr. Kuriyama was awarded the 20th Nakajima Kenzo Music Prize.

After pursuing his career as a singer in Nikikai Chorus Group and Tokyo Philharmonic Chorus, during which he had also studied conducting all along, he established his choral organization "Ritsuyu-kai", which currently includes 14 choirs, where he performs as Music Director and conductor.

He is also a Director of the Board and Music Director of organization "Music Tree", which is formed by a group of people involved in choral activities: choral conductors, composers, poets, pianists, voice trainers and singers. Music Tree has launched a choral festival "Tokyo Cantat" which will celebrate its 10th anniversary this year as well as other choral workshops.

He has won numerous 1st prizes with his choirs in JCA National Choral Competition including the Grand Prix for three times.

He won the Grand Prix in Tolosa International Choral Contest, Spain, in 1994 with Coro Kallos, followed by the European Grand Prix in Arezzo, Italy, in 1995, which has brought the first Grand Prix to the Asia.

Mr. Kuriyama has also been invited to international competitions, festivals, and other cultural programs from around the world: France, Italy, Austria, China and the United States amongst the others. He was on the jury in Tolosa in 1998. In 1993 he was invited as a Guest Clinician to the World Symposium on Choral Music (WSCM) in Vancouver and again in 1997 to give a guest performance with OMP (a.k.a. Tokyo Choir Kyo currently) at WSCM in Sydney.

Fumiaki Kuriyama has actively commissioned and premiered works by contemporary Japanese composers and through his international activities he is committed to introduce the works of Japanese composers. In November, 2002, the three leading composers in Japan, Shinichiro Ikebe, Tokuhide Niimi and Akira Nishimura, organized a concert titled "Da Capo Concert" to celebrate his 60 years of life, 30 years of career in conducting as well as being awarded 20th Nakajima Kenzo Music Prize, where 18 works written by 17 composers for this occasion were premiered. His recent activities also include teaching at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music and serving as Music Director of NHK Tokyo Broadcasting Children's Chorus Group.

​Walter Marzilli

Walter Marzilli gained his diploma in Gregorian chants, Music Pedagogy Ward Method, Choir Music and Choir Direction at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome. At the same institute he gained his Scientific Doctorate in Musicology, specialising in voice disciplines and the study of the 'cello.

In Düsseldorf, Germany, he specialised in Music Pedagogy – Ward Method, specialising in music for choir and orchestra at the University of Cologne.

He is a member of the Artistic Committee of the Choir Association of Tuscany and of the Regional Choir Association of Lazio.

He was a member of the National Artistic Committee FENIARCO (Italian National Federation of Regional Choir Associations) for two terms of office.

He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Conservatorio "F. Cilea" in Reggio Calabria and the artistic committee of the National Polyphonic Competition in Benevento.

He is Consiliarius of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae (C.I.M.S.)

As musicologist and choir director, he has worked in Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Lebanon and Brazil. He is often invited to hold courses and conferences on choir direction and vocal style. He has published a number of articles in specialised reviews, and is often invited to be part of the jury at choir competitions, in Italy and abroad, as member and president of the jury.

He collaborates with the Schola Cantorum Coloniensis in Germany and in other countries. With this group he has made a number of recordings for Westdeutscher Rundfunk.

He collaborates with the Italian Encyclopaedia Institute for the entries of the Biographical Dictionary of Italians, and with the reviews Choraliter; Armonia di Voci; Lo Spettacolo, published by the Italian Authors' and Publishers' Association (S.I.A.E.). He has written articles for La Cartellina and il Bollettino Ceciliano.

He has been commissioned by FENIARCO to select the Italian voices for admission to the World Youth Choir and the Coro Giovanile Italiano.

He conducts I Madrigalisti di Magliano in Toscana, the Ottetto Vocale Romano, the Quartetto Vocale Amaryllis and the Coro Polifonico and I Cantori del Pontificio Istituto di Musica Sacra in Rome. He is also director of the Regional Choir of Calabria.

He has conducted audio-visual filming and recordings for RAI, BMG-Ricordi, VM Records, Editore Discografico Crisopoli, TelePace Vaticana and in MP3.

He directed the Italian Ward Centre of Music Pedagogy, based in Rome, where he taught for many years. He teaches singing at the Sedes Sapientiae International College in Rome, where he is also director of the Department of Music, and has taught at the French Pontifical Seminary and the Italian Academy of Opera.

He teaches Choral Vocal Style at the Conservatorio F. Cilea in Reggio Calabria as well as Psychoacoustics at the Accademia Mediterranea di Arti-Terapia in Salerno, specialising in Music Therapy. He teaches at the Higher School for Choir Directors of the Fondazione Guido d'Arezzo, and is Full Professor of Choir Direction at the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music in Rome.

​Theodora Pavlovitch

Theodora Pavlovitch graduated from the Sofia Academy of Music in choral conducting (with Prof.Vassil Arnaoudov) and sound-engineering.

Between 1984 and 1991 she worked as choir-master for the Bulgarian National Television choir contributing to many TV-programs, live concerts and recordings.

In 1991 she became conductor of the VA Sofia Chamber Choir and in 1997 she founded VA Festival Choir as its expanded formation.

Since 1998 she works also for the Bulgarian National Radio as an author and contributes to the weekly programme 'Europe sings'.

Associate Professor in choral conducting and Artistic Director of the Mixed Choirs at the National Academy of Music in Sofia and at the Sofia University. Regular member of Juries at a number of international choral competitions and lecturer at different music events.

Board member of IFCM, Vice President of the Union of the Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers, former Vice President of EUROPA CANTAT European Federation of Youth Choirs and Chair of its Music Commission (2003-2006).