Choirs

Ad Libitum Choir

(Hungary)

The Ad Libitum Choir of Baja was founded in 1991 under the direction of Andrea Pethőné Kővári. From the very beginning the choir has been a key player in the city’s cultural life. In the past three decades the ensemble has performed in many places and has had many successes.

They are committed to performing high-quality choral music and bringing it to the public. They are proud to have a regular audience of 3-400 people at their national concerts. The ensemble has a vibrant repertoire. Particular attention is paid to contemporary Hungarian choral music (György Orbán, János Vajda, Miklós Csemiczky, Levente Gyöngyösi, Péter Tóth) and the performance of works by Zoltán Kodály, Lajos Bárdos and other Hungarian composers. Their programme also includes sacred works.

They have come home with placings at the VI Budapest International Choir Competition, Cantonigros, Grado, and several times at the Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir Competition. In 1998 they were awarded Concert Choir, in 2005 Ars Maior, and 2010 Ars Maxima. They have given three solo studio concerts on Hungarian Radio and have sung several times at festive concerts organised by The Association of Hungarian Choirs, Orchestras, and Folk Music Ensembles. They have participated in international festivals (International Singing Week, Vivace – Veszprém, Europa Cantat – Pécs) and have been featured in opera and oratorio performances.

Andrea Pethőné Kővári

Andrea Pethőné Kővári (1958) graduated from the Szeged faculty of the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music and then worked as a singing teacher at her former school, the Béla III. After 40 years of activity, a lively musical life developed in the institution – she was the leader of the girls’ choir, boys’ choir, mixed choir, and folk choir, she organised the large-scale gala performances called Bélás Zenedélután for a long time, and her students’ music also coloured many school celebrations.

She has also worked successfully with other Baja ensembles, such as the Singing and Music Primary School and the Practising Primary School, and the Cantabile Children’s Choir of the city. In 1991 he founded the Ad Libitum Choir, of which she has been the conductor ever since. Her work has been honoured with several awards (for the City of Baja, County Prize, Silver Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary, KÓTA Conducting Award, Éber Award, Pilinszky Award).

Arcova Vocal Ensemble

(Italy)

Arcova Vocal Ensemble is the regional youth choir of Aosta Valley, Italy. It was founded in 2014.

The ensemble has several concerts and collaborations in Italy and abroad: In 2016 it took part in the 19th edition of the Europa Cantat Festival in Pécs (Hungary), at the MiTO Settembre Musica Festival; in 2019 it was a guest at the Incontro Polifonico Internazionale Città di Fano and the Concorso Corale Nazionale del Lago Maggiore.

In 2021 it took part in the ‘ConVivere’ choral festival in Sondrio; it regularly participates in Arcova and Fenicaro initiatives, collaborating with the Valle d’Aosta Region for important concerts in regional events. The Arcova Vocal Ensemble also collaborates with the Accademia Corale Italiana as a laboratory choir for the training of new generations of conductors. The ensemble is directed by Caroline Voyat.

Caroline Voyat

Violinist, singer, choir director. Her membership of the Coro Giovanile Italiano from 2011 to 2019 and her active presence in the UT Insieme Vocale-Consonante since its inception have led to collaborations with nationally and internationally renowned conductors and represent an important stage in her musical and vocal development. In 2016, the UT ensemble won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Varna. She is also very active as a violin teacher.

Over the years her passion for choral music has become a professional activity: annual participation in the choir of the Cathedral of Siena Guido Chigi Saracini and the foundation of the vocal quartet Ensemble Coraux, with which she won the second prize at the National Polyphonic Competition Guido d’Arezzo in 2021 and the Grand Prix Voices of Italy in 2022.

She obtained her diploma in choral conducting at the Guido d’Arezzo School. She attended a two-year specialisation course at the Accademia Corale Italiana and a parallel specialisation course at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena with Maestro Lorenzo Donati. In 2022 she won second prize at the National Conductors’ Competition ‘Le mani in suono’.

Cor Jove Amics de la Unió

(Catalonia)

Created in 1995 and revitalized in 2016, the Cor Jove Amics de la Unió is one of the resident formations at the Granollers Auditorium Theatre which, along with Veus – Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió and the Cor de Cambra de Granollers, offers unique proposals with a youthful and contemporary outlook. The choir is composed of 45 young people aged between 18 and 25, most of whom have extensive experience in the Amics de la Unió Music School or in other spaces related to choral music. The choir’s productions range from classical, sacred, or contemporary choral music to electronic music, jazz, musicals, or gospel.

The Cor Jove Amics de la Unió regularly performs at the Granollers Auditorium Theatre: Carmina Burana (2018), Mirrors by Kenny Wheeler (2018), Revolution (2019), Denominació d’Origen (2020), HITS! (2021), or Albert Guinovart’s El Mesías and Les Eines (2022). It has also performed in the country’s main venues: Liceu (El Monstre al laberint 2023), Girona Auditorium (Mesías, 2019), Barcelona Auditorium (Christmas on Broadway and Mesías, 2019), Palau de la Música Catalana (Carmina Burana, 2020, Albert Guinovart’s El Mesías, 2022), or Vic Religious Music Festival (Lux, 2021).

It has collaborated with important musical and stage directors such as Alfonso Casado, Lluís Vilamajó, Josep Vila i Casañas, Başak Doğan, Johan Duijck, Esteve Nabona, Panda van Proosdij, or Judith Pujol. It received the Enderrock 2022 award by popular vote for the best classical and contemporary album and the Clavé 2022 award for the best recording of choral singing for its album Lux (Ficta, 2022).

Internationally, the choir has been invited to prestigious festivals such as the Eurotreff in Wolfenbüttel (Germany) or the choir exhibition organized within the International Contest of Habaneras and Polyphony of Torrevieja. In 2019, it won the first prize in the youth choir category at the XLVIII Coral Contest of Ejea de los Caballeros.

Marta Dosaiguas

Born in Granollers in 1989, Marta Dosaiguas began her studies at the Amics de la Unió Music School, studying piano with Joan Vila and violin with Berta Sariol. She later pursued a Middle Degree in Piano Performance at the Josep Maria Ruera EMM under the guidance of Jordi Masó. She holds a degree in Piano Pedagogy from the ESMUC, where she was taught by Vladislav Bronevetzky. Recently, she graduated in Choral Conducting from the ESMUC under professors such as Johan Duijck, and she works as the conductor of the Petits Cantors Amics de la Unió choir, the Cor Jove Amics de la Unió, as well as the Granollers Women’s Choir and the Lira Choir. In April 2019, she won the award for Best Conductor at the XLVIII Coral Contest of Ejea de los Caballeros, in addition to the First Prize in the young choir category for the Cor Jove Amics de la Unió, which she herself directed.

Ensemble Coraux

(Italy)

The Ensemble Coraux is a vocal quartet born in 2021 from the desire of some friends from different choral realities in the Aosta Valley to study their solo vocal repertoire. The group offers thematic programmes and projects, ranging from ancient to contemporary music, in order to present the different ways in which famous composers such as Marenzio, De Victoria, Debussy, Ravel, Poulenc, Donati, have understood and dealt with themes such as love, the gaze, the sacred and the profane.

In these years of activity, Coraux has already had the opportunity to perform in numerous contexts, such as in Rome at the Galleria Borghese, with a special programme for the museum’s season “Amorosi affetti”, at the Incontro Polifonico Internazionale Città di Fano; in 2021 the ensemble won the second prize at the National Polyphonic Competition “Guido d’Arezzo” and in 2022 the Gran Premio Voci d’Italia. The quartet is made up of Asia Péaquin, Angelo Bezza, Mathieu Merlet and Caroline Voyat, who is also its artistic director.

Caroline Voyat

Los Cantantes de Manila

(The Philippines)

Los Cantantes de Manila is a community choir composed of students, young professionals, and devout musicians. Since its inception in February 2014, the choir learned new vocal techniques and were taught the virtues of dedication, respect, humility, and loyalty. Under the baton of Mr. Darwin Vargas, LCDM won the Grand Prix in the 2015 Busan International Choral Festival and Competition in Busan, South Korea.

In 2017, Los Cantantes de Manila bagged the First Prize, including 2 special awards, in the Popular Choir Music Category of the prestigious Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition held in Germany. The choir was classified with an Achievement Level I rating – the highest rating – indicating that the choir gave an “excellent performance at an international level.”

A two-time recipient of Ani ng Dangal, an award handed by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts to recognize its international championships, LCDM was hailed Champion in the Mixed Choir Category of 2023 Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition, including 3 special prizes and maintaining the Achievement Level I rating. Moreover, the group snatched the First Prize in the Folklore Category in the 2023 edition of Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival.

Committed to its mission to be Filipino cultural ambassadors of goodwill, Los Cantantes de Manila continuously harnesses its craft to promote goodwill and excellence through its God-given gift of ethereal music.

Darwin Vargas

Darwin Vargas is one of the most celebrated young conductors in the Philippines today. His love for choral music started at an early age of 16 when he joined Victorino Mapa High School Youth Choir under the tutelage of Philippine Madrigal Singers alumna, Ms. Aida Aldama-Gallardo.

It was during those times when he became interested in the fine nuances of the art. Darwin, in his early college days, joined A Cappella Manila and was trained by the brothers Rodel and Noel Bugarin. He became the group’s Assistant Choirmaster in 2004. In 2005, he was invited to join the world-renowned University of the East Chorale under the baton of the award-winning conductor, Ms. Anna Tabita Abeleda-Piquero, ex-resident arranger and alumna of the Philippine Madrigal Singers. He became the group’s President and Tour Manager for almost a decade. During his term, he brought UEC to 16 countries around the globe.

Exposure to European choirs and attending various workshops and masterclasses in Europe, under world-class pedagogues like Stojan Kuret, Volker Hempfling, Anders Eby, Prof. Kurt Suttner, Erwin Ortner, Zoltan Pad, Prof. Georg Gruen, Ko Matsushita, and Gary Graden developed his ear and techniques for refined choral sound.

Presently, Darwin Vargas conducts the world-renowned University of the East Chorale, enabling the choir to win the Grand Prix in the 11th Orientale Concentus 2018 in Singapore, and most recently, the Grand Prix in 2022 Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod International Choir Competition. He is also the Musical Director of Coro San Benedetto, the official choir of San Beda College Alabang. In June 2022, Darwin was a recipient of a scholarship grant to participate in the 2022 International Choral Conducting Masterclasses in Saarbreuken and Marktoberdorf, Germany.

Gruppo Polifonico Claudio Monteverdi

(Italy)

The Claudio Monteverdi Choir was founded in 1976 by the Italian conductor and composer Orlando Dipiazza, who led the ensemble for two decades. The choir has participated in the most important international choral events in Italy, achieving prestigious results in the competitions of Arezzo (1978), Ravenna (1979) and Gorizia (1982).

In 48 years of uninterrupted activity, the choir has given almost a thousand concerts in Italy, Slovenia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Holland, Belgium, Finland, France, Spain, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Russia, Slovakia, Sweden, Canada, the United States and Malta.

The choir’s extensive classical repertoire, both sacred and profane, ranges from the 16th century to the Romantic period and contemporary composers. The Monteverdi Choir has performed all of Francis Poulenc’s works written for male choirs. The choir regularly offers the Passion of Christ II Giovanni by the Renaissance composer Francesco Corteccia (more than 150 performances).

The choir has published eight volumes of music and songs composed and arranged by the master Orlando Dipiazza, in order to promote and disseminate popular songs and the Friulian language and culture. Since 2003, the Monteverdi Choir has been recognised as a cultural organisation of regional interest. In 2023 Barbara Di Bert was entrusted with the direction of the choir.

Barbara Di Bert

Barbara Di Bert studied piano with Prof. Maria Puxeddu. She graduated from the P. Margreth Archiepiscopal Teachers’ Institute in Udine and immediately began her career as a primary school teacher and external music expert, in charge of after-school music courses. Fascinated by the world of children, she deepened her studies in music pedagogy (instrumental and vocal) by attending courses in Orff methodology with M. Holgado and A. Vila.

She took her first steps as a children’s choir director in 1997. She collaborates with choral groups for concerts in Italy and abroad as a chorister and assistant conductor. In 1999, together with Maestro Denis Monte, she founded the Artemia children’s choir in Torviscosa, with which she worked until 2009 as artistic director, vocal coach and director of preparatory training. At the same time she collaborated with band groups and musical associations as a teacher of theory, solfeggio and preparatory courses. In 2000 she obtained a three-year diploma in music education from E. Willems with F. Bertoli, U. Cividino and J. Chapuis.

Since 2008 she has been a teacher at the Maria I Nursery School in Cervignano, where she is in charge of the Friulian language and musical preparation project for the whole school with children aged 2 to 6.

In 2010 she founded and directed the Gruppo Vocale Femminile Polivoice of Terzo di Aquileia, with which she participated in collaborations and regional choral projects. In 2016 she collaborated with the Pantankin Theatre Company of Venice and the Teatro della Gran Guardia as musical and vocal consultant for the show Tempeste d’amor perdute, based on Shakespeare’s The Tempest. In 2014 she joined the board of the Friulian Choral Union of Udine as delegate for the Lower East area and vice-president for the Province of Udine. In 2023 she took on the role of Artistic Director of the Claudio Monteverdi Polyphonic Group in Ruda.

Imusicapella

(The Philippines)

Formed in 2002, Imusicapella is a church choir based at the Our Lady of the Pillar Parish and St. Peregrine Chapel in Imus, Cavite.

In 22 years, Imusicapella has embarked on 12 international tours in Europe, Asia and North America. They have participated and won top prizes in international choral competitions in Varna, Bulgaria; Tours, France; Debrecen, Hungary; Arezzo and Gorizia, Italy; Montreux and Neuchatel, Switzerland; Marktoberdorf, Lindenholzhausen and Mainhausen, Germany; Spittal and Baden, Austria; Sopot, Poland; Torrevieja, Spain; Busan, South Korea; Takarazuka, Japan; and San Luis Obispo, California, USA.

They have participated in international choral festivals in Fano, Italy; Nancy, France, Victoria and Burgos, Spain, and Jihlava, Czech Republic. They were the recipients of the ‘General Licerio Topacio Special Award’ for being an outstanding group of the city of Imus. They were a 6-time recipient of the Ani ng Dangal Award by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. They have been successful in achieving top prizes in local and national choral competitions. They topped the 3 categories they joined in at the 2009 Cultural Center of the Philippines National Choral Competition.

Tristan Caliston Ignacio

Tristan Ignacio is the founder and conductor of Imusicapella. He graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Science in Tourism at the University of Santo Tomas. He was a recipient of the Gawad Heneral Emilio Aguinaldo, the highest honors given by the Province of Cavite for his outstanding achievements in the field of music. He was also given the 2012 and 2019 Harvest of Honors Awards by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts.

Presently, he is also the conductor of the Sisters of Mary Boystown Choir, the GSIS Chorale and CCP Chorale.

Prizes and Awards:

Andrea Georgi Prize, the best conductor prize in Gorizia, Italy (2018)
Giuseppe Radole Prize, a conductor’s prize for the best interpretation of a sacred polyphonic piece in Gorizia, Italy (2018)
Special Prize for an Excellent Conducting Performance in Debrecen, Hungary (2018)
Günther Mittergradneger Prize, a conductor’s prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary choral work in Spittal, Austria (2015)
Best Conductor Prize for his Outstanding Artistic Performance in Lindenholzhausen , Germany (2011)
Viva Maria Strecker Daelen Prize, the best conductor prize for the best interpretation of a contemporary choral work in Marktoberdorf, Germany (2007)

Joint High School Choir of Toyama

(Japan)

This is a joint choir of the Toyama Prefectural High School Chorus Club and the Toyama Higashi High School Chorus Club from Toyama Prefecture, Japan, which has friendly relations with Hungary.

Both schools have a history of more than 50 years and both choirs have been actively involved in their respective activities. Since the autumn of last year, the two schools have been practising together and participating as a joint choir in events in Toyama Prefecture and national competitions.

In March this year, they also had the opportunity to learn a lot about choral singing from Dr. Csaba Kiss when he visited Japan. The choir has been working mainly with mixed choirs in their respective schools, but this time they will enter the competition as an all-female choir.

Yuko Kotsubo & Tomomi Hirai

Yuko Kotsubo is a music teacher at Toyama Prefectural High School. She has been teaching choral music for 3 years and wind band for 31 years and has participated as a conductor in various competitions in Japan.

Tomomi Hirai is a music teacher at Toyama Prefectural Higashi High School. She has been teaching choral music for 18 years and has participated as a conductor in various competitions in Japan.

Ss. Cyril & Methodios Choir of Thessaloniki

(Greece)

The Choir of the Church of Saints Cyril & Methodius in Thessaloniki was founded in 1992 by its current director Maria Emma Meligopoulou.

Apart from Greece, the choir has performed in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, England, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Holland, Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Spain, China, Russia, Turkey, Romania, Belarus, Israel, Egypt, South Africa, Canada, USA and Switzerland. In 2017 the choir performed at the famous Carnegie Hall in New York City. It has won international awards, such as gold medals at the “5th Brahms Choir Competition” (2007), at the “10th International Festival Moscow Sounds” (2008), at the “5th Loto-Quebec Choir Festival” (2009). In 2011 it was Category Winner at the “9th Venezia in Musica Choir Festival” in the categories of Children Choirs.

The choir regularly collaborates with the Thessaloniki Concert Hall, the Athens Concert Hall, the State Orchestra of Thessaloniki, the Symphony Orchestra of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, has performed with the Camerata – Orchestra of Friends of Music, has taken part in the Athens Festival and has recorded for the Greek and German National Television.

In 2021 the choir won a gold diploma in the online competition World Choir Games Flanders 2021. The children’s department has been conducting since 2021 by Elpida Tsami.

Elpida Tsami & Dr. Maria Emma Meligopoulou LB, MusM, PhD, PostDoc

Elpida Tsami was involved in music from an early age. She has a degree in Choir Conducting from the Department of Music Science and Art (D.M.S.A.) of Macedonia University and holds a master’s degree in “Musical Arts and Sciences” from the same Department. She also holds a degree in Piano and Music Theory from the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki, under the teachers George-Ioulios Papadopoulos and George Themelis respectively. In addition, she has attended choir conducting seminars, for several years, at the Summer Academy of the Ionian University.

She participated for a number of years in the Choirs of Saints Cyril and Methodius, vocal ensemble of D.M.S.A. and the “Maestroso” vocal ensemble, with which she performed concerts in Greece (Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Athens Concert Hall, Athens, Patras, Patmos Festival, Corfu, Samothrace), as well as in countries abroad (Sri Lanka, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Russia, Turkey, Czech Republic, Italy, Croatia). Today, she teaches choir and piano at the Municipal Conservatory of Thessaloniki, the New Conservatory of Thessaloniki, the Thermaic Conservatory of Thessaloniki, directs the pre-choir section and the children’s choir of Saints Cyril & Methodius Church. In October 2021 she received a Gold Diploma conducting the women’s ensemble Vox Coralis at the online 11th World Choir Games in Flanders, Belgium.

Dr. Maria Emma Meligopoulou is Assistant Professor of Choral Conducting at the Macedonia University School of Music Science and Art, Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds a PhD and a Postdoctoral Diploma from Ionian University School of Music and a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from Boston University College of Fine Arts. She is also recipient of a bachelor’s degree in Law, from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She is also a research associate at the Ionian and Aegean Universities, Greece.

Her international career spans in all continents with numerous choral music performances. As adjudicator she has served is some of the most prestigious choral competitions, such as the Bali International Festival (Indonesia), the World Choir Games (USA, Russia, South Africa, China, Austria and Belgium), the European Choir Games (Germany, Sweden, Latvia), the Busan International Choir competition (South Korea), and many others in Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Austria, Hungary etc.). As a clinician she has led seminars, lectures and workshops worldwide (Greece, China, Israel, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Sri Lanka, Korea, Russia, Belarus etc.).

Dr. Meligopoulou is author of academic textbooks Introduction to the Art of Choral Praxis (2011) and the digital book Choral Art in History, Theory & Practice (2023) from University Editions ‘Kallipos’, along with score editing of choral music by Greek and international composers

Zoltán Kodály Youth Mixed Choir

(Hungary)

The members of the ensemble are students of the Debrecen Zoltán Kodály Music School and Secondary Music School. The predecessor of the choir was founded by György Gulyás in 1954. From the end of the 1960s until 1993 the Kodály Girls’ Choir was led by Zoltán Kövics and they won several prizes in national and international competitions and participated in many festivals with honors.

Since 1993 the ensemble operated under the baton of Mária Kéryné Mészáros. From 1999 to 2001 the Girls’ Choir was led by the current conductor, then Mária Kéryné Mészáros expanded the chorus to mixed choir.

The ensemble was founded anew in the fall of 2004 as Zoltán Kodály Youth Mixed Choir by Mónika Végh. After the difficulties of the pandemic, the choir was reestablished and has been operating for three years now by Adrienne Vasné Katona. During this period they have performed numerous recitals and have been invited to several Advent concerts of the Debrecen University Club of Professors. They have also performed in the Opening Concert of the Bárdos Symposium as regular guests. During the 11th National Choral Competition held on March 20, 2022, the group won 1st Prize, as well as the Special Recognition Award of the Kodály Society.

For the last two years they have also appeared online through their yearly video clips. Their repertoire consists of pieces of both secular and sacred music, a capella songs and compositions with accompaniment, from many genres of music literature. The main purpose of the choir is to share the joy of singing in addition to sustaining a connected, caring and cooperative community. Their ars poetica comes from the views of Zoltán Kodály: ‘Singing makes life more beautiful, singers enrich the lives of others.’

Adrienne Vasné Katona

Music Singing Teacher of Solfège and Music Theory and Choral Conducting. Born in 1969, she finished her high school at the Zoltán Kodály Music Secondary School in Debrecen and then earned her Bachelor and Master of Music Diplomas at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Currently she is teaching Solfège, Music Theory and Music History at the Zoltán Kodály Music Secondary School in Debrecen and has been directing the Zoltán Kodály Youth Mixed Choir for the last three years. She has worked with the Lautitia Choral family as well as with the Kölcsey Choir. As a mentor she directs the work of the teacher and conductor candidates of the Debrecen University Music Department. She has served numerous times as jury member on concerts of Hungary’s ‘Singing Youth’ along with presenting demonstration classes and lectures.