GWYN ARCH (b. 1931)

has been composing and arranging music for choirs for a long time. His first arrangements were for the girls’ choir of the secondary school where his career in education began. When he moved into teacher-training he began writing for children and for student groups.
He then took over the conductorship of a large mixed voice choir in his home town and found it was often quicker to write an arrangement of a particular carol for the Christmas concert than track down an existing one. When he founded a male voice choir he quickly became aware of the dearth of suitable material for the men to sing, and so felt compelled to arrange for them.
In short, Gwyn has been working with, writing for and conducting every kind of choral combination for much of his life. He has published well over 200 choral arrangements with nearly all the major British publishers and they have been performed and broadcast all over the world.

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MICHAEL ASCHAUER (b. 1977)

born 1977 in Vienna; initial musical education at the School of Music in Steyr, Austria; 1993–1996: Piano tuition under Professor Nikolaus Wiplinger at the then Bruckner Conservatory in Linz, and 1997–2002 at the Johann Joseph Fux Conservatory in Graz under Professors Walter Koch and Christian Aigner; several years as a teacher for piano; 1998: Creation of the duo saite an saite together with Marion Schörkl (mandolin), several public concerts.

1996–2001: Degree studies in Musicology and German language and literature at the Karl Franzens University of Graz (KFUG) and, in addition, courses in Harmony and Counterpoint at Graz University of Music and Dramatic Arts. 2003: Award of a doctorate in Musicology with distinction.

External lecturer for Compositional Technique, Musical Analysis and for Historical Musicology at the Institute of Musicology of the KFUG (2003–2006, 2008, summer term in each case) as well as for Thorough bass (Analytical observations) at the Institute of Musicology of the Leopold Franzens University of Innsbruck (2013, summer term). Since September 2003: editor for a publishing company, furthermore editor of critical first editions, author of academic articles and papers on music, encyclopaedia entries and texts for concert programmes.

His compositions include choral music, lieder, piano music and chamber music. Numerous of his works have already been successfully performed and have appeared with various publishers. Interprets of his choral works are (amongst others): „European Chamber Choir of Cologne“, „Chamber choir CONSTANT of Cologne“, “Vienna Chamber Choir”, vocal ensemble „Voices“ (Linz), chamber choir „Vocale Neuburg“ (Vorarlberg, Austria), „Mainz Figuralchor“, vocal ensemble „CantoBello“ (Allgäu, Germany), vocal ensemble „vocal visions“ (Innsbruck), church choir of Birgitz (Tyrol) and church choir of Glis Gamsen Brigerbad (Valais).

Prizes and awards for composition:
- 1st prize in Category A “New Choral Songs” in the competition for composers at the 2nd Upper Valais International Alpine Choir Festival for his choral piece Le clocher chante (The church tower sings). This work was first performed in Brig, Switzerland, as part of the festival on September 25, 2010 by the European Chamber Choir of Cologne, conducted by Michael Reif.

- 2nd prize in the competition for composers held to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Choral Society of Upper Swabia 1885 e.V. for his choral piece Nächtliche Szene (Nocturnal Scene). This work was first performed in Wolfegg, Germany as part of the festival week on May 15, 2010 by the CantoBello vocal ensemble conducted by Wilfried Maier.

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ERIK BOSIO (b. 1983)

is a young musician from Genoa. He started his formal music training in piano at the age of 6 and turned his attention to composition when he was 15. He studied classical composition and jazz voice at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory of Music of Genoa. He has been involved in the a cappella scene since 1996, when he founded his first vocal group Kream. Erik Bosio, Andrea Figallo, Letizia Poltini and John Kjøller form together The Ghost Files, a studio project dedicated to composing, arranging and recording vocal music of various genres. Bosio is also a member of Cluster, a multi-nominated vocal jazz group from Genoo, and the conductor of the Alfredo Casella choir (Novi Ligure, Italy).

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MARKUS DETTERBECK (b. 1969)

school musician, conductor and author, teaching appointments for music pedagogy, ensemble and choral direction at various music academies and universities, speaker at national as well as international workshops. Numerous contributions to various periodicals.
Main research focus on the development in choral work. Award recipient of numerous prizes with his choirs (for example, the German Choral Competition). Further Information: www.markusdetterbeck.de

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HARALD FELLER (b. 1951)

was born in Munich and studied the organ (under Franz Lehrndorfer) and Church Music at the University of Music and Performing Arts there. He continued his studies in Paris under Marie Claire Alain. He was awarded a scholarship by the German National Academic Foundation, and won prizes in a variety of national and international performance competitions in Munich. In 1979, he was awarded the Förderpreis für Musik (prize for promising young musicians) of the State of Bavaria and in 1983 won the internationally renowned Improvisation Competition in Haarlem in the Netherlands.
In 1978, Feller took up a temporary teaching position at Munich’s University of Music and Performing Arts. This was followed in 1980 by a position as lecturer at the Academy of Catholic Church Music and Music Teaching in Regensburg, where he remained until 1983, when he was offered a professorship in Munich at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Since his appointment he has supervised his own organ class there. His artistic and educational work is complemented by his numerous concerts in Europe, the USA and South Korea, CD recordings (Grand Prix international du disque Liszt) radio productions and film music (Brother of Sleep). The broad spectrum of his talent extends beyond the purely instrumental, as is clearly reflected in his activities as a choir director and composer. In addition to organ, orchestral and chamber music, choral music (with and without orchestral accompaniment) is a major element in his compositional work. On the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of Berlin Cathedral in 2005, he was awarded a prize for his setting of the 22nd Psalm. Further Information: www.hfeller.org

ANDREA FIGALLO (b. 1972)

started playing piano at the age of 5 and studied music and theatre at the University of Bologna/Italy. He went on studying jazz arranging and composition and in 2001 joined the well-known a cappella group The Flying Pickets. Of the many projects and 500+ concerts he’s given until today, the most recent and possibly the most rewarding one is The Ghost Files, a studio project together with Erik Bosio, Letizia Poltini and John Kjøller, dedicated to composing, arranging and recording vocal music of various genres. Figallo is very active as bass singer, vocal percussionist, choral conductor, arranger and album producer for various formations in Europe. Lately he has been involved in the Spanish market as producer and arranger for vocals, strings etc. He is now living between Madrid and London and shares his knowledge as freelance coach for vocal formations and as adjudicator at choral competitions all around the world. Further Information: www.andreafigallo.com

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RUPERT GOTTFRIED FRIEBERGER (b. 1951)

Born in Linz in Upper Austria, multiple degrees as an academic, professor and, as the monastery music director, responsible for all the musical interests of the Premonstratensian Abbey of Schlägl. He has worked as a conductor and organist in nearly every country in Europe as well as in Morocco, has played for radio and television and has made a name for himself with over 60 CDs and records.

As a composer and improviser he is a member of several international commissions; his compositions have been published by renowned publishing companies. He has published numerous articles as a musicologist and has participated in many symposiums. Assistant professor at the University Salzburg in the subjects of musicology and liturgical sciences as well as at the University for Music and the Performing Arts Vienna for performance practice and improvisation; furthermore, conductor of the Oratorio Choir Cantoria Plagensis and director of the Provincial Music School in Schlägl.

Frieberger has been awarded numerous prizes and has received various tributes already in his younger years, including:

• International Improvisation Prize of Haarlem (1974)
• Improvisation Prize of the City of Innsbruck (1977)
• Appointment as a Royal Knight of Oranjen-Nassau (1990)
• Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art (1991)
• Culture Prize for Composition of the Province of Upper Austria (1993)

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Uli Führe (b. 1957)

Born in 1957 in Lörrach, Germany, graduated in 1987 in Music Teaching in Schools (main subject: Violin, special subject: Singing) and Popular Music (main subject: Guitar); he lives in Buchenbach, near Freiburg.
One of the focal points of Führe’s compositional work is vocal music. With texts by selected authors including Robert Gernhardt, Mascha Kaléko, Ringelnatz, Morgenstern, Tucholsky, Busch and Wolf Biermann’s translations of Shakespeare’s sonnets, but also with sacred texts, he creates a bridge between lyric poetry and music.
His many-sided compositions have long since found their way into the work of choirs and into practical everyday singing. For his children’s songs Kroko Tarrap, he was nominated for the Leopold the prize awarded for good music for children by the German association of music schools for young people. His jazz canons are a firm feature of songbooks and choir books both at home and abroad.
In addition to his work as a composer, he teaches independent courses in the fields of vocal training for choir directors and music teachers, and singing education for educators and schoolteachers. He has held courses in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Luxemburg, France, The Netherlands, Lithuania, Iceland and Brazil. His books on vocal training, Stimmicals 1 and 2, today have a permanent place in modern vocal work.
Between 1992 and 1998 he received a number of commissions to teach music at institutions in Stuttgart, Freiburg and Basle, and since 1997 he has been teaching Improvisation at the University of Music in Freiburg.
In 2007, in Berlin, he was awarded the German record critics annual prize for his CD Ikarus, which combines contemporary composition and improvisation with the lyrical verse of Markus Manfred Jung.
His many-sided publications include children’s songs, musicals for children, teaching works on warm-up exercises for multiple voices, jazz canons, choral scores, CDs etc.

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CARSTEN GERLITZ (b. 1966)

Born in Berlin, Carsten Gerlitz studied Music at Berlin University of the Arts, and Computer Science at the Free University. He received his musical education on the piano and in composition and arrangement from, among others, Clemens Kühn and Heinrich Riethmüller. He currently works as a musician, arranger and author for a number of different publishers and labels. His piano and choir arrangements have now appeared in over 150 publications, and he directs spoken-word and musical productions in his own sound-recording studio.
With his choir “The Happy Disharmonists”, which he has directed for 23 years, Carsten Gerlitz has won Berlin’s BONZO cultural prize and released several CDs. In 2006, his publication POP BALLADS won him the BEST EDITION award of the German Music Publishers Association. He has frequently acted as musical director for the television broadcasters SAT.1, ZDF and RTL, worked as musical director of Berlin’s Schlosspark and Tribune Theatres, and directed the Palazzo Show in the capital. He has also been involved in several musical projects with the Stageentertainment company
Carsten Gerlitz has done arrangements for Max Raabe and the Palast Orchestra, Reinhard Mey, Ute Lemper, Pepe Lienhard, for the NDR and MDR radio orchestras, and also for the children’s choir of the MDR. In addition, he is in regular demand as a lecturer in Choir Direction.

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FRANZ M. HERZOG (b. 1962)

Conductor, composer and music educationalist. He studied composition and choral conducting at Graz University of Music and Performing Arts (KUG). Postgraduate studies with Eric Ericson (Stockholm).
In 1994 Herzog founded CANTUS, an ensemble specializing in contemporary music. He is artistic director of the chamber choir Vocalforum Graz and of the Styrian youth choir CantAnima. With all of these ensembles achieved numerous international successes.
Franz Herzog is internationally active as a conductor and composer and as an expert for choral conducting and choral voice training. He is currently head of choral conducting department at the Johann Joseph Fux Conservatory in Graz and a lecturer at KUG. Furthermore he was one of the artistic directors of the 5th World Choir Games 2008 and the World Choir Championships in 2011.
As a composer, Herzog has published numerous choral works through the Austrian publisher Helbling. His Ave, maris stella won him second prize in the 2010 “Goldene Stimmgabel” (Golden Tuning fork) international competition for composers held by AGEC. For his achievements, he was awarded the merit prize of the Federal Ministry of Science and Research.

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STEFAN KALMER (b. 1982)

teaches music at the Erasmus Grasser Grammar School in Munich. He has played the violin in various jazz bands and currently plays with the Orange String Quartet. As the founder and director of the Munich rock and jazz choir VoicesInTime (www.VoicesInTime.de), he has won first prize in the jazz category of several notable competitions, among them the last German Choir Competition in 2006.

Kalmer is the director of the jazz choir of the Academy of Music and Drama in Munich. He conducts regular workshops on rock, jazz and crossover in the choir, is active as a juror and works for numerous publishers as an arranger, composer and editor.
Further information: www.kalmer.de.

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LORENZ MAIERHOFER (b. 1956)

has made a resounding name for himself as a composer, arranger and lyricist, and as the author of numerous publications in the field of musical and choral education.
Many of his stylistically diverse sacred and secular choral compositions have already become standards. Lorenz Maierhofer’s music has been published in a range of international choral editions and on numerous CDs. His creative work spans musical styles from contemporary and classical music to ethno, folk, gospel and jazz.
After 25 years as a teacher of music, practising musician and lecturer in the didactics of music and choral education, Lorenz Maierhofer has dedicated himself since 2002 entirely to composition.
He lives and works as a creative artist in Kirchberg an der Raab, Styria, Austria.
Further information and audio-samples: www.maierhofer.cc

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LETIZIA POLTINI (b. 1984)

Born in Genoa, Letizia Poltini has been playing piano since she was 6. In 2007 she completed her Piano degree at the Niccolò Paganini Conservatory of Music of Genoa. Very experienced soprano in different choral formations she is now working as accompa-nying pianist for lied and opera singers. She has been conducted by the renowned Daniel Oren in a rendition of the Carmen at the Carlo Felice Theatre in Genoa. Poltini is a founding member of the multi-nominated group vocal jazz group Cluster, and, besides Andrea Figallo, Erik Bosio and John Kjøller, member of The Ghost Files, a studio project dedicated to composing, arranging and recording vocal music of various genres. Poltini composes for this ensemble and records all female parts.

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R. CLEMENS SCHÄFER (b. 1960)

studied the guitar at the Hochschule für darstellende Kunst und Musik (Academy of Music and the Performing Arts) in Frankfurt/Main, and from 1995 to 1998 held a teaching commission in the Music Teaching Department of Frankfurt’s Johann Wolfgang Goethe University.
As the founder and leader of the vocal jazz quartet Finally Four and director of the Wiesbaden based pop jazz choir Sing’n’Swing, Schäfer has dedicated himself to a broad spectrum of modern music. In addition, he has enriched the repertoire with his own highly imaginative and stirring choral arrangements, and in workshops together with, among others, Darmon Meader (New York Voices), Roger Letson (Vocal Flight) and Clare Fisher, he is continually and deeply involved with the latest trends in jazz and pop.

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SUSANNE SCHEMPP (b. 1958)

studied Music Teaching in Schools, Jazz and Popular Music, and English in Stuttgart. Since graduating, she has been working as a freelance musician. She is an arranger, composer, jazz and gospel singer, choir director (at the GoVocal school for pop singing with its affiliated choirs Sixties in Motion, Gospelchor and the VocaLadies jazz choir) and leader of the award-winning a-cappella quartet Salt Peanuts, with which she performs her own cabaret chansons.

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JOHANNES STEINWENDER (b. 1965)

Born in Hartberg in the Austrian province of Styria, Johannes Steinwender completed his studies at the University of Music and the Performing Arts in Graz in 1993, when he was awarded the degree of Magister artium with distinction. He is now teaching there as an assistant professor of Theory of Music in the Institute of Composition, Theory of Music, History of Music, and Conducting. In addition to his music teaching activities and his work as an editor and author of guides to musical works, he is an active choir director, conductor and composer.
Choral singing, which was one of his first points of contact with classical music, remains today one of the most important areas of Steinwender’s activities. Since 1990 he has been artistic director of the Church Music Society in Hartberg, and has made a name for the choir beyond the borders of Styria. As choir director and conductor, he has made guest appearances with the first performances of new works at important festivals such as styriarte and steirischer herbst (Styrian autumn). At present he is the musical director of the following choirs and ensembles: the choir and orchestra of the Hartberg Church Music Society, Scholae Musici Cantores, the Weiz Children’s Choir, the Weiz Youth Choir and the aerophonic Ensemble.

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HANS UNTERWEGER (b. 1962)

Born in Ebene Reichenau in the Austrian province of Carinthia, Hans Unterweger was educated at the classical grammar school in Tanzenberg, and received his teaching degree in English and Music at the Catholic University College of Education in Graz-Eggenberg. He is a music teacher and coordinator for music at the Musikhauptschule (musical comprehensive school) in Kirchberg an der Raab, Styria, and composes, arranges and sings for the a-cappella group VOICE|factory. Married, with two grown-up sons, he lives in Kirchberg an der Raab with two cats and a Dalmatian called Phoenix.

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MARTIN VÖLLINGER (b. 1975)

Martin Völlinger was born in Fulda, Germany in 1977. Initially self-taught, he studied church music, voice, conducting and improvisation in Regensburg as well as in Zurich and attended numerous international music courses. He was a prize winner at the first Bayreuth-Regensburg Choral Direction Competition and was a finalist at the International Organ Improvisation Competition at Schlägl Monastery in Austria.
He worked as a choral director, voice coach and organ teacher with the Regensburg Domspatzen and as an assistant to the cathedral organist already during his studies. After his studies he answered the call of a Croatian bishop to establish the cathedral music, that is, the church music in the region of his newly founded bishopric.
Since 2007 Völlinger has been working as the choral director and voice teacher with the Lucerne Boys’ Choir where he has celebrated astounding success as the director of the Men’s Ensemble of the Boys’ Choir (the youngest men’s choir in Switzerland). He now lives with his family in Ebikon, near Lucerne. Besides his work with the Lucerne Boys’ Choir, he is the organist in Steinhausen and Baar in the Canton of Zug.
Martin Völlinger is a versatile musician and crossover artist. His increasingly freelance compositorial activities are reflected in numerous commissioned works, including the oratorio Inspired – Trauermusik d-Moll (Inspired - Mourning Music in D minor) for the Handel-Festival-Lucerne 2009 in memory of children killed in religious conflicts as well as a humorous cantata Der Ohrwurm (The Earworm) for the Austrian vocal ensemble Vocale Neuburg. In December 2011 his commissioned cantata Schweizerreise (Swiss Journey) was successfully world-premièred for the Tag der internationalen Freiwilligentätigkeit (International Voluntary Service Day 2011) in the SWISS CHRISTMAS tent city in Zürich. In March 2012 his musical “Gimmu di butzi” for the singing school “cantiamo” in Oberwallis was a huge success with the public. This project was awarded the Lily Waeckerlin Prize for Jugend&Musik 2001 by the ACCENTUS foundation.
Völlinger aims his music directly at people and their feelings, between traditional and modern music and shows no reservation in the use of pop, jazz and world music. Increasingly, he has turned his attention to music theater and is always looking for new ideas and forms situated between opera, musical comedy and the musical. His musical work is rounded out by his activity as a seminar instructor and consultant.

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