He is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the conductor of the renowned Tuks Camerata and a Senior Lecturer in Choral Conducting in the Department of Music. His compositions and arrangements have been performed throughout the world, and his arrangements of traditional South African songs are especially popular. Michael has won many choir competitions and regularly adjudicates and presents workshops on South African Music both nationally and abroad. The University of Pretoria (Tuks) Camerata is one of South Africa’s finest choral ensembles, having won many accolades and awards over the years. Michael has been the conductor of the Tuks Camerata since 2013 and he regularly attends symposia and conferences all over the world to remain at the forefront of choral music education.

He is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Pretoria (South Africa), the conductor of the renowned Tuks Camerata and a Senior Lecturer in Choral Conducting in the Department of Music. His compositions and arrangements have been performed throughout the world, and his arrangements of traditional South African songs are especially popular. Michael has won many choir competitions and regularly adjudicates and presents workshops on South African Music both nationally and abroad. The University of Pretoria (Tuks) Camerata is one of South Africa’s finest choral ensembles, having won many accolades and awards over the years. Michael has been the conductor of the Tuks Camerata since 2013 and he regularly attends symposia and conferences all over the world to remain at the forefront of choral music education.

Renowned for her dynamic and engaging teaching style, and her wealth of choral and pedagogical experience, Amy is a passionate advocate for  choral conductor training. She holds a Doctorate in Choral Conducting, is the Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors and co-founder of the London International Choral Conducting Competition (LICCC).

As a direct result of the pandemic, Amy created a highly successful online training course, Choral Leadership and Pedagogy (CLP), which enabled her to engage with choral leaders from all over the world. She leads choral conducting masterclasses, teaches at international summer schools and is quickly establishing herself as a leading choral clinician and adjudicator.

Known for her advocacy for female composers and conductors, she champions marginalised musicians through choral programming, Discovery Days and mentoring. Amy is a published composer and leads multiple choirs of all ages and backgrounds in the UK. www.amybebbington.co.uk

Musicianship is at the heart of Rebecca Berkley’s work, along with empowering others to become expert in choral education and conducting.  She is an Associate Professor in Music Education at the University of Reading, and has embedded choral education into the undergraduate programme, establishing Universal Voices, a children’s community choir at the University of Reading which she directs with a volunteer team of students who work with the choir to develop their musicianship teaching and conducting skills. Rebecca is also a regular contributor to training programmes with the Association of British Choral Directors, the British Kódaly Society and Sing for Pleasure. She has directed a wide range of choirs throughout her professional life. 

Rebecca is an experienced conducting tutor, and also works as a professional mentor and coach. Her approach to mentoring seeks to support fellow professionals to find practical ways to achieve their goals in their work, particularly finding educational solutions to developing new skills and making connections through community outreach.  

Dr Rebecca Berkley –  Associate Professor in Music Education, SFHEA
School Director of Internationalisation and Global Engagement
PGT Programme Co-Director
Director Universal Voices
University of Reading, Institute of Education,
4 Redlands Road, Reading, RG1 4EX 

| T: +44(0) 118 378 2694 | E: r.m.berkley@reading.ac.uk | W: www.reading.ac.uk/education

My work in coaching and leadership of female undergraduates in choral education Training Early Career Women Teachers in Choral Leadership: Building a Community of Practice is about to be published:https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Women-and-Musical-Leadership-The-Nineteenth-Century-and-Beyond/Hamer-Minors/p/book/9780367456764.

Born in Malmö, Sweden, Thomas Caplin received his education as a singer and choir pedagogue in both Copenhagen and Stockholm. He is a conductor, composer, clinician and author, and specialises in the psychological/pedagogical aspects of choral leadership, coupled with the traditional perspectives of choral conducting and the overall running of a choir including all aspects. Another specialty of Prof. Caplin is the cross field between classical and rhythmical singing and conducting.

Prof. Caplin is frequently engaged as guest conductor and clinician, and as adjudicator in competitions. In addition to his employment at Inland University Norway, he is also co-founder of WCCN – World Choral Conducting Network, and former member of the World Choir Council.

Prof. Caplin has received international recognitions for his leadership of the following choirs: The Lund University Male Choir (prominent male choir from University of Lund, Sweden, World Choir Champions, Shaoxing 2010), Oslo University Male Choir (World Choir Champion, Xiamen, China 2006), Chamber Choir Collegium Vocale (Norway). He currently conducts the internationally renowned Defrost Youth Choir, and he is a member of the vocal group Nordic Blue.

In 2022, Prof. Caplin was awarded the prestigious prize “The Choir Prize” by the Norwegian Choir Association for his outstanding and dedicated work developing choir conductor’s training and building of Norwegian choir life.

Active as chorus master in Kristiansund Opera for more than 20 years, Elin has got a wide experience with preparing and conducting music theater productions within all genres, including creating staged productions and concerts.

These activities have also given her opportunities to promote repertoire from the stage to fellow conductors abroad. 

Elin has served as chair of Fonoko (Association of Norwegian Choral Conductors) for 7 years, and through this engagement she naturally also has great interest in courses for young conductors. 

A Master in Music Education (Choral Focus) graduate from Westminster Choir College, Susanna Saw is a renowned choir director at the University of Malaya and an Adjunct Professor at Taylor’s University. She’s the founder of the Young Choral Academy and Malaysian Choral Eisteddfod (MCE), both of which have been instrumental in advancing choral education in Malaysia.
She’s also a member of several key choral associations and has served on the jury for Asia Pacific and World Choir Games since 2007. During the pandemic, she kept the global music educator community connected through Kodály Online Hangouts, now held in a hybrid format.
Her contributions extend globally, as she advocates for effective music teaching and promotes collaboration through her work with organizations like INTERKULTUR, IFCM, and the International Kodály Society.

I currently teach at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Our graduate conducting program ranks in the top 5 in the US, and we have alum all over the world from this program. I am a primary teacher/mentor for the graduate choral conducting students, and also the undergradute choral conducting students, so I am comfortable working with conductors of all levels. My students have regularly placed in the finals of the ACDA national conducting competition. 

I have been teaching at the collegiate level since 1996. My previous position before UC was at the University of Rochester/Eastman School of Music, where I also worked with graduate and undergraduate students. 

I have also been involved for many years in church music. I have a community choir and orchestra that I currently conduct, and a professional choir devoted mostly to recording. 

So, I can work with conductors of amateur choirs, or professional choirs, or those who are working in a college/university setting. My particular areas are conducting technique/gesture, music by living composers, working with a professional orchestra and amateur choir combined. 

Bernie Sherlock is a leading choral conductor. She is founder-conductor of New Dublin Voices, Artistic Director of the Irish Youth Choirs, a former co-conductor of EuroChoir (2021), and a guest conductor with Chamber Choir Ireland. She has won conducting prizes in Finland, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia, Wales, Poland, and Ireland. Bernie takes special pleasure in exploring the music of living composers and has given over one hundred world premieres. She adjudicates conducting competitions and at choral festivals throughout Europe, and her work giving choral workshops extends to the US, Canada and China. She is on the board of the World Choral Conducting Network. For twelve years Bernie directed the International Choral Conducting Summer School run by Sing Ireland. She studied conducting in Hungary for two years following her music degree in Trinity College, Dublin, and holds Masters and Doctorate degrees in conducting. She is a Lecturer in Music at the TU Dublin Conservatoire.

“I will gladly become your advisor in the development of your choir and you as a conductor. I will be happy to help you plan a regular rehearsal or dress rehearsal and prepare for the concert. Together we will select effective exercises for warming up your choir and learn to overcome rhythmic and intonation difficulties etc. You will be able to turn to me for advice whenever you need it and get feedback, regarding rehearsal, concert, conducting technique, vocal skills or to improve your theoretical skills, if you want to create unique arrangements for your choir. Right now I am ready to generously share my experience and become a sincere support for you on the way to the development of you, your choir and each of your singers.”

The Austrian born choral director and composer, Wolfgang Ziegler, is looking back on a long time of musical experiences. From  a violinist, an amateur and professional choral singer to an internationally renowned choral conductor, composer, judicator and organizer of international choral workshops and choral competitions he never stopped developing new musical ideas.

2010 he founded the International Choral Competition Ave Verum in Baden /Austria (aveverum.at), a very successful high-level choral event for 10 participating choirs worldwide only which had its 6^th edition in 2024.

As president of the Austrian Choral Association as well as in several choral workshops throughout the globe, Wolfgang Ziegler got  the idea to launch a world premiere in the choral scene:  a special choral event for singers 50 +.  ForEverYoung Choral Festival (fey-festival.com) which had its premiere in Budapest, Wolfgang Ziegler´s second hometown, in 2022.

After his studies of Electronic Music at the University of Illinois, USA and Voice Pedagogic at the Vienna Music University, Austria he became artistic director of Vox Humana Chamber Choir for over 40 years, participating successfully at many international choral competitions. Today he is hosting the European Music Festival for the Youth (Neerpelt/Belgium) as judicator and ambassador, the Salzburg International Choral Celebration & Competition, the ForEverYoung Choral Festival (Budapest/Hungary and Baden/Austria) and the International Choral Competition Ave Verum (Baden/Austria) as artistic director.

Martina van Lengerich has over 35 years of experience directing choirs of all sizes, levels and ages. For over 20 years she has been leading the girls’ choir at Freiburg Cathedral, which she has built up into a renowned, internationally performing ensemble. She has performed hundreds of works for girls’ and women’s choirs (including a large number of world premieres) and led the choir to national and international success in choir competitions, including the German Choir Competition and the International Choir Competition in Verona, Italy. She is a member of the Choir Advisory Board of the German Music Council (Beirat Chor des Deutschen Musikrats) and has been a jury member at state and German choir competitions on several occasions. Her expertise is sought after by various committees, and she was part of the expert committee for the appointment of the Thomaskantor in Leipzig.