International choir Championship 2024

Csaba Kutnyánszky received diploma in theory of music and choral conducting at Liszt Academy of Music. He conducts the Female Chamber Choir of Pécsvárad, and up to 2008 the Vox Medicata Mixed Choir of the University of Pécs. With the latter one he won first prizes on five international contests. He is the artistic direcor of the UniCum Laude Vocal Group. He has produced several radio recordings with his ensembles, and contributed as conductor in eight CDs. He has been leader of choir conducting masterclasses, in 2011, he is the chairman of the Artistic Committee of the Competitions for Young Choral Conductors in Budapest. Now, he – as full time professor – teaches conducting practice at Liszt Academy of Music, he is the head of the Orchestral and Choral Conducting Department. From 2011 he is the Vice Rector for Education at the Liszt Academy. He is a member of the Presidency of the Association of Hungarian Choirs and Orchestras (KÓTA).

LUDO CLAESEN Belgian composer, conductor, jurymember Ludo Claesen studied at the LUCA School of Arts ‘Lemmensinstituut’ in Leuven (B) and at the Flemish Royal Conservatory of Music in Antwerp (B). During his studies, he concentrated on percussion, harmony, conterpoint and fuge, composition, choir-and orchestra conducting. In 1987, he completed with honours a masterclass in orchestra conducting with the Limburg Symphony Orchestra of Maastricht (the Netherlands) given by Jan Eelkema (Den Haag). As a guestconductor, he worked with several groups : the Limburg Symphony Orchestra Maastricht ; the Flemish Symphony Orchestra ; the Philharmonic Orchestra of Dnepropetrovsk (Ukrain) ; the Philharmonic Chamber orchestra of Köln (Germany) ; the Promenade Orchestra of Amsterdam , the Flemish Radiochoir, the Bachchoir of Middelburg, the Choir of the Royal Flemish Opera and the Jeju Philharmonic Choir of South-Korea. Ludo Claesen teached for 36 years conterpoint , fuge and chambermusic at the LUCA School of Arts Leuven (B) . At the moment he is the mainteacher of Choralconducting-and singing at the Academy of Music in Maastricht (Holland) and the Conservatory Municipal of Hasselt (Belgium). He also conducts the Cathedralchoir of Hasselt ; the “Chamberchoir of Maastricht” and the Cappella Concinite Leuven.. He has guest-conducted or lectured and judged at many concert halls, churches, music festivals (International Choral Academy of Bruges; European Musicfestival for the Youth Neerpelt; National Choralcontest in Holland; Int. Choral contest in Baden-Austria..)) and conferences in Europe. He has also manifested himself as a composer. His compositional career has embraced both large and smale scale choral works, various orchestral and instrumental pieces. His larger choral works, Psalmus 112 (1993) , Missa pro nativitate Europae(1994),); Missa Ave Virga Jesse (2003); Syntagma (choir and percussionseptet – 2004); Cantico del Sole (2015); Cantata for Lent I(2016) – Canyata for Lent II (2017) have been performed many times in Belgium and Holland. His “Eurode-fantasy”, written for 2 orchestras, has been created on the World Music Contest Kerkrade-Holland (2005), conducted by himself. Some of his works were honored in Composition Contest in Brussels, Leeuwarden, Verona and Rom. A lot of sacred compositions you will find on his CD “Claesen meets Claesen” 2010. Many of his compositions are published by Euprint (Belgium), the Centre of Flemish Music Antwerp (Belgium), Edition Ferrimontana (Germany), De Haske (Holland), Iduna (Holland), Intrada (Holland) and Ascolta (Holland). www.claesenlmmi.be

Djordje Stanković graduated and mastered conducting at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade in the class of prof. Darinka Matić Marović. He has been expertly trained by master class Angela Šure and Mladen Jagušt. In 2002 he participated in the Sixth World Symposium on Mineapolis (USA). In 2003 he was a UNESCO scholar at the baroque master class in France. On the basis of biography and video footage, he was chosen as conductor Denis Kini's assistant at the master class in New York. In 2005 he participated in the 7th World Symposium on Choir Music in Koto (Japan). Dordje Stankovic has conducted many Belgrade amateur and professional ensembles, and with them outstanding achievements. Participant is a jury at several international choir festivalas. One of the founders of the Zemun chamber orchestra. Since 2003 he has been engaged in Opera National Theater in Belgrade as assistant conductor and korepetitor. In December 2005, the Serbian Cultural and Educational Community awarded him the Golden Badge for Unselfish Contribution to the Development of Culture, under the auspices of the Ministry of Diaspora of the Government of the Republic of Serbia. In February 2006 he was appointed Head of the National Theater of Opera in Belgrade and today he is performing this function.

Antoaneta Radočaj-Jerković, conductor, singer and university professor, is one of the most prominent conductors on the Croatian choral scene, and she specializes in working with young choirs. She entered the world of choral music at the age of seventeen and since then has been working as a conductor and artistic director of several choirs. She graduated from three graduate university studies: Choir Conducting, Singing and Music Pedagogy and obtained her doctorate with a topic in the field of choral pedagogy. She trained as a conductor abroad, in Germany and the United States, at prestigious music academies such as the Eastman School of Music and Westminster Choir College. She is employed at the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, where she teaches as a full professor and holds the position of vice dean for teaching and students. For her artistic work, she received over thirty awards at national and international choir competitions, the most important of which are gold medals at international competitions in Saint Petersburg (Russia), Llangollen (Great Britain), Helsingborg (Sweden), Xiamen (China). , Varna (Bulgaria), Sydney (Australia), Gangneung (South Korea). She was awarded special prizes for the best young conductors at competitions in Sweden and Italy. She is the winner of the state award Ivan Filipović in the field of higher education (2023) and the public recognition of the City of Osijek, the Coat of Arms of the City of Osijek (2016), for her special contribution to musical culture and art. She recorded for radio and television and released fourteen sound carriers, of which the Brevis Vocal Ensemble – Choral Journey Through the Ages, published by Croatia Records (2020), stands out as particularly significant. Also, it is necessary to highlight the albums: Brevis – Najljepši Croatian girls' choirs (2010) and Bruno Bjelinski: Kapljice (2000), Adalbert Marković: Dvije mise (2022); Franjo Štefanović: Forest Queen – children's opera (2022). Her recordings can be found on many compilation releases, and several of them have become an integral part of the listening repertoire of Music Culture and Art classes. She achieved particularly significant success with the Brevis Vocal Ensemble, with whom she performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world: Carnegie Hall in New York (USA), the Sydney Opera House in Sydney (Australia), the Grand Philharmonic Hall and the State Academic Capella in Saint Petersburg ( Russia). She achieved particularly significant success with the Brevis Vocal Ensemble, with whom she performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world: Carnegie Hall in New York (USA), the Sydney Opera House in Sydney (Australia), the Grand Philharmonic Hall and the State Academic Capella in Saint Petersburg ( Russia). She prepared choirs and soloists for operas, operettas and musicals performed by the Croatian National Theater in Osijek and the opera ensemble Opera Pannonica of the Academy of Arts and Culture in Osijek, of which the following titles stand out as the most significant: Carmen, La Boheme, Tosca, The Little Chimney, The Countess Marica, Love Potion, Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte. She also performed several notable soloist roles in collaboration with the opera of the Croatian National Theater in Osijek, performing as a soloist in the operas Gianni Schicchi and The Little Chimneyman, the operetta Beautiful Helena and the musical The Man from Mancha. He publishes and exhibits works in the field of music pedagogy and choral singing in scientific journals and at scientific and artistic gatherings in the country and abroad. She also published two books, Singing in Music Teaching and Choir Singing in Education. She is a member of national and international juries at choral music competitions and a representative of the Republic of Croatia in the World Choir Council.

Born on 18.08.1951. in Tuzla where he completes elementary school, elementary music education (piano department), and then enrolls in the Middle Music School in Tuzla and completes the theoretical and pedagogical and piano departments. Theoretical-pedagogical department enrolled in the 1970s at the Sarajevo Academy of Music. The Department of Conducting and Postgraduate Studies ends in the class of prof. Teodor Romanic. He has conducted with orchestra of the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Radio television Chamber Orchestra and was a frequent guest of the Mostar Symphony Orchestra. Arnautović is especially noted for the academic choir "Gaudeamus", with over 180 concerts and concerts both in Croatia and abroad (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Czech Republic, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Morocco). As the backbone of the repertoire for the female hor "Gaudeamus" conductor Arnautovic made the stylization of the Bosnian folk songs. The affirmation of the traditional Bosnian-Herzegovinian poem through artistic work has, with Arnautovic's credit, become today's musical literature in the curriculum and has found its use in reproductive art around the world. Since 2018 he has been nominated for the Professor of Emeritus at the Sarajevo Academy of Music, at the Department of Conducting. During the years Arnautović has achieved a successful pedagogical activity, which is especially expressed in the teaching of the orchestra and choirs. The concerts of these ensembles each year cause special attention to the music public, because the repertoire contains complex works of world music literature. They have to emphasize the premier performances of works such as the Symphony Orienta composed by Josip Slavenski, the works of Didona and Enej, King Arthur, Henry Purcell and many other works, oratories and works for choir orchestras and soloists. He is a winner of high-level acknowledgments by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture of the FBiH and special recognition of the Sarajevo Canton Ministry of Culture and Sport for Contributing to the Development of Music Culture of BiH (1997).