PARTICIPANTS 2024

Mixed Choir Odmev, Kamnik, Slovenia

The choir's roots go back to the 1980s.

In 1990, Anica Smrtnik, a student at the Ljubljana Conservatory, took over the baton. The choir currently consists of 30 members.

Every year we participate in choral competitions in our own country and one internationally, where we almost never return without the highest accolades. We are happy to accept invitations to various municipal celebrations, exhibitions, anniversaries and others throughout Slovenia.

Mixed choir Odmev is a choir with tradition, although this is not confirmed by the average age of the members (32 years), but by the sound image. In our repertoire you will find the old folk songs in more recent arrangements, church songs, Negro spiritual and classical and contemporary challenging competition scores. We are always happy to welcome new singers in our midst who are not judged by their musical training, for we sing with our hearts and for our souls.

Chamber Choir FURIANT, Belgium

The chamber choir Furiant was founded in 1995 by Steve De Veirman. The name 'Furiant' guarantees lively expression and energetic music making by young singers.

The choir focuses fully on the colors and expressiveness of the chamber choir repertoire across different styles. All this resulted in the promotion to the Eredivisie in 2016 during the provincial choral competitions.

The choir does not shy away from major projects such as performances of the musical West Side Story, the stage production 'Amadeus' and Ode Gand by Night 2013 of the Flanders Festival. In 2014 Furiant took part in the spectacle '1000 Voices for Peace' commemorating the First World War in collaboration with the Flanders Festival.

The choir regularly invests in exchanges with foreign chamber choirs, such as the Suan Plu Choir from Thailand, the 'Cor De Grannolers' from Barcelona and the Kor Panum from Copenhagen.

In 2021 Furiosa took part in the World Choir Games in Flanders and won 2 gold medals in the Mixed Chamber Choirs category and the Sacred Music category.

Aachen Chamber Choir, Germany

The Aachen Chamber Choir was founded in 1981 and has been conducted by Martin te Laak since 1996. The choir offers a broad repertoire from Renaissance to avant-garde, which includes jazz- and pop- arrangements as well as folk song sets. The emphasis is on a cappella choral music in addition to occasional instrumentally accompanied works.

The Aachen Chamber Choir has been successful at competitions and festivals. In 2010 it was category winner at the International Robert Schumann Choir Competition in Zwickau (DE). In 2014 it won first prize at the International Sacred Music Choir Competition "Laudate Dominum" in Vilnius (Lituania).

Vokální Harmonie, Czech Republic

Vokální harmony, a chamber choir from Hradec Králové, was founded in 1959. Since then, 150 members and 7 choir leaders have participated in the choir's activities. Currently there are 30 active members.

Since 1997, Jaromír Schejbal, teacher at the Gymnázium in Hradec Králové, artistic director and conductor of the choir, is eighth in the line of conductors. Jaromír Schejbal studied at the University of Hradec Králové and was a student of the renowned professor Jiří Skopal. Mrs. Alena Holá, teacher at the Faculty of Education of Hradec Králové, works as a pianist with the choir.

During the more than fifty years of its existence Vokální Harmonie has won many prizes in both national and international competitions. The most recent achievements are the gold award and the title of category winner in the Slovakia Cantat competition in Bratislava in 2015, and the bronze award in the Wratislavia Sacra competition in Wrocłav in 2016. After more than fifty years, the choir is still fresh and young .

Vocal Ensemble Caloroso, Belgium

In 2002 Inge Sykora formed a vocal ensemble with the students of her singing class. More than 15 years later, Caloroso vzw has grown into a choir school with different choirs, in which singers from 4 to 65 years are given a place. Vocal ensemble Caloroso is the same-voiced youth choir that consists of 24 singers between the ages of 15 and 25.

Vocal ensemble Caloroso has won great prizes at the EMJ (Belgium), the “Heart Of Europe” International Choir Festival (Germany), the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod (Wales) and the “39th Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions - International Meetings of Young Musicians” ( Poland).

Caloroso likes to be an ambassador for Flemish choral music during these festivals. The ensemble already has many world premieres of Flemish compositions to its name. Caloroso offers its singers the widest possible repertoire. Classical works and contemporary choral music as well as world music and pop songs are presented.

Coro VOCES GRAVES de Madrid, Spain

The Madrid Men's Chorus started in 1995 as a project for the study and restoration of the repertoire for the male choir. The choir's repertoire includes romantic music from the 19th century, sacred contemporary music, symphonic chorale works or popular music. Renowned Spanish composers such as Javier Busto, Eva Ugalde, Josu Elberdin or Xavier Xarasola have written pieces for MMC.

MMC has won many awards in national and international competitions, such as the European Choral Contest Varna (Bulgaria), Habaneras International Contest of Torrevieja (Spain) and the Cork International Choral Festival (Ireland). The choir hosts the International Friendly Voices Encounters in Madrid, sharing the stage with renowned choirs such as The Philippine Madrigal Singers (Philippines).

In recent years, MMC has carried out important projects such as the world premiere of Cherubini's Requiem in the version for two organs, the performance of Shostakovich's 13th Symphony Babi-Yar conducted by Vasily Petrenko, and the Spanish premiere of the Requiem of Liszt.

Clari Cantores, Belgium

Clari Cantores was founded in 2014 as a mixed adult choir within the Clari Cantus choir family. It unites the ex-members of the youth choir Clari Cantus who want to continue their passion for singing. The musical direction is in the hands of Karen and Michiel Haspeslagh, who take turns taking on the role of conductor.

In the years that followed, the choir grew steadily, constantly raising the quality bar and daring to take on ever greater challenges. It performs Mozart's Requiem (2016), Fauré's Requiem (2017) and Die Schöpfung by Joseph Haydn (2018) among others. It also performs several varied concerts in collaboration with ensembles such as the Kaos Quartet and Ataneres Ensemble.

LandesJugendChor Saar, Germany

The LandesJugendChor Saar was founded in 2008 by the Saarland Choir Association and is one of the most important choirs in the German region of Saarland, mainly because of the active promotion of young talent. The choir works on a project basis. Until 2014, the principal conductor was Alexander Lauer and Stefanie Fels-Lauer, after 2017 by Kerstin Behnke. As of 2019, the choir is under the artistic direction of Mauro Barbierato and the vocal coach Larissa Eckstein.

In 2012, the LandesJugendChor Saar won 1st prize in the 'Early Music' category, 2nd prize in 'Modern', as well as the main prize 'Best choir of all categories' at the international choral competition of the German Choir Festival in Frankfurt am Main. In 2014 the choir made a concert trip to South Africa in collaboration with the renowned Stellenbosch University. In 2022, the LandesJugendChor Saar was invited as a participant in the 17th International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf.

BEvocaL, Belgium

BEvocaL, the Belgian National Youth Choir, originated from a collaboration between the three Belgian language communities and was founded in 2017 by the choir organizations Koor&Stem, A Coeur Joie and Födekam. The aim was to bring together young Belgian singers aged 18 to 30 in choir and to aim for a high quality level. From 2017 to 2020, the artistic direction was in the hands of Maria van Nieukerken. She was assisted by vocal coach Joris Derder. Currently, BEvocaL has two conductors: Benoît Giaux and Jori Klomp. They are assisted by vocal coach Liesbeth Devos.

BEvocaL has already given numerous concerts in Belgium and participated in festivals and events. The choir always strives to be an ambassador of choral music from Belgium on a national and international level.

BEvocaL presents a varied program with works from different style periods and is distinguished by an original and unexpected use of space during the concerts. BEvocaL therefore guarantees an intense and intimate musical concert experience that will leave the spectators completely enchanted!

Vokalensemble Zürich West, Switzerland

The Vokalensemble Zürich West was founded in 2015 by Marco Amherd to offer young and ambitious singers the opportunity to perform challenging choral music in a chamber choir. The choir is often recognized for its fresh, charming and flexible sound. Unconventional programs with demanding choral literature have made the choir a top ensemble of the Swiss choral landscape in a very short time.

In 2017, the ensemble won first prize in the highest category of the Swiss Choral Competition. At the Montreux Choral Festival 2018, the ensemble won both the first prize and the audience prize and was invited to the renowned Marktoberdorf Competition in 2019.

The ensemble maintains a broad repertoire from early Renaissance music to world premieres of contemporary works. The Vokalensemble Zürich West places special emphasis on music from the 20th and 21st centuries.

Chamber Choir Flanders, Belgium

Chamber Choir Flanders was created in 2021 as a result of the World Choir Games in Flanders. The choir wants to bring together singers on a project basis who sing with passion and who are not afraid of a challenge.

At the very first public performance, at the World Choir Games 2021, the choir immediately became category winner in the Open Competition, 'Mixed Vocal Ensembles & Chamber Choirs'. In addition, with the performance of “Laetentur Caeli” by Hans Helsen, the choir won the first prize from Euprint, for best performance of a Flemish choral work.