The Jury
Martina Batič
Musical Director, Choir of Radio France Martina Batič (1978, Slovenia) obtained her Bachelor of Music degree at the University of Ljubljana Music Academy in 2002. She continued her studies at the Munich Academy of Music and Theatre in the class of Prof. Michael Gläser, where she finished her Masters in Choral Conducting with distinction in 2004. From 2004 to 2009, she was the choir master of the Slovenian National Opera House chorus in the nation's capital - Ljubljana. From 2009 she worked as the choral director of the Slovenian Philharmonics, where she also assumed the position of the artistic director of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir in 2012/2013 season and led its programmatic and artistic agenda until December 2017. In 2006, Martina Batič won the Eric Ericson Award in this prestigious international competition for young conductors. Since then she has been engaged by the Danish Radio Choir, Danish Vocal Ensemble, Deutsche Kammerchor, BR Chor, MDR Chor, SWR Chor, ChorwerkRuhr and others, moreover she regularly collaborates with the Swedish Radio Choir, the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, RIAS Kammerchor, The Netherlands Radio Choir, Flemish Radio Choir, etc. Starting September 2018 she will assume the position of the Musical Director of the Chœur de Radio France. |
Dr. Amy Bebbington
Director of Training, Association of British Choral Directors Amy Bebbington is a passionate advocate for choral singing and choral conductor training. She is sought-after for her dynamic and engaging teaching style, particularly with young adults at the outset of their careers, and for her wealth of choral pedagogical experience. Amy holds First Class Honours and Master’s Degrees in Piano Performance (UK), and a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting (USA). She is the Director of Training for the Association of British Choral Directors, an organisation that sits at the forefront of choral conductor training in the UK, and was the Artistic Director of its convention in Winchester, 2016. At the Royal Academy of Music, Amy leads the Licentiate Diploma Course (Choral Conducting, Teaching) and the undergraduate Aural Skills Choir. She also works closely with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain, most frequently as a Musicianship Tutor. Amy has taught choral conducting for The University of Cambridge, The Royal College of Organists, the Association of Irish Choirs and the Halle Youth Choir, and has successfully established her own Choral Conducting Masterclass Series. She enjoys adjudicating at International Music Festivals, is a published composer, and is in great demand as a choral clinician, mentor and clinician. |
Bernie Sherlock
Artistic Director, AOIC International Choral Conducting Summer School; Conductor, New Dublin Voices Bernie Sherlock is an internationally established choral conductor. She is the founder-conductor of the multi-award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices, critically acclaimed for its innovative concert programming and its work in television, radio and recording. The choir has won prizes at competitions in Hungary, Finland, France, Germany, Slovenia, Belgium, Italy, and Ireland. Bernie is the recipient of numerous international awards for her conducting. Her adjudication and workshop engagements bring her around Europe and to the US, Canada and China. She is Artistic Director of the annual International Choral Conducting Summer School run by the Association of Irish Choirs. She represents Ireland on the World Choir Council. Bernie is a Lecturer at the DIT Conservatory of Music and Drama where she conducts the DIT Chamber Choir and DIT Youth Choir and is a specialist in aural training, musicianship and conducting. She studied choral conducting in Hungary for two years with Peter Erdei and Ildikó Herboly Kocsár, followed by orchestral conducting with Gerhard Markson, leading to a Masters in Musicology and Performance from NUI Maynooth. She holds a Doctorate of Music in Performance (conducting) from the Royal Irish Academy of Music. |
Patrick Russill
Head of Choral Conducting, Royal Academy of Music, London Patrick Russill is one of the leading figures in English church music, as performer, teacher, and scholar of wide sympathies. He has been Head of Choral Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music, London since 1997 and (since 1999) Director of Music of the London Oratory, whose professional choir is regarded as one of the world’s leading choirs in the Catholic tradition. In addition, he is Visiting Professor of Choral Conducting at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik und Theater. His work as choir-trainer and conductor can be heard on the DG, harmonia mundi and Herald labels as well as on BBC Radio 3. Honours include Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music and Fellowship ‘honoris causa’ of the Royal School of Church Music. In 2015 he received with the annual Chair’s Award of the Association of British Choral Directors for his outstanding contribution to choral conducting and conservatoire teaching. |
Prof. Ragnar Rasmussen
Director of Choral Studies and Conducting, The Norwegian University of Science and Technology Ragnar Rasmussen (1966) is Professor at the Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Tromsoe, and at NTNU - The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (Trondheim). He also holds guest professorships at the Academy of Music, University of Slovenia and Sichuan University of Media and Communications (Chengdu, China). He is currently the conductor and artistic director of Kilden Vocal Ensemble (Kristiansand, Norway), “Utopia & Reality Chamber Choir” (Europe) and UArctic World Ensemble (Canada, Scotland, Russia and Norway). He is the former conductor/artistic director of the chamber choir SAGA, Vokal Nord, The University Choir Mimas, the professional Stavanger Symfoniorkesters Kammerkor, as well as The Norwegian National Youth Choir and The World Youth Choir. Ragnar is frequently invited as guest conductor for professional choirs and orchestras, lecturer for masterclasses and member of juries at international choir- and conducting competitions all over the world. In 2012 he was recognized as a member of the Norwegian Society of Composers. |
