JURY 2024
Dr. Burak Onur Erdem, Principal Conductor of the Turkish State Choir, began his educational journey at Deutsche Schule Istanbul, later graduating with high honors from Boğaziçi University’s Department of Political Science & International Relations and receiving the Rector’s Prize. He pursued further musical excellence with a Master’s in Music Theory and a Ph.D. in Conducting from the ITU Centre for Advanced Studies in Music. At ITU, he engaged in advanced studies with Michael Ellison on harmony, Paul Whitehead on renaissance & baroque style, and Lynn Trepel on singing, and undertook postgraduate studies under Prof. Johannes Prinz at Kunstuniversität Graz. Dr. Erdem’s expertise was also shaped through international masterclasses with renowned conductors Maria Guinand, Georg Grün, Frieder Bernius, Michael Gohl, Denes Szabo, Volker Hempfling, and Anders Eby.
Dr. Erdem’s early career was marked by winning Jugend Musiziert competitions in Cairo, Athens, Rome, and Nürnberg. With his choir Rezonans, he has won prizes in prestigious competitions such as Cork, Arezzo, Varna, and Marktoberdorf and has conducted concerts in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Portugal, Hungary, Estonia, Bulgaria, and Greece.
In his role at the Turkish State Choir, Dr. Erdem has led the premiere and recording of numerous new choral pieces, performing these works around the world. He is also a co-founder of the Walter Strauss Choral Conducting Masterclass in Ankara.
As the founding president of the Choral Culture Association Dr. Erdem has achieved significant milestones such as hosting the General Assembly & Conference of the European Choral Association in Cappadocia, founding the Turkish National Youth Choir, organizing annual Choral Marathons, and initiating the Turkish Choral Music Library.
Dr. Erdem served as the Festival Director of the World Symposium on Choral Music 2023 in Istanbul and currently acts as Vice-President of the European Choral Association and the International Federation of Choral Music. Dr. Erdem has been invited as a jury member to prestigious competitions in Germany, Japan, and Italy. His influence extends to music commissions for Europa Cantat Festivals in Tallinn and Ljubljana and he looks forward to future engagements at the Singapore National Choral Competition, the Barcelona Choral Festival, and Vokalwoche in Austria, Leading Voices Festival in Tallinn.
Professor Cecilia Rydinger is a leading figure in Swedish musical life. Since 2008 she is the conductor and artistic director of the male-voice choir Orphei Drängar (OD), with whom she regularly performs on international tours and recordings.
Between 1988 – 2009 Rydinger was the conductor of the mixed choir Allmänna Sången, at the helm of which she among international tours and recordings also won a number of international choral competitions, including the 2005 European Choral Grand Prix in Varna, Bulgaria, together with the noticed performance at the Nobel dinner in December 2005.
Rydinger was the principal conductor of the Wermland Opera 1994 – 1998. Cecilia Rydinger has been in demand as a jury member for choir competitions around the world, and was acting as President at the international choir conductor’s competition Eric Ericson Award in October 2021. She has also been engaged to teach international master classes in choir conducting, including sessions together with professor Eric Ericson at the 2006 International Choral Festival in Lund, Sweden. In summer 2024 Rydinger served as conductor of the World Youth Choir Alumni concerts at the Harbour Voices festival in St. John’s at Newfoundland and Labrador, Kanada.
Rydinger holds the position of professor in orchestral conducting at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, and between 2012 – 2019 she held the position as Vice-Chancellor/Principal at the same university. In 2005 Rydinger received the medal ‘Litteris et Artibus’ by H.M. King Carl XVI Gustaf for her contribution to Swedish musical life. She was named Choir Conductor of the Year in Sweden for 2009. Rydinger is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music.
The work of Frieder Bernius has received great acclaim throughout the world; he is internationally in demand as both a conductor and a teacher. Frieder Bernius is the artistic director of the Kammerchor Stuttgart, Barockorchester Stuttgart, Hofkapelle Stuttgart and the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart. The cornerstone of his exceptional career rests in the creation of the Kammerchor Stuttgart in 1968, which he soon turned into one of the leading ensembles of its kind.
The creation of the Barockorchester Stuttgart and the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart in 1991 is testament to the stylistic versatility of Frieder Bernius. Whilst the Barockorchester concentrates on playing 18th century music on period instruments, the Klassische Philharmonie performs 19th to 21st century pieces with modern instrumentation. The bringing to life of the Hofkapelle Stuttgart in 2006 finally dedicated an ensemble to the music of the 19th century.
Frieder Bernius has given concerts at all major international festivals, directed the World Youth Choir on several occasions and has been invited to four World Choral Music Symposia. He has guest conducted the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and since 1999, has maintained close ties with the Streicherakademie Bozen. Between 2000 and 2004 he participated in the Ruhr Trienniale, regularly works with the SWR-Vokalensemble and since 1998 has been an honorary professor at the Musikhochschule Mannheim.
Frieder Bernius’ work is documented on many audio recordings and CD albums, so far totalling 120 recordings and 50 international CD awards. Bernius completed an edition of Mendelssohn’s ‘Sacred Works’ to commemorate Mendelssohn’s anniversary year in 2009 and he was honoured by the City of Leipzig with the Bach Medal.
Composer, conductor and violinist. Lorenzo Donati was educated in Arezzo, Florence, and at the Fiesole Music School, the Accademia Chigiana di Siena, and the Accademia di Francia. He studied composition with Pascal Dusapin, Ennio Morricone, Rosario Mirigliano, Romano Pezzati, Camillo Togni and Azio Corghi. He attended conducting classes with Rinaldo Alessandrini, René Clemencic, Ottavio Dantone, Diego Fasolis, Roberto Gabbiani, Gary Graden, Carl Høgset and Peter Neuman.
He has received commissions from prestigious choirs like: Grex Vocalis Oslo, Philippines Madrigal Singers, St. Jacobs Kammarkör, Turkish State Choir and organisations like: Maggio Musicale Fiorentino and Fano International Festival. He has conducted prestigious orchestras and collaborated with famous musicians like: Kristjan Järvi, Tigran Mansurian, Riccardo Muti, Philip Glass, Salvatore Sciarrino.
He also leads prestigious choirs and vocal groups: Insieme Vocale Vox Cordis (from 1997), UT Insieme Vocale-Consonante (from 2014), Coro Giovanile Italiano (2011-2015), Hesperimenta Vocal Ensemble (1996-2011), conductor of the professional choir Coro della Cattedrale di Siena Guido Chigi Saracini (since 2016). With these groups he won first prizes and special prizes in many national and international competitions such as Arezzo, Cantonigròs, Gorizia, Montreux, Senlis, Tours (Grand Prix and EGP).
In 2016, with the UT Ensemble, he also won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in Varna, Bulgaria.
He has also won important first prizes in various international composition competitions. He is a professor at the Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello in Venice, teaches at the Chigiana Summer Academy in Siena and at the Accademia Corale Italiana. Invited as a member of the jury in the most important international choral music and composition competitions, he holds seminars and courses in numerous international masterclasses and festivals.
Awarded with an MBE for services to classical music in October 2020, Stephen Layton is one of the most sought-after conductors of his generation. He is often described as the finest exponent of choral music in the world today. Taking up the post of Principal Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir from the 2024/25 season, Layton is also Founder and Director of Polyphony, and Director of Holst Singers. Layton’s former posts include Fellow and Director of Music at Trinity College Cambridge, Chief Conductor of Netherlands Chamber Choir, Chief Guest Conductor of Danish National Vocal Ensemble, Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of City of London Sinfonia, and Director of Music at the Temple Church, London.
Layton is regularly invited to work with the world’s leading choirs, orchestras and composers. Longstanding composer partnerships include Arvo Pärt, Sir John Tavener and Sir Karl Jenkins; in the Baltic, Eriks Ešenvalds, Uģis Prauliņš and Veljo Tormis; and in America, Morten Lauridsen and Eric Whitacre, of whose music Layton made two Grammy-nominated recordings. His recordings have won or been nominated for every major international recording award. He has two Gramophone Awards (and a further ten nominations), five Grammy nominations, the Diapason d’Or de l’Année in France, the Echo Klassik award in Germany, the Spanish CD compact award, and Australia’s Limelight Recording of the Year.
He has won BBC Music Magazine’s “Best Messiah recording” with Britten Sinfonia, and Bach’s St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio and B Minor Mass with Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Layton’s recordings have consistently broken new ground, creating a new sound world in British choral music.
Slavil Dimitrov was born in 1972. He learned to play the piano at a young age and was a part of the choir “Bodra pesen” in Shumen. Later, when he was a teenager he began studying composition with Alexander Raychev and prof. Georgii Uspenskii in Odesa. He graduated from the National Academy of Music in Sofia, specializing in “Choir Conducting” and “Opera and Symphonic Conducting”. As a student he worked in the Sofia Boys’ Choir and Academy Choir “A. Manolov”.
Even before his graduation, he began working at the State Philharmonic Orchestra in Shumen. There, in 2006 he founded Choir “Simeonis”. From 2007 until 2009 he was the Choir director at the Sofia Opera and Ballet, after that he became General conductor at the State Opera in Ruse, where he led the choir “Dunavski zvutsi”.
In 2012 he became the Choir director at the Opera in Izmir, Turkey and in 2013 became the conductor of the orchestra. There he founded the first ever “Choir conducting” discipline in Turkey. From 2015 until 2022 he was the conductor of the National Philharmonic Choir at the Sofia Philharmony, where he founded the Children’s Philharmonic Choir. He is the conductor of the symphonic and choir ensembles at “Lyubomir Pipkov” National School of Music and of St. Sofia Church Choir in Sofia.
He has composed instrumental, choir and opera music, as well as cantatas and oratories. He is the General Director of “The Children’s Choir of Bulgaria”. He is a member of the Union of Bulgarian Composer. From 2018 he is the Chairman of the Bulgarian Choir Union.
Darina Krosneva is a graduate of the National Academy of Music “Prof. Pancho Vladigerov”, Sofia, majoring in Choir Conducting. She has been the conductor of Varna Boys and Youth Choir at Choir school “Prof. Marin Chonev” – Varna for over 45 years. Under her leadership, the Youth male choir has won the Special Prize and First Prize in Montreaux, Switzerland, ‘’Summa cum Laude’’, Neerpelt, Belgium and the mix choir was honored with prestigious awards from international and national choir competitions and festivals. The choir has performed with great success in Europe and the USA. Darina Krosneva has recordings with the choir at the Belgium National Radio, Radio “Chablais”, Switzerland, the Bulgarian National Radio and Radio Varna. Between 1981 and 1985 she was the chief conductor of the Women’s choir of medical workers in Varna.
She has received the “Silver Lyre”, “Golden Lyre” and “Crystal necklace” awards from the Union of Bulgarian Musicians and Dancers for her high artistic achievements and long artistic career. She has also been awarded the “Golden Century” Prize from the Ministry of Culture and honorary diploma for her contribution to the development of choral arts and Bulgarian culture.
She is a regular jury at many international competitions and a longtime member of the organizational committee at the International Choir Competition “Prof. Georgi Dimitrov”. She is also the chairperson of the Conductors Collegium in Varna for the Bulgarian Choir Union.