JURY 2023
Péter ERDEI (Hungary)
After graduating from the Debrecen Kodály Conservatory (Secondary Music School) and getting the very first and deep musical impressions as member of the Kodály Choir Péter Erdei consummated his knowledge of music pedagogy and choir conducting at the Liszt Academy in Budapest. He has spent years with teaching the Kodály Concept in the USA. He was a co-founder of a Kodály Musical Training Institute in Massachusetts. After his return to Hungary he founded the Kecskemét Kodály Institute and become its first director. Among others he has been principal conductor of the Kodály Choir Debrecen for more period, the Hungarian Radio Choir, the Liszt Academy Alma Mater Chorus and the founder of the New Liszt Ferenc Chamber Choir. He is a recognized performer of Zoltán Kodály’s choral and oratoric works and a sought-after teacher of masterclasses. He earned many awards such as Liszt Prize, the Bartók-Pásztory Prize and the title of Merited Artist of Hungary.
Photo: Carol Hartfree
Peter BROADBENT (Great Britain)
Peter Broadbent is the founder conductor of Joyful Company of Singers and is one of Britain’s leading choral conductors, enjoying a versatile career with an extensive repertoire ranging from baroque music performed on period instruments to contemporary music, including many first performances. Broadbent has conducted the London Mozart Players, Divertimenti Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Southern Sinfonia, the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, Apollo Voices and the BBC Singers, broadcasting frequently on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Engagements outside the UK include concerts with the Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra & Kodaly Chorus in Hungary and a broadcast with the National Chamber Choir in Dublin. In 2006 he conducted the World Youth Choir in their summer session giving concerts in Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany. He appears as an adjudicator at International Choral Competitions throughout Europe and the UK and conducts workshops and masterclasses throughout the UK, Europe, the US and Canada and was a member of the Artistic Committee of the Polyfollia International Choral Showcase in Normandy. In 2007, Peter Broadbent was awarded the honour of the Pro Cultura Hungarica Award by the Hungarian government in recognition of his services to Hungarian music.
Photo: © Bertrand Pichene/Festival de La Chaise-Dieu
Nicole CORTI (France)
Conductor and choirmaster, Nicole Corti is also a passionate and accomplished teacher. This dual vocation has permeated her entire career, which has been largely focused on the voice through the contemporary repertoire and the great works of the sacred repertoire. As the first woman to be selected to attend the conducting class at the Lyon Conservatory, Nicole Corti made several encounters that were to become the foundation of her musical career. In 1981, she founded the Britten Choir and with this ensemble achieved international fame through numerous concerts in Europe and the United States. Each of these concerts was an opportunity for Nicole Corti to disseminate her proposals, particularly in terms of sound colour. It is this very particular research that has encouraged a number of composers to write for the ensemble and to nourish its original and audacious programmes. In 1993, Nicole Corti was appointed head of the choir at Notre-Dame de Paris. She increased the concert programme there by favouring 20th and 21st century music while conducting the great works of the Romantic and oratorio repertoire (Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn, Stravinsky, etc.). In 2008, she became the head of the only choral conducting class at the national conservatories in Lyon, where she is committed to training the next generation of professional choral conductors. In the context of collaborations with various renowned orchestras, she is responsible for the preparation of choirs: the Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, conducted by John Nelson (Bach’s Passions and Mass in B, Berlioz’s Enfance du Christ, etc.), the Orchestre National de Lyon for Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé conducted by Emmanuel Krivine, and more recently, alongside Leonard Slatkin, for the Orchestre National de Lyon’s complete Ravel programme for a concert at the Salle Pleyel and a recording to be released by Naxos. Convinced of the need to perform the major works of the choral repertoire and strengthened by the experience acquired with the Britten Choir in contact with complex and demanding music, Nicole Corti has undertaken work on the great sacred works of Bach and conducts, in particular, Bach’s Mass in B, the St John Passion, the St Matthew Passion and the Magnificat. Her discography includes recordings that have received critical acclaim. She has twice been awarded the Liliane Bettencourt Prize of the Académie des Beaux-Arts (in 2002 with the Maîtrise de Notre-Dame de Paris and in 2010 with the Britten Choir). In 2002 she was made a Knight of the National Order of Merit.
Photo: Tania Mendillo
Helena FOJKAR ZUPANČIČ (Slovenia)
Helena Fojkar Zupančič holds degrees in solo singing and musical pedagogy. She conducts the choir and teaches vocal technique at the Diocesan Classical Gymnasium in Ljubljana. In her work with choirs, she pays particular attention to shaping a healthy, homogenous, and beautiful choir sound and focuses on achieving cogent stage performances. She leads St Nicholas Choir Litija and St. Stanislaus Girls’ Choir Ljubljana, both of which regularly tour Europe and win first places and various special awards. She won best conductor at several competitions. She leads seminars in vocal technique, choir singing, and conducting and is a widely respected panellist at state and international competitions.
Theodora PAVLOVITCH (Bulgaria)
is a Professor in choral conducting and Head of Conducting Department at the Bulgarian National Academy of Music. She is also a lecturer at Sofia University. Her artistic career started in 1986 when she worked as choir-master of the Bulgarian National TV-choir contributing to many TV-programs, live concerts and recordings. In 1991 she became conductor of the Sofia Chamber Choir called upon her teacher Prof. Vassil Arnaoudov. With this choir she won prestigious awards at international competitions, took part in many high-level international festivals, in TV and radio-programs, concert tours in 22 countries. Since 2005 Theodora Pavlovitch is a permanent conductor of Classic FM Radio Mixed Choir performing different styles of music in a collaboration with Classic FM Radio Orchestra. In 2007/2008 she conducted the World Youth Choir, honoured by UNESCO with the title Artist for Peace, recognizing the WYC’s success as a platform for intercultural dialogue through music. Prof. Theodora Pavlovitch is frequently invited as a member of Jury-panels at a number of international choral competitions, as a conductor and a lecturer at prestigious international events in 25 European countries and Russia,USA, Japan , China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, Israel. In 2005 she led a Master class for choral conductors in the program of the 7th World Symposium on Choral Music in Kyoto, Japan.