Imant Raminsh was born in 1943 in Ventspils, Latvia, and arrived in Canada with his family in 1948. His musical studies were pursued at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto, the University of Toronto, the Akademie "Mozarteum" in Salzburg, and the University of British Columbia. He has written in most musical genres, including solo voice, chamber music, choral, symphonic, concerto, and opera. His works have been performed frequently on six continents in such renowned venues as Roy Thomson Hall (Toronto), the Orpheum (Vancouver), Carnegie Hall (New York), Tchaikovsky Hall (Moscow), Glinka Capella (St. Petersburg), Dom Cathedral (Riga), and the Forbidden City (Beijing). He is the founding conductor of the Prince George Symphony, the Youth Symphony of the Okanagan, NOVA Children's Choir, and AURA Chamber Choir. His Carnegie Hall conducting debut took place in 2006. He has received numerous awards including the Outstanding Choral Composition Award from the Association of Canadian Choral Communities and the Distinguished Visiting Alumnus Award (University of Toronto). In 2007 he was made an Officer in the Order of the Three Stars of the Republic of Latvia. He is an associate member of the Canadian Music Centre and the Canadian League of Composers. His principal publishers are Boosey& Hawkes, Colla Voce Music, Alliance Music, Alfred Music, Walton Music, and Plangere.

Professor Jürgen Budday is the artistic director and founder of the Maulbronner Kammerchor (the Maulbronn Chamber Choir), and has been the artistic director of the Musikfestival Klosterkonzerte Maulbronn (the music festival ‘Concerts at the Monastery of Maulbronn’, UNESCO world heritage-site) until 2013. Various concert tours, invitations as guest conductor / visiting conductor, courses and seminars have given Jürgen Budday the chance to tour most countries in Europe, the United States of America, Israel, Argentina, India, South Africa and Namibia. Jürgen Budday has various radio recordings, television recordings as well as the production of ca. 40 CD’s (among them Handel’s “Jephtha”, “Samson”, “Judas Maccabäus”, “Saul”, “Solomon”, “Messiah”, “Joshua”, ”Israel in Egypt” and “Belshazzar”) to his credit. So he was awarded the Georg-Friedrich-Händel-Ring by the german choir-organisation VDKC. Cooperation with many famous soloists and orchestras. In 1998, Jürgen Budday and the Maulbronn Chamber Choir won the German Choir Competition. Also in 1998, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross of the Federal Republic of Germany in appreciation of his excellent work in the field of music at the Maulbronn Monastery. Jürgen Budday has been in the chair of the advisory board of the German Music Council since the year 2002. He is the artistic leader and head of the jury of the German Choir Competition. Since 2014 he is the artistic director of the international Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf/Germany.

Dr. Shin-Hwa Park is director of the Ansan City Choir, professor at Ewha Womans University, past president of the Korean Choral Directors Association (KCDA), vice president of Korean Federation of Choral Music (KFCM), director of the Ewha Chamber Choir and broadcasting host for FEBC-FM Christian radio. He received his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in church music and vocal music from Yonsei University in Seoul and his D.M.A. in Choral Literature and Conducting from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Dr. Park is one of the most invited choral conductors and clinicians in Korea. He has served as guest conductor of the National Choir, Seoul City Choir, and many other ensembles. He also gives more than 40 lectures every year. Between 1996 and 2014 his choirs have produced 80 CDs. He also directs the Calvary Choir of Young-Nak Presbyterian Church, which consists of 150 choir members. Dr. Park was the first winner of the Ulrim grand prize in 2004, and received the Ansan art prize the same year. The following year, he was selected as one of the best professors at Ewha Womans University, and in 2007, he was awarded Korean music prize. He is often invited to serve as a juror for choral competitions both at home and abroad. In 2011, the Ansan City Choir sang by invitation in the Papal Court of the Vatican. His choir also performed at the 2012 ACDA Northwestern Division Convention in Seattle, Washington, and is performing at the National Convention of ACDA in Salt Lake City 2015.