BCFC

The 2023-24 season is Anton Armstrong’s 34th year as Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, marking him as the longest tenured conductor in the ensemble’s storied 112 year history.

He is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, becoming the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin University and led the Calvin Alumni Choir, Calvin Campus Choir, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale.

He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA).

Prof. Marcin Tomczak -conductor, adjudicator, academic teacher. In 1999-2005 Vice -Dean of Choral Conducting Department, 2005-2012 elected for Vice-Rector for student`s and artistic affair. Since 2016 director of Choral and Oratorio Conducting Institute in Stanislaw Moniuszko Music Academy in Gdansk. In 2012-2021 professor at Postgraduate Study of Choral Conducting and Voice Production in Feliks Nowowiejski Music Academy in Bydgoszcz(2012-2021).

Since 1992 an artistic director and conductor of the Gdansk University Academic Choir. With this group he toured Poland and abroad performing in Albania, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czech Republic, Equador, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, France, Spain, Slovenia, Sweden, Ukraine, USA, South Korea and China.

A laureate of many main prizes and Grand Prix`s in the leading national and international choir competitions (Wien- Austria 2000; Busan- South Korea 2002; La Valetta-Malta 2003; Xiamen-China 2006;Vilnius-Lithuania 2010, 2014; Ohrid- Macedonia 2014; Barczewo- Poland 2016; Firenze-Italia 2017;Canco Mediterania -Catalonia 2018; Daugavpils-Latvia 2019), Bandung – Indonesia 2021), individual conductor’s awards (Poland 1999,2016; Korea- 2002, Czech Republic-2005,2008), national distinctions, university and Pomeranian region awards: twice nomination– Pomeranian Artistic Award, laureate of the Mayor of Gdansk’s Award in culture “Splendor Gedanensis” (2005). As a conductor he led many orchestras as: Polish Baltic Philharmony, Koszalin Philharmony, Polish Chamber Orchestra “Sinfonia Varsovia”, Academic Orchestra of Gdansk Music Academy and Bremen University.

Susanna Saw is an active music educator promoting music and choral education in Malaysia.

She obtained her Master in Music Education (Choral Focus) from Westminster Choir College, U.S.A. She is currently a choir director at the Faculty of Music at the University of Malaya (UM), Akademi Seni Budaya Dan Warisan Kebangsaan (ASWARA) and the Adjunct Professor at the Taylor’s University.

In 2007, Susanna established the Young Choral Academy in Kuala Lumpur, a venue for choral lovers to learn more about vocal and choral education. She was instrumental in bringing the Kodály Teachers’ Training Course to the Southeast Asia region to improve the standards of classroom music teaching.

She organised numerous events to promote music and choral education. During the pandemic, Susanna organized monthly Kodály Online Hangouts, bringing together music educators from around the world to learn, sing and stay connected. The hangout session is in the hybrid format now, keeping in touch with the active music educators globally.

Heechurl Kim is the Artistic Director of Korea International Choir Competition.

He established Chun-Song Foundation, which is a music foundation in Jeju, and began to hold Jeju International Choir Festival and World Youth Choral Festival & Competition in Jeju. As artistic director of both choral festivals, he works hard to invite various and professional choirs from Korea and abroad and to spread out the professional choral education and choral music including messages to the society.

World Youth Choral Festival & Competition in Jeju, which held since 2018, has the purpose of cultural exchange through choral music and self-fulfillment through performances of children and youth choirs from Korea and abroad.

From 1993 to 1996, he performed as a chorister of Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Choir under Robert Shaw’s conducting. In 1993, he was chosen and invited as a representative of Asia and conducted the Vancouver Chamber Choir at the World Choral Symposium which was held in Vancouver, Canada, in 1993. After he studied abroad, he worked as the conductor of World Vision Korea Children’s Choir until 2015.

Dr. Shin-Hwa Park is an endowed chair professor at Hansei University and professor emeritus of the College of Music at Ewha Womans University. He is the former president of the Korea Church Music Association and president emeritus of the Korea Federation of Choral Music. He serves as the artistic director of the KyungNam International Choral Festival, a member of the World Choir Council, and a broadcasting host for FEBC FM.

He conducts the Ewha Chamber Choir, the Hansei University Concert Choir, and the Young-Nak Presbyterian Church Choir, which consists of 150 members. He also served as conductor of the Ansan City Choir for 25 years.