Since the last publication of the IFCMeNEWS, YOUNG IFCM members have interviewed two other personalities of the choral scene.
María Guinand, choral and orchestral conductor, college professor, and leader of national and international choral projects, has specialized in Latin American Choral Music of the 20th- and 21st-centuries.
María is frequently invited as a guest conductor, adjudicator, jury member, and lecturer of choral music in the USA, Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Oceanía and has premiered many new works. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Fundación Schola Cantorum de Venezuela.
Amongst her many responsibilities, María has been associated with the Universidad Simón Bolívar and El Sistema (Venezuela) and is currently a Vice President of IFCM. She has been the recipient of several international awards such as the Robert Edler Preis für Chormusik (2000), the Helmuth Rilling Prize (2009), the Life Achievement Award by IFCM (2019), and the Honorary Doctorate of the Metropolitan University, Caracas, Venezuela (2023).
Merzi Rajala is a Finnish rhythmic choir conducting pioneer, composer, and pedagogue, specializing in popular music / global music genres, fusions, transcultural collaboration, and collective improvisation. Merzi works as a lecturer in the Global Music Department at the Sibelius Academy University of Arts in Helsinki, where she is the developer for the Global Choir Leadership study-option, looking into the leadership of collective singing from a broad cultural and aesthetic perspective. She sees choral conducting skills as a great artistic vehicle to contribute to society and the world around us all. Merzi also teaches and leads different community engagement projects globally in the field of artistic activity.
At the moment, Merzi is the artistic director of three projects:
Merzi appreciates multicultural and multidisciplinary dialogues as part of her own growth and identity as an artist and pedagogue.
Official magazine of the International Federation for Choral Music, the International Choral Magazine is published quarterly in the four official languages of IFCM: English, French, German and Spanish. It is distributed in more than 80 countries on the five continents and is the official voice of choral music around the world. Publication temporarily suspended.
Read moreOur focus at the moment is to unite the choral calendars of international choral organisations. Meanwhile please consult the calendar of choral events published by the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat here.
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