Barbara Boyer is the coordinator for the Cheyenne Capital Chorale. She has previously sung at Carnegie Hall, under the direction of Jonathan Griffith, performing Mozart's Requiem, Karl Jenkins' Stabat Mater, Karl Jenkins' Gloria, and Karl Jenkins' The Healer. She recently performed with the Jonathan Griffith singers in Barcelona, singing Verdi's Requiem. She has sung with the Cheyenne Capital Chorale for more than 10 years. She is a graduate of Hastings College, Hastings, Nebraska, where she was a member of the select choir.

The Cheyenne Capital Chorale, Cheyenne, Wyoming, is a community choral group that provides opportunities for singers of all skill levels. The mission of the Chorale for 60 years has been to educate and entertain southeastern Wyoming with quality music. We strive to provide a wide variety of music, from popular to classical, plus pieces rarely heard. Our directors carefully select quality music that continually challenges and expands the choir's expertise, which in turn provides a broader musical experience for our audience. The Chorale exists to provide singers and other musicians an opportunity to sing and perform and to give the community opportunities to hear and enjoy live choral music.

After retiring from a career in the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy, Woolston pursued a career as a choral musician. He was a cum laude vocal performance major at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He studying conducting with Professor Brock McHeleran of the Crane School of Music. He is the Music Director of the Crystal Coast Choral Society, the Joyful Band of Singers, and Richlands United Methodist Church in Richlands, NC. He also sings with Schola Cantorum, the professional choir of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina.

"The Joyful Band of Singers" is an auditioned chamber ensemble formed as needed for specific performance activities. It's members are often, but not always, from the community chorus "The Crystal Coast Choral Society." The group performs for numerous community and charitable events throughout eastern North Carolina. They have performed on numerous concerts with DCINY.

Kingsway-Lambton United Church Chancel Choir Ensemble is a subset of an adult mixed choir in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, who, under their Director of Music, sing at all church services and for occasional concerts and special events. Members of this group previously participated in a DCINY festival in 2014, and are pleased to be returning under the direction of Hilary Apfelstadt, who is affiliated with our congregation and a friend of our Choir.

Hansueli Bamert was born in 1962 and has been drawn to music since his childhood. He started his musical career as a folklore musician and later became a dedicated organist. At the Academy of Music in Zurich he attained his teaching and concert diploma on the organ and his diploma as a choirmaster and musical college teacher. He finished all his studies “summa cum laude.“ Since 1993 he has been both the organist and choirmaster at the Catholic Church of St. Peter and Paul in Winterthur, where he also conducts the children’s- and youth choir.

Kirchenchor St. Peter und Paul Winterthur The Choir of St. Peter and Paul was founded in 1892. Over the years, this renowned local choir has performed various great works of sacred music. The choir’s main responsibility is to support church services and its repertoire includes Gregorian choral music as well as representative masses and cantatas from the Renaissance to the present. In addition, the choir’s interest in other styles lead to a number of crossover projects including popular music, such as the performances of Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez and Misa a Buenos Aires by Martin Palmeri. In 2017, the choir celebrated its 125th anniversary with performances of Mass of the Children by John Rutter, Requiem by Gabriel Fauré and Te Deum by Antonin Dvořák.

Tom McAlexander has been singing in or conducting choirs most of his life. For 25 years he sang with the Arlington Metropolitan Chorus in the Washington DC area, where he was frequently featured as tenor soloist. Shortly after retiring to Hawaii in 1994, he became the volunteer director of a community chorus in the village of Volcano. In 2005 he was asked to become the music director of the Hilo Community Chorus and has served in that volunteer capacity ever since. He has led the Chorus to performances with DCINY at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center. Tom is also the choir director at Christ Lutheran Church in Hilo.

The Hilo Community Chorus is a non-auditioned group of around 50 singers who meet weekly for rehearsals from September through May. They present two concerts each year, a holiday themed concert in December and a classical concert in May. They also sponsor an annual "Messiah" sing-along. The Chorus was formed in 2005 and participated in the DCINY Inaugural Concert in January of 2008. Since then, several members of the Chorus have returned to perform at other DCINY concerts, and traveled abroad with the Jonathan Griffith Singers.

Julian studied singing, piano and organ, harmony and counterpoint, and began choir training and conducting over 50 years ago. Before moving to the Isle of Man, he sang with the Royal Choral Society for 13 years and a London opera company. Julian is a member of the Association of British Choral Directors, an official accompanist of the Manx Music Festival, a church organist for over 50 years and has conducted over 40 musical shows/operettas. Julian has had the privilege of conducting the Isle of Man Choral Society and the Isle of Man Symphony Orchestra in performances of some of the world’s greatest choral works.

In 1978, the Manx Youth Choir was formed to enable young singers to study and experience the performance of great choral works. To bolster the Youth Choir, in 1979 the “Teachers Choir” was founded, initially comprising teachers, family members and friends. The Teachers Choir rapidly became the largest community choir in the Isle of Man and changed its name in 2005 to Isle of Man Choral Society. It continues to perform one concert each year Villa Marina, Douglas the only venue large enough for a choir of 150 and perhaps 75 Isle of Man Symphony Orchestra players, soloists etc. plus audience.

Werner Granz (born in 1950) completed the study of church music and for teacher at primary and secondary schools with a focus on "music". From 1977 to 2016 he was active as a teacher for singclasses and choral director at the “Städtische Musikschule Hamm / Westfalen”. Since 2007, he has been the coordinator of the project "Jedem Kind ein Instrument". In a Protestant church of Hamm, he founded, amongst others, the youth choir "Cantate'86".

Cantate`86 is the Young Choir and the Youth Choir of the evangelical church community of Hamm/Westfalen. Musically, the emphasis is on the spiritual chorus of different epochs and different styles. The choir performs regularly in church services and concerts. Concert tours through Switzerland, as well as to Estonia, France, USA and Poland were the highlights so far. 10 participations in “Deutschen Evangelischen Kirchentagen” and “Ökumenischen Kirchentagen” allowed the choir to travel all over Germany. The choir also received important impulses by participating in various competitions. The annual highlight is the Christmas concert in Hamm with famous national and international artists.

Timo Uhrig was born in the city of Saarbruecken, Germany, in 1988. He graduated in choral music, conducting, musicology and theology from Saarbruecken University. Since 2012 he has been working as the choir master of "Der Leibniz Chor", a school choir from the city of St. Ingbert. He currently is deputy manager of the Saarland Choral Society and he is a committed church organist, singer and conductor for the Students' Parish of Saarbruecken University as well as in a monastery in Saarbruecken called "Kloster am Rande der Stadt". He regularly performs in concerts as an organ soloist, chorister or soloist singer. Since 2017 he has been one of the choir masters at Trier Episcopal Cathedral in the diocese of the city of Trier.

The Leibniz Chor, founded in 1982, consists of pupils, teachers and parents and has been under the leadership of Timo Uhrig since September 2012. The choir's repertoire covers a variety of composers and works - from Johann Sebastian Bach to contemporary works by Hugo Distler, Colin Mawby and Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, as well as international and modern music from Africa to Scandinavia. The Leibniz Chor performed "The Peacemakers" together with the Leibniz Kids and an orchestra in 2015, and "The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace" together with the choir of Saarland University in 2017.

Hiroshi Gunji studied conducting with Kazuo Yamada and Hans Lowlein. His choirs regularly perform with Japan's leading orchestras, including　Japan Philharmonic, Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra, and Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra. His choirs performed with renowned European orchestras such as the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, the Berliner Symphoniker and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. Gunji led his choirs in concert in Salzburg, Berlin, Hamburg, Dublin, and Tel-Aviv, to name only a few. His enthusiasm for new works expands his repertoire of choral works ranging from Baroque to contemporary culminating to last year’s Japan premiere of Karl Jenkins’ Stabat Mater.

The Tokyo Oratorio Society was founded in 1983 by Hiroshi Gunji to perform sacred music, especially Oratorios. The choir’s huge repertoire ranges from Baroque through Romantic to Contemporary including pieces by Bach, Mahler, Jenkins and Dan Forrest. The choir made numerous concerts in Japan and abroad alike. The concerts in Germany, Austria, Ireland, Korea, U.S.A. ,Norway and Israel and sung under the direction of renowned conductors such as Eliahu Inbal, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Christoph Eschenbach and Gary Bertini are some of the highlights of their long activities.

Peter Ruelke was born in 1963 in Dresden. He studied music education, conducting and music theory. In 1990 he became teacher at a local music school. Since 1995 he is director of the Stadtchor Freiberg. Peter Ruelke is married and has 4 daughters.

The Stadtchor Freiberg was founded in 1982 as a mixed choir on the occasion of 800th birthday of city Freiberg. Since that we grew up to about 100 active singers. The repertoire of the choir includes traditional German music as well as modern and classical orchestra works. We made appearances in several national and international festivals. In 2010 we performed our first composition of Sir Karl Jenkins.

Diana Llewellyn was born and brought up in Port Talbot, an industrial town in Wales, United Kingdom. Born into a musical family she learned piano as a small child and later cello in school. She played cello for her County Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Orchestra of Wales. Coincidently she shares both these experiences with Karl Jenkins who was brought up nearby and was influenced by the same teachers. After Teacher Training Diana taught cello in schools in Wales before making the move to Ireland in 1993. This is where she met the West Cork Choral Singers becoming their director in 1998.

The West Cork Choral Singers is a mixed choir of some 45 members under the directorship of Diana Llewellyn. Based in West Cork in the far south of Ireland, the choir holds it's weekly rehearsal every Monday in a small church hall near Skibbereen. Choir members come from a radius of 40 kilometers and at the last count comprised eight nationalities. Diversity is the raison d'etre of the choir. The repertoire is a broad one, with a slight bias towards the more sacred rather than the light hearted.

Klaus Huegl studied chamber music and accompaniment under Eckart Sellheim at Arizona State University (Phoenix, USA). Today he heads the Catholic Church Choir Schönaich and the Böhringen "Canto Vocale". Huegl is also the director of the Schönaicher “Glox”, a handbell choir. Besides, he regularly plays in productions of the Tübingen “Zimmertheater”, works with Ines Martinez in comedy and accompanies as a freelancer. Currently he is heading the project choir “Generations for Peace” to perform Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man”.

In 2013, Clemens Koenig pulled together different choirs to perform Karl Jenkins’ “The Armend Man”. These choirs, Chorvereinigung Liederkranz, Liederkranz Ehningen, Liederkranz Simmozheim and Junger Kammerchor Boeblingen, combine a long standing tradition of choir singing in the south of Germany with the performance of contemporary compositions. Some of these choirs are even dating back to 1840! And now, almost 200 years later, 31 vocalists from across these choirs, 15 - 80 years old, have come together in a project choir to bring their hearts and voices to New York City as “Generations for Peace”.

Armanda ten Brink studied singing, piano and conducting at The Twents Conservatoire. Besides her work as soprano, she grew quickly to a versatile actress, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. Armanda works with several theater-ensembles, choirs and orchestra’s performing musicals, classical works and contemporary repertoire. She conducted the Dutch Symphonic Orchestra in the first great setting of ’The Peacemakers’ by Karl Jenkins in Europe. Februari 2 and 3 Armanda and the Dutch Symphonic Orchestra will be premiering ’Sing ! The Music was Given’ in Germany and Holland. For her great commitment and contribution to the cultural life, in 2009 Armanda was Appointed Knight in the Order of Oranje Nassau by the Dutch Queen Beatrix.

The Stedelijk Koor Enschede is a mixed oratorium choir from the Netherlands which presents two major works annually. Also opera repertoire and more popular choir music is not avoided. In 2013 musical director Armanda ten Brink involved the choir in 2 successful presentations of ‘The Peacemakers’ by Sir Karl Jenkins in Germany and Holland in collaboration with The Dutch Symphonic Orchestra. Shortly after the world premiere of ’Sing ! The Music was Given’, on 2 and 3 Februari coming up, Het Stedelijk Koor will join again a large project-choir which will appear on stage during the European premieres of the work in Germany and the Netherlands. The choir has another reason as well to look forward to these performances... this year the Stedelijk Koor Enschede is also celebrating their fifty-year existence.

Nick Moritz studied piano and conducting at the music conservatory in Enschede  in the Netherlands.  Amongst his professors  were  the Polish pianist Tamara Pospiszyl and the Japanese conductor Tajiro Iimori. During the years Nick specialized further into choir conducting. Currently he is leading two male choirs which are regularly supporting opera-concert productions and other musical events. As a teacher Nick Moritz works foremost in Germany. At the music School Niedergrafschaft Bentheim he coaches talented children who want to prepare themselves for a professional study in music. Nick Moritz is also well known for his explanatory writings about music.

The ‘Kammerchor Niedergrafschaft’ is a mixed choir which is founded by the ‘Musikschule Niedergrafschaft’ 30 years ago. Located close to the border with the Netherlands, the members come weekly from both sites of the border to study oratorium works and other material. The Kammerchor as well will be appearing at the European premieres of ’Sing ! The Music was Given, together with the Stedelijk Koor Enschede and project-singers coming deep from  the wide outline of both countries.

Anna Kargaltseva Sandvik has nine years of education as a singer, vocal teacher and choir conductor from the University of Kiev. She has been working as a conductor in Norway for several choirs since 2011.

Nittedal Bygdekor is an amateur mixed choir (SATB) from Nittedal, Norway. The choir was founded 1945 and consists of 102 singers. Bygdekoret has performed several major classic works in recent years, including Verdis "Messa da Requiem", Rossini "Stabat Mater" and Vivaldi's "Gloria". In the spring of 2017 they performed Sir Karl Jenkins' The Armed Man in Nittedal Culture House Flammen together with Lillestrom Symphony Orchestra and conductor Gjermund Bjørklund.

John trained at Trinity College of Music, studying organ, singing, piano, harpsichord and conducting. He won the Choral Conducting prize and was Senior Student at the College. He has performed widely as tenor soloist, organist and as conductor in the UK and on the Continent. John has been conductor of Ripon Choral Society since 1997 and has led the Society through a wide range of choral works from the 17th to 20th centuries. He is conductor of the Wetherby Choral Society and has been deputy and guest conductor with the Sheffield Bach Society and the Harrogate Philharmonic Orchestra.

Ripon Choral Society is a thriving and friendly community choir under the musical directorship of John Dunford. Ripon Choral Society is now the largest choir in Yorkshire and, with a membership of around 150 we perform a varied repertoire of choral music. We attract singers from far and wide, and we have the privilege to perform our concerts in the marvellous setting of Ripon Cathedral.