Pearl Shangkuan (USA)

Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and workshops across six continents. Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Calvin Universiy in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is also the chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a Grammy-nominated professional orchestra. Highly respected in the choral community and leadership in the United States, she was elected by national ballot to the office of National President-elect of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). She previously served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America, as well as ACDA central division president and Michigan state president. Appointed a year ago as the Editor of Hinshaw Music, a major choral music publisher in North America, she also has a signature choral series with earthsongs and is the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Choral series published by GIA. She has conducted several times at Carnegie Hall and other major concert halls in the US and was an invited guest lecturer at the World Symposium for Choral Music held in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Shangkuan has served on the jury of several international choral competitions in Europe and Asia and has led conducting masterclasses for the ACDA national conference, Chorus America conferences, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois Choral Conducting Symposium among many prominent institutions and organizations in the US. She has conducted numerous All State choirs, ACDA national and division honor choirs, and choral festivals nationally and internationally, and has headlined several ACDA state and other professional conferences.  She has commissioned and premiered numerous choral works and her choirs have performed at ACDA national, division and state conferences. In 2013, Michigan ACDA honored her with the Maynard Klein Choral Award for “artistic excellence and lifetime leadership in choral music.”

Maria Elina Mayorga (Argentina)

María Elina Mayorga was graduated as a Musical Education Professor from Universidad Nacional de San Juan and a second degree in University Teaching at Universidad Católica de Cuyo. She was a Senior Professor at Universidad Nacional de San Juan (retired). She has studied Choral Conducting with Antonio Russo and many well renowned professors in Argentina and abroad as well. She is actually the conductor of Coro Arturo Beruti since 1973. She has given many concerts, both nationally and internationally (American, Asian and European concert tours) María Elina Mayorga is the founder and Artistic Director of “San Juan Coral” International Festival, “ANSILTA, Festival and Competition”, “Canto en Sol, Festival for children and young choirs”, “Foro Coral Americano” and “San Juan Canta, internacional Festival and competition” She was a guest conductor, adjudicator and lecturer in Chile, Mexico, Brasil, Colombia, Israel, Czech Republic, Italy, and United States of America. María Elina Mayorga is Board Member of Choral Festival Network and Member of Circle of Advisors of The Singing Network (Canada) She has received numerous awards and distinctions, and has been declared an “Illustrious
Citizen of the Province of San Juan”