2026
Prof. WIOLETTA MIŁKOWSKA, PhD, DSc
She is a graduate of the Department of Instrumental and Pedagogy at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Białystok under the guidance of prof. dr hab. Bożena Violetta Bielecka and Postgraduate Choirmaster Studies at the Academy of Music in Bydgoszcz. She started working at the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in 1990. In the years 2012-2016 she was the Head of the Department of Choral Conducting. In the 2016-2020 term, she was a member of the University’s Scientific Council.
She is the conductor and artistic director of the Choir of the Białystok University of Technology (since 1997) and the Choir of the Provincial Police Headquarters in Białystok (since 2005). She has performed in many European countries, Canada and the USA. She took part in festivals, winning numerous awards. She is often invited to sit on the juries of national and international choir competitions.
Working with chamber orchestras, she conducted a number of oratorio concerts (including compositions by Bach, Vivaldi, Stachowicz, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Rossini, Moryta, Jenkins, Rutter). Together with the ensembles she leads, she recorded interpretations of selected works on CDs.
Wioletta Miłkowska is also involved in scientific activities, and the area of her research is funeral creativity. The research effects were presented in the dissertation entitled – Requiem in the works of Polish composers . She is also the author and scientific editor of books and numerous articles on Polish choral music.
She was the manager and co-organizer of many national and international scientific conferences (incl. National trend in the works of Polish composers …; Between the unknown and the forgotten. Polish music in the light of new discoveries ; In the circle of Polish choral music ).
Wioletta Miłkowska has been an animator of the youth choral movement in Podlasie for 30 years. In the years 2006-2014, she was the coordinator of the activities of the National Program for the Development of School Choirs “Singing Poland” in the region. The picture of the functioning of school choir groups was presented in the publication “Śpiewająca Polska” (Białystok, 2011).For several years, he has been cooperating with children’s and youth choirs as part of his original educational and artistic project Rozśpiewany Białystok.
He is also a co-founder of the International Baltic Sea Choir (it includes members of Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian and Russian ensembles), with which he carries out artistic undertakings.
Honored with 1st Degree Awards of the Rector of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. Honored with the Medal of the National Education Commission and a statuette Wise Heart Teacher – The Award of the President of the City of Białystok. For her activities, she was awarded the Medal of Merit for Polish Culture and the Medal of Merit for the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music. In 2017, she received the Artistic Award of the President of the City of Białystok. In 2018, honoring the distinction of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for Merit to Culture Gloria Artis, while in 2020, the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta, awarded for merits in activities for the development of culture and art.
BERNIE SHERLOCK, PhD
Bernie Sherlock is a leading choral conductor. She has won international conducting prizes in Finland, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Slovenia and Ireland, and her adjudication and workshop engagements have taken her around Europe and to the US, Canada and China.
Bernie studied conducting with Ildiko Herboly-Kocsar and Peter Erdei at the Liszt Academy in Hungary, and with Gerhard Markson in Dublin. Following her BA in music from Trinity College Dublin she earned Masters and Doctorate degrees in conducting from the National University of Ireland, Maynooth, and the Royal Irish Academy of Music/DCU respectively.
Bernie is the founder-conductor of the international award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices, critically acclaimed for its innovative concert programming and its work in television, radio, and recording. The choir has a strong record at Europe’s leading competitions, recently winning first prize at the International Competition of the 2019 Derry International Choir Festival, first prize in the mixed choir competition at the 2018 Béla Bartók International Choir Competition in Hungary, and the Grand Prix at the 2017 International Baltic Sea Choir Competition in Latvia. Among many other prizes, New Dublin Voices has previously come first in the international class at the Cork International Choral Festival (2015), the Grand Prix at Concoroso Polifonico in Arezzo (2013), all six prizes at the 2011 International Choir Contest of Maasmechelen in Belgium, and the Grand Prix at the 2009 Budapest International Choir Competition.
Bernie has extensive experience directing a wide range of choirs, including twelve years as Musical Director of the Culwick Choral Society, nine years as conductor of the University of Dublin Choral Society (Trinity College), and ten years as Choral Director at the TU Dublin Conservatoire where she is a Lecturer in Music and where she is currently conductor of the TU Chamber Choir and Youth Choir.
For 12 years Bernie was Artistic Director as well as tutor on the annual International Choral Conducting Summer School run by Sing Ireland at the University of Limerick. In 2020 she was appointed Artistic Director of the Irish Youth Choirs and she is currently second conductor of EuroChoir 2021. She is the representative for Ireland on the World Choir Council.
Prof. ALEKSANDRA PASZEK-TREFON, PhD, DSc
She graduated from the Faculty of Music Education of the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław in the conducting class of Professor Zofia Urbanyi-Krasnodębska and completed Postgraduate Choral Studies in Bydgoszcz. Since 1991, she has worked at her alma mater, where she teaches choral conducting, among others. In the same year, she started working with the ‘Feichtinum’ Choir, first as an assistant (1991–1995), then the second conductor (1995–2005) and the artistic director (2005–2014). An important moment in her professional career came in October 2000, when the Senza Rigore Vocal Ensemble was established, currently operating at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław under the name of the ‘Senza Rigore’ Chamber Choir. With this ensemble she participates, among others, in prestigious music festivals as well as national and international choral competitions, at which she has won the highest awards and distinctions, including: Grand Prix at the “Birstonas Cantat” International Choir and Orchestra Competition in Lithuania (2018) and Grand Prix at the 11th Johannes Brahms International Choral Competition in Wernigerode, Germany (2019)
In the years 2008–2012, she held the position of Deputy Dean and then (2012–2020) Dean of the Faculty of Music Education, Choral Art and Church Music at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. Currently, she is the Head of the Council for the Discipline of Musical Arts and the Head of the Chair of Choral Art and Ensemble Conducting. From 2009 to 2011, she conducted artistic activity with the “Voice Factory” Vocal Ensemble as part of the “Chopin a cappella” programme, which was successfully presented in Poland and abroad. The work of the ensemble is well-documented and confirmed by two CD albums, radio and television recordings, and the Award of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage received at the 23rd Bydgoszcz Musical Impressions in 2010. As a lecturer, she has cooperated with the Polish Choir Conductors’ Studio in Koszalin and with the Summer Academy at the Karol Lipiński Academy of Music in Wrocław. She continuously cooperates with the Choir Academy – the National Programme for the Development of School Choirs ‘Singing Poland’. She has also conducted classes for choir members and conductors as part of the Polish National Youth Choir project. She is invited to participate in the jury of national and international choral competitions.
In 2014, in recognition of her wide-range activity she was honoured by the President of the Republic of Poland with the title of Professor of Musical Arts. She has received awards of the Rector of the Academy of Music in Wrocław, the Silver Badge of Merit for the City of Rybnik, the honorary Badge of Merit for the Polish Culture, the Brown Cross of Merit, the Silver Cross of Merit and individual awards for the best conductor won at choir competitions.
ANDREA ANGELINI , PhD
Born in Bologna, Andrea Angelini moved to Rimini as a child where he began studying piano at the ‘G. Lettimi’ Conservatoire of Music. At the same time, he began his experience as a singer and later as director of the Carla Amori Polyphonic Choir. He obtained an Academic Diploma in Piano at the Ferrara Conservatory. In the meantime, he also studied Organ at the Conservatory of Pesaro, Composition and Choir Conducting with Fulvio Angius, Peter Phillips, Michele Peguri and Leonardo Lollini at the Academy of Arts in Rome, the Oakham School (UK) and the Conservatories of Adria and Cesena. At the latter Conservatory he obtained a second level master’s degree in Choral Music and Choir Direction.
Andrea is the founder and artistic director of the Associazione Musicale Musica Ficta, which has been operating since 2000 in Italy and abroad. Within this Association he founded and conducts the Vocal Ensemble Musicaficta with which he performed concerts in Italy, Israel and the United States of America. With the Carla Amori Polyphonic Choir, he has conducted over 200 concerts in Italy, England, Germany, Sweden, Poland, Hungary and France.
Winner of the IFCM competition in 2009, he became Editor-in-Chief of the International Choral Bulletin (ICB), a position he will hold until 2020. During his experience within the International Federation of Choral Music he has the opportunity to participate in Choral Symposia and Meetings around the world, conducting courses and workshops at major international choral conferences.
Andrea Angelini is the Director of several Festivals and Choral Competitions including the Rimini International Choral Competition (Rimini, Italy), the Claudio Monteverdi International Choral Festival (Venice, Italy), the Queen of the Adriatic Sea Choral Festival and Competition (Cattolica, Italy), the Liviu Borlan Choral Festival (Baia Mare, Romania), the Romano Gandolfi International Competition for Choral Conductors (Parma, Italy), the Giuseppe Savani National Choral Competition (Carpi, Italy).
He is continuously called upon as a jury member at choral performance and choral conductor competitions in Italy and worldwide (Europe, Russia, Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, Malaysia, USA). He has conducted choral masterclasses at public (Conservatories of Moscow, Minsk, Budapest, Seoul, Timisoara, Prague) and private institutions.
In the educational field, he is very active both as a teacher (he teaches Choral Conducting for Music Education at the Conservatory of Music ‘B. Marcello’ in Venice) and as artistic director of the AERCO Academy and the International Courses in Rimini.
Since 2015 he has been President of AERCO, the Associazione Emiliano-Romagnola Cori. He has been Italy’s representative at the World Choral Council, while for his merits in the choral field he is an honorary member of ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) and of the Choir Directors Association of Croatia.
Finally, he is a member of the Steering Committees of the World Choral Conductors Network.
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
Prof. ANNA MONIUSZKO, PhD, DSc
Graduated with distinction conducting in the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music (Warsaw, Poland), where she began her academic career in 2003. In 2010 she received PhD degree in conducting, following with post – doc degree (habilitation) in 2015. In 2023 she received title of the Profesor of Arts. She continues to work in her Alma Mater giving classes on conducting and early music performance.
In 2003 she began her cooperation with one of the oldest academic choirs in Poland – The Choir of Medical University in Białystok, with which she won many prizes in international choirs competitions and was awarded with special individual prizes for the best conductor of the competition.
In 2005 she founded professional ensemble „Diletto” which specializes in historical performing of early music, especially of the baroque period. In over a decade the „Diletto” ensemble has staged 7 operas and many of the most famous oratorios such as Haendel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Brockes Passion or Bach’s Christmas- oratorio, Eastern – oratorio, St. John’s Passion and many more.
In 2009 she was awarded with Scholarship for the Young Artists and in 2010 Scholarship for the Professional Artists founded by the President of the Białystok City. In the year 2016 she was honoured with the Artistic Prize of the President of the City of Białystok (Poland) for her artistic activity. In 2020 she was awarded with the title of “Zasłużony dla Kultury Polskiej” (Merit for Polish Culture) by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage. In 2023 she received Artistic Prize of the Marshal of Podlaskie Voivodeship and I degree Prize of Rector of Chopin Music University.