Abi Gilchrist is a UK vocalist, choir leader, and voice coach, best known as the founder/director of UK Soul Choirs. She launched the first Soul Choir in Greenwich in 2010 with four singers and grew it into a multi-branch organisation across London and Kent, now welcoming hundreds of adults each week. The choirs focus on soul, Motown, gospel-inspired pop and harmony-led arrangements, with an intentionally inclusive, no-audition ethos for people who may not read music or feel “good enough” to join a choir. Abi trained as a classical soprano at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and later studied at the London School of Musical Theatre. She also works as a session singer and voice-over artist. During COVID, she co-created “Home Sing” to keep singers connected and support charity fundraising.

Chris Maunu is a Portland, Oregon–based conductor, educator, and composer known for helping choirs build a clear, resonant sound through practical, repeatable rehearsal techniques. They are Artistic Director of Pacific Youth Choir, Affiliate Faculty at Portland State University’s School of Music, and Artistic Director of the professional ensemble Choro in Schola. Before moving to Oregon, Chris spent 17 years as Director of Choirs at Arvada West High School in Colorado, where the programme became recognised for strong vocal training and ambitious repertoire. Chris is also an in-demand clinician and guest conductor, and writes/publishes choral works for a range of ensembles and voicings.

Craig is a contemporary vocal coach, choral leader and arranger.  He’s the Principal Lecturer in Popular Voice at Leeds Conservatoire where he founded the LC Pop Choir.  This choir won BBC One’s Pitch Battle in 2017 and will be featured on Britain’s Got Talent in 2025.  Craig was also the first President of the British Voice Association from 2019 to 2021 and was re-elected for consecutive terms.  He directs The Workplace Choir Company, delivering vocal programmes to companies across the UK.  His choirs have performed at major events and venues including the Royal Albert Hall in 2024 Wembley Arena for Children in Need in 2018 MIPCOM Cannes in France in 2017 and the Royal Festival Hall in 2016 alongside Marc Almond.  Craig has led massed vocal workshops and presentations throughout the UK and internationally, including Ireland Germany Sweden Italy Spain Austria and Switzerland.  He remains a highly sought-after choral director and educator.

Daniel Raaflaub is a stage performer, vocal coach, and choral choreographer. He studied voice, acting, and dance at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, graduating in musical theatre in 2009.

Over 15 years, he has performed across Switzerland, Germany, and Austria in musical theatre, drama, and concerts. His work with a cappella groups like BHÄMM! reflects his passion for creative expression. He began at the Knabenkantorei Basel boys’ choir, gaining experience as a chorister and soloist. In 2022, he completed a Master’s in Vocal Pedagogy at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts.

He now teaches, prepares singers for auditions, and coaches choirs. He is Co-Managing Director of Knabenkantorei Basel and former Office Manager of the European Youth Choir Festival Basel.

As a choreographer for youth choirs worldwide, he creates inspiring performances, including the 2025 EYCF opening show with 800 singers.

Dr. Gary Seighman is Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and Chair of the Music Department at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He conducts four ensembles — the Trinity Choir, Chamber Singers, Voix d'Esprit, and the Choral Union — and has led them to Carnegie Hall, Winchester Cathedral, and concert venues across East Asia and Europe. He received the 2023 Innovative Concert Programming Award from the Texas Choral Directors Association. Holding a D.M.A. from the University of Maryland, Gary is a prolific scholar whose publications in the Choral Journal and American Choral Review include pioneering work on the neuroscience of choral ensemble. He is the appointed conductor of the 2025–2026 Texas Private School All-State Choir.

Isaac Cates is a Kansas City-based composer, conductor, pianist, arranger, and choral clinician whose work sits at the crossroads of gospel and classical music. He studied at the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and co-founded the vocal ensemble Ordained in 2004. His original composition Strong Tower is performed and translated in over 17 countries. He released his latest album Amazed in 2022 and made his Carnegie Hall debut in November 2023. Isaac serves as Director of Music Outreach and Worship Leader at Church of the Resurrection in Leawood, Kansas, and is an internationally sought-after choral clinician who has taught and performed across Europe, Africa, and Australia. He is a Grammy voting member and recent Grammy nominee.

James Manwaring MBE is a UK choral leader and music educator known for helping young singers build confident, stylish sound through clear, practical rehearsal craft. Associated with work at Windsor Boys School and across professional networks including the Music Teachers’ Association (MTA), he combines classroom teaching, ensemble direction, and advocacy for strong music education. James focuses on what works when time is tight: warm-ups that transfer directly to repertoire, rehearsal language singers can act on immediately, and a culture where musical detail is normal. He is particularly recognised for fundamentals that make rapid progress—unified vowels, clear diction, rhythmic accuracy, and treating text as the driver of sound. In this episode, we explore how he starts rehearsals, earns buy-in from teenage singers, and sets goals that keep improvement measurable while protecting joy.

Jen Bonnar is a Scotland-based vocal leader and arranger who runs multiple Rock Choir groups across the west of Scotland, including Greenock, Hamilton, Paisley, Houston, and Helensburgh. She started singing in childhood and was a member of the Scottish National Junior Choir from age 10, later building a varied performing career across classical and contemporary settings. Jen has sung in vocal groups supporting artists including Plácido Domingo, Kerry Ellis, and The Kooks, and performed at large-scale events such as the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Alongside performance, she developed a career in learning and development, bringing a strong focus on motivation, empowerment, and clear teaching into the rehearsal room. Part of Rock Choir since 2012, she’s known for upbeat, welcoming rehearsals that still aim for musical clarity, confident harmonies, and a strong sense of community.

Johannes David Wolff is a chorus director, conductor, and pianist based in Berlin. He is the artistic director of the children’s and youth choir programme “Vokalhelden”, initiated by the Berlin Philharmonic. He is also the founder and leader of “Vokalsystem”, a student choir of 75 singers. His choral work has led him to collaborate with orchestras and opera houses such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Staatsoper Berlin, and Komische Oper Berlin. As an orchestral conductor, he has worked with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and others. He works at the Universität der Künste Berlin in the Musical Theatre Department, where he teaches choir and music theory and also directs theatre productions.

Johannes David Wolff always strives to connect music with other disciplines such as dance, video art, and light design. He has worked with several German pop artists, including Herbert Grönemeyer, Paula Hartmann, and Bodo Wartke.

Jonas Rasmussen is a Danish choral conductor, educator, composer and arranger known for practical, high-impact rehearsal craft and clear musical communication. He is conductor and artistic leader of Academic Choir Aarhus, Youth Choir Aarhus U, and Ensemble Novum, and teaches classical choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus. Jonas shares warm-ups and rehearsal insights in accessible short-form content used widely by choir leaders and singers, and his workshop work links sound, gesture, language and group psychology to help ensembles make confident musical choices quickly. His ensembles have received international recognition, with successes at events including the World Choral Championships, Let the Peoples Sing, and the European Choir Games, and he won 1st prize at the 20th Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition for Conductors.

Keara has been directing choir for over 25 years. Her passion is Gospel music and creating events for Gospel choirs in Ireland. The IGNITE Gospel Choir has been singing together for 18 years. She has worked with some of the best Gospel music industry directors and producers and facilitates a group of over 120 Gospel choir directors from all over Europe and the US. She is passionate about director supports and cultivating a space for growth, challenge and encouragement.  She also directs 2 contemporary community choirs, encouraging social inclusion and getting people in the community to give singing a go.

Maria A. Ellis is a conductor, educator, broadcaster, and founder of Girl Conductor LLC, known for connecting choral excellence to culture and community. She serves as Artistic Director of The Sheldon’s All-Star Chorus and the University of Missouri–St. Louis Voices of Jubilation. Ellis made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2023 and recently led the AMIS Asian High School Honor Choir in Korea—an international ensemble representing students from across Asia and the Middle East. A sought-after clinician, conductor, and adjudicator, she works with singers nationwide, emphasizing independent musicianship and student-centered rehearsal practice. Ellis creates and hosts two award-winning programs on Classic 107.3 in St. Louis: Bach and Beyoncé and American Gospel with Maria A. Ellis. She chairs the Choral Council of the National Association for Music Education and serves on the Board of Directors for Chorus America.

Oliver Rudin is Artistic Director of the Knabenkantorei Basel (since 2017) and the OYENGA Gospelchor am Münster Basel (since 2006), based in Switzerland. He grew up as a boy singer in the Knabenkantorei Basel and holds master's degrees in Choral Conducting and School Music from the Hochschule für Musik Basel, with further study at the Juilliard School and a postgraduate diploma in Cultural Management from the University of Basel. Under his leadership, the KKB won the European Championship and Grand Prix of Nations at the 2023 European Choir Games. A champion of new music, he has premiered works by Ivo Antognini, Ēriks Ešenvalds, and Eric Whitacre. He is co-artistic director of CHORALSPACE with Daniel Raaflaub and a regular international competition juror.

Peter Futcher is a British choral conductor, singer, composer, and educator based in Kent. Trained as a chorister and organist at St Mary's, Dover, he held choral scholarships at Royal Holloway, University of London and St Martin-in-the-Fields, and spent sixteen years as a tenor lay clerk at Canterbury Cathedral. He is Artistic Director of Canterbury Chamber Choir, Musical Director of Thanet Chamber Choir, and Musical Director of Sound Waves Choir, leading concerts across the South East. He has been Director of Music in schools in Oxfordshire, North Wales, and across Kent, and is currently Head of Music at Hartsdown Academy in Margate. His compositions and arrangements are published by the Royal School of Church Music, Shorter House, and Hal Leonard (USA). Through his Choir Matters blog he writes and teaches on gesture, rehearsal culture, and what he calls being "less ordinary" in choral performance.

Simon Berg is a choral musician and choir leader known for practical rehearsal work that builds blend, tuning, and confidence quickly. Their approach centres on active listening, unified vowels, and text-led singing, treating diction and rhythm as part of musical expression rather than a last-minute add-on. In this conversation, Simon shares first priorities in rehearsal, fast ways to diagnose when tuning will not settle, and methods for helping singers self-correct without creating a tense atmosphere. Choir directors will come away with concrete strategies for clearer ensemble sound and more efficient, supportive rehearsals.

Susan Cox is the director of the Grand Union Community Choir (GUCC), a non-audition community choir based in Leighton-Linslade, Bedfordshire. The choir describes Susan as an experienced vocal leader, teacher, and music director. A published director biography notes that Susan taught Music, French, and English in Bedfordshire and Devon, joined Bedfordshire Music in 2003, became an Area Leader for Sing Up, and served as Music Director for Inspiring Music (Central Bedfordshire’s Music Service), leading the service and Music Education Hub until December 2017. Susan has been a member of the Association of British Choral Directors since 1994.

Tori Longdon is a London-based choral conductor, educator, and presenter. She is Principal Conductor of the Covent Garden Chorus and Associate Chorus Director of the London Philharmonic Choir. She coached eighteen choirs from across the UK for the King’s Coronation Concert (May 2023) and is a conductor for Songs of Praise (BBC1), as well as an adjudicator for youth choral awards including Young Choir of the Year. Tori co-founded WorldChoir (formerly The Stay At Home Choir), an international online choir community of 29,000+ singers led with Swingles baritone Jamie Wright. She studied choral conducting at the Royal Academy of Music (Distinction; Thomas Armstrong Prize) and also lectures and mentors developing musicians.