Friederike Stahmer is professor and head of the course of study for children’s and youth choir conducting at the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media (HMTMH). She is conductor of the award-winning girls’ choir of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin which regularly performs both in Germany and other European countries as well as being part of big musical projects of other Berlin-based choirs and orchestras.

After having studied music and education, she completed a post-graduate course in vocal pedagogy at Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) and received a degree in economics at the Humboldt University Berlin. As a choral conductor, she took master-classes with Volker Hempfling, Gary Graden and James Jordan and studied at the Gordon Intitute for Music Learning in Columbia, South Carolina.

Friederike Stahmer teaches in the field of voice projection for children and children’s choir conducting at the Berlin University of the Arts. She is a well-known expert for children’s and youth choir conducting and leads courses and seminars both in and outside Germany, most recently at the Central Conservatory Beijing, China, at the Remscheid Academy and the Bundesakademie Trossingen.

The choir based in Vilnius, Lithuania, is the main concert choir of the music school Ugnelė, one of the leading institutions in the Lithuanian choral scene. The school history dates back to 1954, when the folk and dance group Ugnelė was founded. In the early 2000s, the children’s choir Ugnelė started to perform as separate choir under its artistic director Valerija Skapiene. It has since toured over 20 countries in Europe and Asia and won several awards in international competitions. Ugnelė also organises national festivals, conferences and seminars with the aim of promoting choral singing in Lithuania.

For many years and decades, the Youth Choir Oberkassel has been a core element of the church music in the protestant church of Oberkassel. Today 17 girls are part of the choir and the repertoire consists of religious, classical and popular music. The choir often performs together with the Oberkassel church choir (e. g. Rutter’s Christmas Carols, 2016) and other ensembles of church music.

Once a year, the choir retreats for a weekend rehearsal together with the children’s choir, allowing the individuals from both choirs to bond with each other and the members of the children’s choirs to prepare for the youth choir. The participation in the festival YOUTH CHOIRS IN MOVEMENT is a challenge for the choir, but a challenge that all the girls are eager to take on.

Since 2012, Stefanie Ingenhaag is the conductor of the Youth Choir Oberkassel.