Merel Martens is a fulltime choir conductor, arranger and coach. In May 2015 she received a Master’s degree in Rhythmic Choir Conducting from the Royal Academy of Music, Denmark, studying with Jim Daus Hjernoe and Jesper Holm, with the highest possible grades. She is also privately mentored by colleagues such as Peder Karlsson (ex-Real Group) and Roger Treece (co-writer Vocabularies-Bobby McFerrin). Merel conducts among others the award winning vocal groups “Pitch Control” and “VOÏSZ Vocal Projects” in the Netherlands. In addition, she is the vocal coach for the professional group “The Junction”. In September 2014 Merel founded the ‘Dutch Organic Choir’: an a cappella group based on rotated leadership and style-free original music. Since November 2015, Merel has brought the 'Intelligent Choir' method to two Dutch conservatories, educating choir leaders during courses and offering a master's degree in this fairly new discipline. You can find out more about Merel at www.merelmartens.eu

Wim de Ru is teacher at BplusC, choirmaster and conductor of the children’s and youth choir.

"Singing is the most elementary and oldest way of making music. As long as there have been people, they have been using their voice and even so, we still often think singing is difficult…"