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María Guinand, choral director, college professor, teacher, and leader of national and international choral projects, has specialized in Latin American choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries. She has been awarded the Kulturpreis (1998) by the Inter Nationes Foundation (now the Goethe-Institut), the Robert Edler Preis für Chormusik (2000), the Helmuth Rilling Prize (2009) and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM, 2019).
With the Cantoría Alberto Grau (1976-2009) she has received six awards in the competitions of Neuchatel and Arezzo (1989) and three gold medals with the Orfeón Universitario Simón Bolívar (1976-2008) at the Choir Olympics held in Linz (2000).
She has served as professor of music and choral conducting at the University Simón Bolívar (Caracas, Venezuela 1976-2018), associate conductor of Choral Symphonic Performances of El Sistema (Caracas, Venezuela 1976-2012), artistic director of the program Música para Crecer of the Andean Bank of Development (LatinAmerica 2003-2017), vice president and advisor of the International Federation for Choral Music (1996-2014), and a member of the International Music Council (UNESCO 2002-2004).
She is frequently invited as a guest conductor, adjudicator, jury member, lecturer, and professor of choral music in Europe, Asia, the United States, Canadá, Latin America, and Oceanía, specializing in Latin American choral music, and has premiered many new works. She is currently the artistic director of the Fundación Schola Cantorum de Venezuela, and directs the Schola Cantorum de Venezuela and Coral Fundación Empresas Polar.
