The vision of ChoirFest is to bring singers together in some of the finest concert venues in the world and present a concert of great beauty and inspiration.  Singers would be led by a Choir Master of international standing, have the opportunity to sign up for educational seminars on various aspects of music and the culture of the host country, and tour the most outstanding sites.

Hugh Ballou has served and Director of Worship and Music Ministries for 40 years in churches of up to 12,000 in membership. He has had the pleasure of preparing choirs for Sir. David Willcocks, Joseph Flummerfelt, Gerald Ottley, Paul Salamunovich, Daniel Moe, Eph Ehly and many other noted conductors.  He has studied under Robert Shaw, Robert Summer, Jo-Michael Scheibe, James Jorden and others. Hugh holds a BMu from Georgia State University in Music Literature and an MMu from The University of South Florida in Choral Conducting.

In addition to serving as guest conductor, Hugh is also skilled in leading workshops or retreats and seminars on planning, reorganization and goal setting.  Hugh has also served as musician, worship planner and worship leader in various church setting and has extensive experience in conflict resolution, staff relations, multiple staff dynamics, business plans, financial planning and budgeting, complex schedule issues, evaluations of programs and staff performance as well as goals.

Hugh Ballou is president of SynerVision International, Inc., an international consulting, coaching, and training practice in Blacksburg, Virginia. His unique insights for leadership training and teamwork come from his 40-years of experience as choral and orchestral conductor bringing harmony and synergy to group process. Hugh’s specialty is working with business owners as process coach and business strategist with clients in many countries.

His skill in teaching the collaborative leadership model is practical and proven in the trenches with his work in mega churches, non-profit organizations and businesses of all types.

Douglas Lawrence is part of that unusual group of people for whom one career simply isn’t enough. He served in the academic community at five institutions of higher learning, including Occidental College, Chapman College, and the University of Southern California.

Doug’s bass-baritone soloist concert career took him around the world several times singing with nearly every major orchestra in the world under the batons of conductors such as Robert Shaw, Lukas Foss, Sir Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Andrew Litton, Jesús López-Cobos, John Nelson, Raymond Leppard, Jorge Mester, Kenneth Schermerhorn, Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Helmuth Rilling, Wolfgang Goenenwein, Kurt Masur, Eugene Ormandy, Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Neville Marriner, Carlo Maria Giulini, Eduardo Mata, Hans Vonk, Akira Endo, Edo de Waart, Sir Simon Rattle, Herbert Blomstedt, Gerard Schwarz, Aaron Copland, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, James DePreist, Andrew Davis, and Leonard Bernstein, to name several. He also conducted Brian Mann’s rich score for the film. The Theory of Everything in 2004.

For more than 40 years Doug’s influence was also felt as a conductor, visionary, and advisor to the churches of North America and parts of Asia and included major program enhancements at two of the largest Presbyterian churches in the world. He conducted hundreds of choir members in memorable concerts and services while also leading the famed San Francisco Bay Area’s Schola Cantorum through the celebration of their 25th anniversary.

ChoirFest was the dream of Wayne Smith founder of Friendship Force International. in 1977, Wayne met with his friend and new US President, Jimmy Carter at the White House to form the concept that would connect peoples around the world as friends to promote peace and good will. The concept for ChoirFest was also to connect people with different customs, different visions and different political views in harmony through the magic of music.

Even though Wayne was never able to see his dream appear as reality, ChoirFest has become a self-fulfilling vision for creating connections through the universal language of music.

Many, many exciting plans are in the concept stage at this point. Collaborations with many similar organizations are forming to broaden the vision and create multiple options for singers to choose a favorite location or favorite conductor for their festival participation.