Conductors
Norwegian conductor Rune Bergmann is Music Director of the Calgary Philharmonic, Chief Conductor of Switzerland’s Argovia Philharmonic, and Music Director of the Peninsula Music Festival in Wisconsin. Guest engagements in the 2024/2025 season returns Rune to the podiums of the Pacific Symphony and Sarasota Orchestra, and for debuts with the Yale Philharmonia and Nashville Symphony.
Rune’s recent guest engagements include the Baltimore, Colorado, Detroit, Edmonton, Houston, New Jersey, Pacific, and Utah Symphony Orchestras in North America, and the Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Bergen Philharmonic, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Orquesta Sinfonica Portuguesa, Orquesta de Valencia, Malaga Philharmonic, Spain’s ADDA Simfonica, Staatskapelle Halle, Wrocław Philharmonic in Europe, to name a few. He has also led performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia and La traviata at the Norwegian National Opera, while previous guest engagements have led him to such auspices as the Oslo Philharmonic, Münchner Symphoniker, Mainfranken Theater Würzburg, as well as the symphony orchestras of Malmö, Helsingborg, Kristiansand, Stavanger, Trondheim, and Odense among many others.
2018 saw the release of Rune’s first recording with the Szczecin Philharmonic, which featured the ‘Resurrection’ Symphony by Mieczyław Karłowicz, a piece which has since become a major focus of Rune’s repertoire.
New Brunswick-born conductor Juliane Gallant is the Resident Conductor of the Calgary Philharmonic. She has appeared as guest conductor with the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Victoria Symphony, PEI Symphony Orchestra, Okanagan Symphony Orchestra, Kingston Symphony Orchestra, and Symphony New Brunswick, and as assistant and cover conductor with many orchestras and opera companies across Canada.
Initially a collaborative pianist, répétiteur, and vocal coach, Juliane began her conducting career in opera. She has led productions of Carmen, La bohème, Tosca, Eugene Onegin, La Traviata, Don Giovanni, and numerous others, both in Canada and in the UK. In 2021, she made her Royal Opera House debut in Mami Wata in collaboration with Pegasus Opera. Juliane is a graduate of the National Opera Studio, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Conservatoire de musique et d’art dramatique de Montréal, the University of Ottawa, and the Université de Moncton. She is an alumna of Tapestry Opera’s Women in Musical Leadership Fellowship.
In London, Juliane was one of only 12 conductors selected for the first Women Conductors Course: Conducting for Opera, run by the Royal Opera House, the National Opera Studio and the Royal Philharmonic Society, and has received continued support by the Royal Opera House throughout her training.
Mark Bartel
Mark Bartel is in demand as a versatile conductor and music educator. He is known for his musical, educational, and community collaborations and has established a reputation as a successful builder of choirs and choral programs. Mark is a passionate advocate of the impact of music on the lives of choristers, audiences, and communities. He has conducted university choirs for over 20 years and has extensive experience leading a wide range of community choirs in both the United States and Canada.
After a 16-year tenure in the US, he returned to Canada in 2019 to join the faculty at Calgary’s Ambrose University as Associate Professor of Music. Since arriving in Calgary, he has also served as Director of the Spiritus Chamber Choir. In addition to his interest in choral-orchestral works and choral music of the baroque era, he brings expertise as a singer and teacher of voice to his work with choirs. His current research focuses on how choirs around the world engage in active peacebuilding through the choral experience.
Originally from Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Mark is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg. He holds Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music degrees from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.