Maestra MARIA GUINAND is artistic director of Schola Cantorum of Venezuela, Vice president of IFCM - International Federation of Choral Music and conducts choral projects in Latin America, Europe, the United States and Asia. Recognized as a true interpreter and instructor of Latin American choral music of the 20th and 21st centuries, she is a winner of Helmuth Rilling Preis (2009), Robert Edler Preis für Chormusik (2000) and Kulturpreis of the InterNationes Foundation (1998), three of most outstanding awards in conducting choral music, from over 20 International Awards.

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During the World Choral EXPO Closing Ceremony in Lisbon on July 31, 2019, Maestra María Guinand received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Choral Music Federation - IFCM.

A graduate of the University of Bristol in England, she studied choir conducting with Alberto Grau and studied conducting studies and music education with Helmuth Rilling, Luigi Agustoni and Johannes B. Goeschl.

She currently conducts two of Venezuela's most prestigious choirs, the Schola Cantorum of Venezuela and the Cantoría Alberto Grau, with which she has toured and won many awards. Always interested in new choral songs, she has been involved in projects such as premieres, performances and recordings of Osvaldo Golijov's La Pasión según San Marcos, and San Marcos, and John Adams's A Treeing Tree.

For more than three decades, María Guinand has been an associate conductor and consultant for symphonic performances and choral activities at El Sistema (FESNOJIV), the world-renowned music program in Venezuela. She teaches in the Master Program for Choir Conductors at Simón Bolívar University, where she has been a teacher and conductor for 28 years.

As a choir promoter and director of the Venezuela Schola Cantorum Foundation, she contributes to the permanent establishment of choir music centers for children and youth from disadvantaged backgrounds in Venezuela and other Andean countries. As a conductor of the Polar Foundation Choir, she actively contributed to the development of choral music in private companies. He served for twelve years as Latin American Vice President of the International Choral Music Federation. She is also the editor of the “Latinoamérica Music” collection at Earthsongs music publisher.