New board of the European Music Council elected

27 June 2025 - Press release

Within the frame of the Annual Meeting of the European Music Council the members have elected a new board on 26 June 2025, for the next 2 years.

The EMC Board is now including 8 representatives of EMC members to decide on content and the strategic outline of the organisation.

Mila Georgieva - as Chair
Nominated by the Bulgarian Music Association
Mila Georgieva is one of the most active Bulgarian professionals in the field of culture management, dedicated to the promotion and internationalisation of the Bulgarian music scene across Europe and beyond. A graduate of the National Music School in Sofia as a classical pianist, she went on to study Mass Communications, Music Production, and Music Management at New Bulgarian University. Mila began her career in 2010 as Head of the Talent Management department at the Bulgarian branch of Central European Media Enterprises (CME) owned by Time Warner. Over the years, she and her team managed more than 40 musicians and actors. She is the co-founder and Head Producer of SoAlive Music Conference (SAMC), the leading music industry event in Sofia. She currently serves as Vice-Chair of the Bulgarian Music Association (BMA), where she oversees international activities. As part of BMA, she was also the Project Manager for the Creative Europe project MOST - The Bridge for Balkan Music. In 2023, Mila founded the Tales of Sinemoria Foundation, a cultural organisation focused on regional development through arts programming. The foundation is currently developing the Tales of Sinemoria Festival. She is also a board member of the European Music Council (since June 2023), and has worked with A to Z Foundation (organisers of A to JazZ Festival) as an international relations and project manager. Her experience further includes collaboration with Four for Music, a film and video game music production company whose clients include Lucasfilm, HBO, BBC, Netflix, Creative Assembly, and Gameloft, among others.

Angharad Cooper - as Vice Chair
Nominated by the Center for Music Ecosystems
Angharad is a cultural consultant and producer based in Paris and Brittany. Holding dual British-Irish nationality and fluent in French, she works internationally with clients across the music and culture sectors, developing both artistic projects and policy initiatives. She splits her time between her role as Director of Operations at the music policy NGO, Center for Music Ecosystems, and her freelance work as a consultant, producer, and coach, collaborating on diverse music projects with a wide range of artists and partners. Her expertise spans contemporary classical music, experimental and traditional music, and opera. Since 2023, she has served as a board member of the European Music Council, where she holds the additional role of Green Representative. She is also the former Chair of Soundmix (a UK music charity for young refugees and asylum seekers) and a board member of the Daphne Oram Trust, advocating for women and gender-minority composers. While at Sound and Music, the UK national organisation for contemporary music, she worked with over a hundred experimental composers and sound artists from the UK and Europe. As Director at the Center for Music Ecosystems, she develops participatory, research-driven projects aimed at shaping innovative global music policy. Notable projects include “Intellectual Property Frameworks: Learnings from the Music Industry” for the UN Development Programme, the Music Policy Resilience Network, and the Music Economy Development Initiative. She is also a mentor for the European Music Council, Keychange, WOW Women of the World, and Help Musicians UK.

Niels Græsholm - as Treasurer
Nominated by the International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM)
Niels Græsholm is associate professor of choral conducting and adjacent subjects at the University of Copenhagen. He is also a Chairperson of the Danish Choral Directors Association and the Nordic Choir Forum and a board member of the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM). He has degrees in music education in both classical, jazz and ethnic music, in conducting and choral pedagogy and a Master of Public Governance. He has taught music for more than forty years at a large variety of music institution in Denmark.

Joanna Grotkowska
Nominated by the Polish Music Council
Music journalist, radio producer and organiser of the music life in Poland, Joanna is the vice president of the Polish Music Council Board. After graduating from the University of Warsaw she started working in the Polish Society for Contemporary Music as well as in the Polish Radio Channel 2. Since 2013, she has been the delegate of the Polish Radio at the IMC International Rostrum of Composers and in April 2023, she was honoured with the ‘Golden Microphone’ for her ‘tireless promotion of contemporary music’. Her collaboration with the EMC started in 2015 from the Share & Learn: Audience Development Workshop organised in Warsaw. She co-organised the 6th European Forum on Music and 63rd International Rostrum of Composers held in Wroclaw, May 2016. Since 2018 she is a member of the EMC Board.

Martí Ferrer i Bosch
Nominated by Moviment Coral Català
Martí Ferrer i Bosch (Girona, Catalonia 1977) is the conductor of the Capella Polifònica de Girona, as well as its children’s and youth choirs, GiroNins and La Jove. He is also the conductor of the Girona University Choir and Orchestra and the co-founder of FICTA Edicions i Produccions, a publishing house and record label established in 2015, dedicated to Catalan musical heritage and contemporary music. With extensive experience in leading organisations, he is a former president of SCIC (the Catalan Children’s Choirs Federation) and the Moviment Coral Català, an umbrella organisation representing more than 700 Catalan choirs, including children's, youth, and adult ensembles. During his tenure, he founded and coordinated the Inclusion and Choral Singing Conference (held five times) and the Catalan National Youth Choir (three editions). He also played a key role in organising five editions of the Mediterranean Choral Forum, which took place in Catalonia (twice), Cyprus, Turkey, Lebanon, and Portugal. Martí Ferrer i Bosch has also served on the boards of several international organisations. He was the treasurer of the International Music Council, a board member of the World Youth Choir Foundation, the Euro-Arab Youth Music Center, and the European Choral Association.

Claudia Stobrawa
Nominated by REMA European Early Music Network
Claudia Stobrawa was born in Thuringia/Germany in 1979 and learned playing the piano, singing, guitar and flute growing up. After completing a Master's degree in Musicology and Music Management at the Sorbonne Paris IV, her way took her to Leipzig Opera in 2004, where she began her career as assistant to the opera director. In 2006, she moved to the opera house in Halle an der Saale as artistic producer, where she was also in charge of the productions for the Händel Festival. From 2007 to 2022, she was responsible for hundreds of high-calibre opera productions with international artists in her role as head of artistic production at the Theater an der Wien in Vienna. At the same time, she repeatedly gave courses in self-management at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts (mdw). She is also a consultant for the French socio-cultural think tank IDEE EUROPE. Since June 2023, she has headed the newly founded Nikolaus Harnoncourt Zentrum at the Anton Bruckner University in Linz, which publishes Harnoncourt's artistic legacy digitally, documents his life's work for the future and makes it accessible to the public, but especially for research and education. She has been part of the Administration Board of REMA (European Early Music Network) since March 2025. She speaks German, English, French and Italian. In her leisure time, she sings in a chamber choir.

Robert Vroegindeweij
Nominated by the European Music School Union
Mr Robert Vroegindeweij has been the director of Muziekschool Zeeland since 2019. This music school is located in the south-west of the Netherlands and has 3.500 students, reaching out to 10.000 children in primary and secondary schools each year. Muziekschool Zeeland also runs extensive social programmes, including activities for elderly people in nursing homes. The school's slogan is: 'A long life of music, long live music!' Mr Vroegindeweij joined the presidium of the European Music School Union in 2021. He is also the co-founder of the Cultural Board Zeeland, which develops new political strategies for connecting culture to other areas of society. The Cultural Board Zeeland has strong links with the Economic Board. Together, they invest in provincial liveability and the investment climate. Mr Vroegindeweij is also the co-founder of the Mostly Modern Festival in the Netherlands, a professional new music festival which has a counterpart in New York. He runs this with Rob and Victoria Paterson, who live in New York. The festival provides a platform for young professional composers from around the globe to showcase their talent at the beginning of their careers. Mr Vroegindeweij started his career as a professional flautist, which shaped his love for art and music. He says, "The most important role for us is to pass on our love of art to children. The beauty of art brings wonder and shapes cultural identity; it defines who we are.”

Inese Zagorska
Nominated by the Latvian Music Council
Inese Zagorska is the Artistic Director of Cēsis Concert Hall, one of Latvia's most prominent concert venues. Since 2015, she has been a member of the Board of the Latvian National Music Council (LNMC), and was re-elected as Chairperson in 2023 due to her dedication to cultural development in Latvia. In this role, she has contributed to shaping the LNMC strategy and creating new opportunities within the organisation. Inese has also served as an expert at the State Cultural Capital Fund (VKKF), which promotes and preserves Latvian culture. She has played a key role in promoting new cultural initiatives, including the Music Art School and chamber music concert hall in Sigulda, as well as the Cēsis Concert Hall. She is also involved in the renovation of the Richard Wagner Theatre in Riga, set to open in 2028. As the Artistic Director of the “Cello Cēsis” International Cello Festival, Inese has twice received the Europe for Festivals Label (EFFE). In 2018, she founded the Peteris Vasks Music Festival, celebrating the prominent Latvian composer. Inese has worked with the renowned violinist Gidon Kremer and the Kremerata Baltica orchestra since 2004, promoting their concerts in Latvia. Several concerts organised by Cēsis Concert Hall have won the Latvian Great Music Award. Her international work includes representing Latvia in the EMC's STAMP project and organising the 2015 European Music Council Annual Forum. Inese has also participated in cultural projects worldwide, including the “Peace Child” production in Scotland. She is a graduate of the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music and holds a Master’s degree in Arts Management from the Latvian Academy of Culture.

New EMC chairwoman Mila Georgieva expressed her sincere thanks to Audrey Guerre, chairwoman of the EMC from 2023-2025, for her dedicaton and support as a board member since 2018. A sincere thanks also goes to the outgoing EMC board members, Michalis Karakatsanis and David Zsoldos.