Swan Alyon, PhD, is a theatre maker and psychotherapist. After studied philosophy and theology in Melbourne, Oxford, and Chicago, Swan worked as a supervisor at the University of Cambridge, where they wrote their thesis on individual and social transformation and published articles on comparative religion, ethics, and politics. They also trained at the Jacques Lecoq school of physical theatre and holds certificates in tantra yoga, breathwork, and hypnotherapy. They are the founder and director of the Institute of Devotional Arts and have been guiding seminars and retreats for over a decade. Swan lived in Georgia for several months where they worked with David Shugliashvili, leader of the Anchiskhati Ensemble. They teach polyphonic singing and voice work at the Roy Hart Centre in Southern France.  

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Holly Taylor-Zuntz is a singer and choir director. Holly studied ensemble theatre at Rose Bruford College and spent many years travelling around Georgia to learn from local singers. She is the founder and leader of Oxford’s Georgian choir and teaches Georgian polyphony and embodied voice work internationally. She has performed and recorded with Georgian women’s ensemble Ialoni, and most recently spoke (in Georgian!) on live television about the internationalisation of Georgian music. Holly is also the co-founders of Voices of the Ancestors, a podcast and theatre show about Georgian polyphonic songs, the women who sing them, and how they came to be loved in the UK.

Olga Lidia Kozłowska is a clinical psychologist as well as a voice artist and researcher.  Olga specializes in Slavic and Georgian vocal traditions as well as in improvisation and community singing. She is the founder of Authentic Voice and has been leading workshops since 2011 in France, Germany, UK, Czech Republic, and Slovakia. She works with universities as well as cultural and non-governmental organisations in her native city of Wroclaw, Poland. Olga was the leader of a Georgian polyphony choir and is currently working on bringing together traditional Polish and Georgian songs with her Trio Usakhelo.

Nino Naneishvili holds a Bachelor of Arts in Piano and a Master of Sacred Music from Tbilisi State Conservatory. Nino is a lecturer at the University of Church Chant as well as at Rose Bruford College in London as well as a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Ilia State University. She has published several articles on the Georgian singing tradition, especially on sacred music. As an award-winning singer, she was a member of various folk ensembles and church choirs such as the Sathanao choir and the Alilo Ensemble. She has performed and offered workshops throughout Europe. Nino also served as strategy coordinator for the Ministry of Culture from 2015 to 2016 and has been guiding annual tours in a dozen Georgian regions over the past 20 years.

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The Chamgeliani Sisters – Ana, Eka, and Madona – are a trio coming from a long lineage of singers from the isolated and mountainous province of Svaneti. Keeping their oral tradition alive, they sing songs that have been passed down for centuries from generation to generation.

Ana, Eka, and Madona grew up in Svaneti and deep knowledge of the ecosystem and the culture in which the songs emerged. Ana, who is also a member of ensemble Sathanao, is a virtuoso on the ch'uniri, a 3-string bowed viol. Madona is an ethnomusicologist and scholar of Svan culture.Her research includes studying and recording ancient songs about the forest queen Dali. Eka is a housewife and plays an important role in hosting guests at their home in the village of Lakhushdi. All three sisters are at the helm of the effort to preserve and continue the singing tradition of Svaneti.

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