The people behind the International Radio Festival
Miguel Alvarez: After graduating at the New York Film School in 1993, Miguel returned to Zurich where he successfully completed commissions as a commercial film director for over ten years, directing TV commercials for national and international brands including Swisscom, Kambly, Rivella, and Migros; and his first directed Spanish feature film was celebrated at numerous festivals around the world. Miguel has a long history of developing radio event formats such as the successful city radio project Rundfunk.FM, Marvin and Radio11 which was commissioned by the Swiss Federal Government. miguel@internationalradiofestival.com
Darryl von Däniken: Darryl studied Architecture in the heady days of the Acid House explosion and swiftly decided to get busy in the world of event management, working with the likes of Ministry of Sound, Rose d’Or, International Emmy Awards, WMC, ADE, and Dance4life; and with brands such as UDV, Heineken, Sony, Ford, & Philip Morris. In 2001 Darryl pioneered international strategic content partnerships for the world’s leading nightlife portal tilllate.com. and an Ambassador for Dance4life, the world’s leading youth HIV/AIDS education NGO. Darryl regularly speaks at music industry conferences (ADE, WMC, SEEME, IPRA) about music related social media. darryl@internationalradiofestival.com
MJ Sorenson International Media Director: President of MJ Global Communications, LLC in New York. The Festival has had the good fortune of securing the services of MJ Sorenson, adding exceptional entertainment industry knowledge to the the IRF. With over 20 years working for international media organizations, Ms. MJ Sorenson has extensive experience in the entertainment industry, producing events in several countries. She spent 11 years at MTV Networks in marketing & programming management positions, and launched MTV Europe in London. She was head of Marketing & Communications for the International Emmy Awards for 6 years, handling global press campaigns as well as strategic partnerships with major networks and over 20 global organizations. For the past 7 years, she was Exec Director of Client Service/Partnerships & Exec Director, Sales for Reed MIDEM. Ms. Sorenson served as VP of Media on the Board of NYWIFT as well as adviser for FRAMES India. She launched MJ Global Communications in December 2011. mj@mjglobalcommunications.com,
Dominique Leguern: A respected music industry global figure, having most recently headed up the largest international music industry market MIDEM for over 12 years, Dominique Leguern got her start at EMI France as Press Director, promoting artists such as Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder and then went on to Music Publishing, helping spearhead the World Music explosion. She then co-founded Virgin records France, a subsidiary Richard Branson’s Virgin Group where during 11 years she worked on developing the carriers of both French and International artists from the Virgin catalogue such as Peter Gabriel, Lenny Kravitz, Alain Souchon, Etienne Daho, Mano Negra, and the RitaMitsouko.
As Virgin Records France GM, Leguern initiated ground breaking cross-artistic collaborations between musicians and fashion/photographer/film/video directors such as Jean Pierre Jeunet, Philippe Gautier, Jean-Baptiste Mondino, and Stephen Frears. Leguern also produced music programs for national TV France Television and French TV channel M6.
Dominique was awarded twice with the French cultural award ‘Chevalier and Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres’ (‘Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters’). The award is given for outstanding achievements in the arts by the Minister of Culture.
“I am delighted to head up the Advisory Board for the very innovative International Radio Festival. As the event goes into its third year, I look forward to working with the IRF team to develop an even bigger global presence,” said Leguern, founder of DL-Advice, a music industry consulting company.
