Jury 2025

Karmina Šilec is a conductor and author of musical-scenic projects. She has opened the way toward complex artistic events through innovative interventions, her concepts are provocative and daring, while her ideas break social and musical taboos. Her projects are shaped as a rounded picture wherein a string of images joins into an integral whole

With the Choregie concept, she has toured in numerous renowned festivals and venues such as Operadagen Rotterdam, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Prototype Festival (NYC), Kunstenfestival Brussels, Golden Mask Moscow, Holland Festival, St. Petersburg Philharmonic, Esplanade in Singapore, Arts centre Melbourne, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Davis Symphony Hall San Francisco, Ruhrtriennale, Moscow Easter Festival, Dresdner Musikfestspiele, World Music Days (ISCM), Theater Basel, Beijing International Music Festival, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Radialsystem V Berlin, Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, Palau de la Música Catalana, and many others.

She has received over 20 highest international prizes in choral competitions, the Prešeren Fund Prize, the Robert Edler Prize for outstanding contribution to the choral expertise on a global scale, the Music Theatre Now award, and others. Šilec is also a member of juries and artistic councils at choral and conducting competitions, and lecturer.

Dr. Michael Joseph Barrett is an internationally acclaimed conductor, composer, educator, and choral clinician. He led the University of Pretoria (TUKS) Camerata from 2013 to 2025 and has served as a faculty member and is now a Research Associate in the university’s Department of Music. He earned his DMus in Choral Performance in 2017. His choirs have won numerous awards, including the Grand Prix of Nations (2014, 2017), and have performed at major events such as the ACDA National Conference (2025) and the World Symposium on Choral Music (2017). He is in demand as a guest conductor and clinician, with recent appearances including the Texas (2024) and Missouri (2022) All-State Choirs. He has held residencies at several U.S. universities and regularly works with choirs across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. His Carnegie Hall debut is scheduled for April 2026. A published composer of over 40 works, he holds an NRF Y2 rating for his contributions to South African choral research. He is also Executive Director and Co-Producer of Capital Singers, South Africa’s largest community choir.

Petra Grassi is the conductor of the VIKRA Chamber Choir, having won with them the Grand Prix at the 59^th International Choral Competition Seghizzi in Gorizia in 2021, as well as awards for Best Conductor and Best Repertoire. From 2020 to 2022, she was co-director of the Italian National Youth Choir, becoming its youngest conductor. She has conducted the Slovenian Philharmonic Choir, while with DEKOR Chamber Choir (Ljubljana), she won the national competition Naša pesem in 2018, including the Best Conductor award. Her other awards include Best Conductor according to the Choir at the World Choral Conducting Competition (2019, Hong Kong), 1^st prize at “Zvok mojih rok” (2016, Ljubljana), 3^rd prize at the European Choral Association competition (2016, Turin), and 1^st prize at “Le mani in suono” (2015, Arezzo). Petra Grassi regularly serves on juries at international competitions, including Tolosa, Cork, Spittal an der Drau, Maribor, Arezzo, Milan, Bologna, and Koper, and leads masterclasses across Europe. She has also been invited to serve on the artistic commission of the Italian National Choral Federation (Feniarco), and for Leading Voices Tallinn 2025. She completed master’s degrees in piano, music pedagogy, choral conducting, and choral composition in Italy, and was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting and Choral Composition at the State Conservatory of Trento.

Ban Sheng Toh is an active member of the international choral scene, having been invited to adjudicate, conduct, or teach in more than 25 countries worldwide. Starting out essentially as a self-taught musician, the former physics teacher completed two master’s degrees in Choral Conducting and Voice in the USA and won seven Conductor’s Prizes in Europe. Toh has since been recognized as an eminent conductor with an illustrious track record, garnering eight Grands Prix, numerous Category Champions and Jury Prizes, and approximately 70 gold awards. In recognition of his artistic achievements, he was conferred the national Young Artist Award and made an Honorary Member of the Choral Directors Association of Singapore. At home, his choirs were crowned Choir of the Year in consecutive years. He has had the honour of conducting the 800-strong National Day Combined Choir and mentoring teachers under the Artist-Mentor Scheme. His work as Chorus Master for Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 has received rave reviews from the Straits Times. With Raffles Singers, he was invited to perform at the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music.
Having contributed to the International Choral Bulletin and published his autobiography, The Accidental Conductor, Toh also edits Earthsongs’ Ban Sheng Toh Choral Series (USA) and serves as Artistic Director for Orientale Concentus and The ROS Singers.

Mikael Wedar was educated at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where he earned a master’s degree in choral conducting. Since 2012, he has been employed as a church musician in the parish of Farsta, Stockholm. From 2003 to 2011, Mikael worked as a teacher at Kungsholmens Gymnasium / Stockholm’s Musikgymnasium, teaching choral singing to gifted young singers. Throughout his career, Mikael has worked with some of the most notable choirs in Stockholm, including the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir and the Swedish Radio Choir, both as a singer and conductor. In 2007, he founded S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble (formerly the Youth Choir) and has served as its musical and artistic director ever since. The choir won the European Grand Prix for Choral Music (EGP) in Debrecen, Hungary, in 2014. The previous year, they qualified for the EGP by winning the competition in Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain. In 2017, S:t Jacobs Vokalensemble represented Sweden at the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona. Mikael has also served as a jury member for the Grand Prix Competitions of Choral Music in Varna (Bulgaria), Tolosa (Basque Country, Spain), Debrecen (Hungary), Tours (France), and Arezzo (Italy). He regularly conducts masterclasses in choral singing worldwide, with a focus on modern repertoire. This is his first time serving as a jury member in Maribor, Slovenia.