A prominent conductor, theater director and composer Karmina Šilec, the winner of the Darinka Matić Marović Award

A prominent conductor, theater director and composer Karmina Šilec (Slovenia) is the winner of this year’s Darinka Matić Marović Award. The award, which includes a diploma and a cash prize, will be presented in Kotor, on July 24, during the first evening of the Philosophers’ Square, which this year is being held under the name Vox feminae.

The international jury, made up of renowned female music artists from the territory of the former Yugoslavia, reached the decision by majority vote. The members of this year’s jury are conductor Dragana Jovanović, (Serbia) – the first winner of the Award, conductor Antoaneta Radočaj Jerković (Croatia), conductor Branka Radošević Mitrović (Bosnia and Herzegovina), pianist Marina Mikić (Serbia) and president of the jury, professor of music Dobrila Popović (Montenegro).

Karmina Šilec, Slovenian artist with a wide range of activities, conductor, theater director and composer, constantly searching for new music and new fields of stage expression creates projects with different companies, opera and drama houses, festivals and ensembles all over the world. With an original and research approach, Karmina has brought freshness to choral music and musical theater by developing her own style of artistic expression that knows no borders of cultures and nations. With her boldness, provocativeness and erudition, Karmina Šilec has transformed various vocal ensembles into top artistic formations of the highest rank. She has expanded the field of choral, chamber and opera singing to the most complex creative spaces into comprehensive, multiform works of art. Her projects have been awarded major international awards in stage fields that include music. The contribution to the development of musical art in our area is also a special type of activity of Karmina Šilec related to musical heritage and its implementation in contemporary creativity. With an interpretive synthesis that includes the heritage of folk songs, dances and music, Karmina Šilec uses the specifics of heritage as a model for her contemporary artistic creation. Bearing in mind her extremely rich biography, dedication and devotion to her life choices, and her artistic and musico-educational excellence, the jury also accepted the firm recommendations of the institutions that nominated her as an active part of the cultural life of our region. The very fact that the Award bears the name of Darinka Matić Marović, a person who was woven from love and respect for music, especially innovation and permanent research into sound spaces and the performing possibilities of the human voice, directly points to the qualities that should adorn the laureate of the award – pointed out Dobrila Popović, president of the jury.

In honor of one of the most significant representatives of musical art in the region, Darinka Matić Marović, the KotorArt International Festival established in 2021 a biennial award bearing her name, which is awarded to outstanding female artists for works or achievements that represent an exceptional contribution to the development of musical art in the area of the former Yugoslavia, as well as for female creators originating from this area.

Karmina Šilec successfully realizes projects with different companies, theater and opera houses, festivals and ensembles all over the world. Famous for her original and research-oriented approach, she brings freshness to musical theater in the world. Her projects have achieved numerous international awards, including the Music Theater Now awards for the works Threnos and From Time Immemorial, and the International Robert Edler Prize. Her projects are performed on stages and festivals of the highest esteem, including the Festival d’Automne á Paris, Ruhrtriennale, the Prototype Festival in New York, the Moscow Easter Festival, Musikfestspiele in Dresden, the Melbourne Festival, Audirotrim in Rome, the Hong Kong Cultural Center, among others. Karmina Šilec takes a creative approach to several critical political issues of our time, striving to contribute to the acceptance of the Otherness – she tackles misogyny and sexism through an examination of women in isolated environments (monasteries, concentration camps), and research of himenology (virginity) as a phenomenon. Her latest work Milica casts critical light on femicide in Europe. She has developed a unique artistic concept – choregie with a focus on the creative process that brings the musical notion of composing to the theatrical aspects of performing and staging. Karmina Šilec is the artistic director of the Carmina Slovenica production company.

The KotorArt International Festival is held with the patronage of UNESCO, the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Municipality of Kotor, the support of the European Union, as well as the support of eminent sponsors and a wide network of partners from the country and abroad. Additional information about the planned festival programs can be found on the Festival’s website www.kotor.art.