T. J. HARPER
President of the Jury

T. J. Harper is a specialist in Choral Music Performance, Choral Pedagogy and Methodology, Conducting, and Vocal Performance. Dr. Harper is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, MN. Choirs under his direction have performed at Carnegie Hall in 2022, the 2017 National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Conference in Atlantic City, NJ, the 2014 NAfME National Conference in Nashville, TN, the 2013 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) New England Collegiate Choral Conference in Keene, NH, the 2012 ACDA Eastern Division Conference in Providence, RI, the 2011 NAfME Eastern Division Conference in Baltimore, MD, and the 2010 Rhode Island Music Educators Association (RIMEA) Spring In-Service Conference. International performances by invitation include Austria, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Italy, and Spain.

Dr. Harper maintains an active schedule in the US and abroad as a guest conductor, clinician, and jury member. He has received invitations as conductor, clinician and lecturer throughout the United States and internationally with engagements in Argentina, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Cuba, Germany, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, and Venezuela. He has been engaged as a lecturer, presenter, and guest speaker at the 2015 Yale University International Choral Music Symposium; the 2015 European Choir Games in Magdeburg, Germany; Harvard University, Hofstra University, the University of Southern California, and the New England ACDA Collegiate Choral Conference.

A significant highlight in Dr. Harper’s career has been his professional and artistic collaboration with Maestra María Elina Mayorga in San Juan, Argentina spanning more than 10 years. He has been honored to be a guest lecturer, clinician, and guest conductor for ANSLITA, Il Foro Coral Americano, and San Juan Canta. Since 2016 he has proudly been named President of the International Jury for San Juan Canta. Dr. Harper’s collaboration with Maestra Mayorga have built artistic and cultural bridges between the US and Argentina through their partnership for the ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program and other musical projects bringing choirs and conductors from around the world to San Juan, Argentina.

Dr. Harper recently held positions as Board Member for the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM), the past Chair of the ACDA Standing Committee on International Activities, and the Director of the ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program. He was the President of the Rhode Island Music Educators Association (RIMEA) and the President of the Rhode Island chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.

Dr. Harper received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Southern California where he graduated with honors. He received the Master of Arts in Choral Conducting from California State University, Northridge and the Bachelor of Arts degree and Choral Conducting from California State University, Fresno. He taught in the California public school system for six years and was honored for excellence in teaching in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers. As a member of the Pi Kappa Lambda National Music Honor Society, NAfME, ACDA, Chorus America, NCCO and IFCM, Dr. Harper is an advocate for the promotion of undergraduate and graduate music education and choral music in the public schools.

DR. PAUL D. HEAD

Dr. Paul D. Head celebrates 27 years as the distinguished named chair of choral studies at the University of Delaware this year. Choirs under his leadership have been recognized throughout the United States and Europe, appearing six times on national and regional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) while winning awards at international competitions in Spain, Hungary, Germany, and the prestigious Grand Prix Award in the Estonian Choral Competition. Most recently, he has led the Delaware Choral Scholars to recognition as divisional first place winners at the Llangollen Eisteddfod Competition in Wales, and three divisional awards at the World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand where the choir was deemed by Interkultur Choral Council as the #1 choir in the world.

He has conducted honor choirs in 27 of the United States as well as those in several choirs in Great Britain and Europe.  He also served as President of ACDA-Eastern Division. He frequently serves as and adjudicator and clinician with recent engagements in Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Africa, Europe, and throughout the United States. 

Also highly regarded as a pedagogue and author of several books, Dr. Head’s most notable contribution is his role as co-author and editor of the Oxford Handbook of Choral Pedagogy, in addition to contributions to numerous GIA publications on music education and rehearsal technique.

Under Head’s leadership, the Delaware Choral Scholars have enjoyed residencies with several organizations including the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Delaware Symphony Orchestra, and Manhattan Productions in New York City. For six years, they served as the core ensemble of the Choral Conducting Symposium in Provence, France – an intensive program for aspiring choral directors from all over the United States.

Prior to coming to Delaware, Dr. Head taught in the California public schools where his choirs received many awards, culminating in being named as state champions in the Golden State Choral Competition – a prestigious festival for the finest school choirs in the state. 

He is the proud father of three grown children, two grandchildren, and resides in rural Pennsylvania with his wife and lovable dog named Charley.

TRISTAN MEISTER

Tristan Meister is a freelance conductor and lecturer in Choral Conducting at the Universities of Music in Mannheim and Frankfurt am Main. He received his first musical education as a member of the Limburg Cathedral Boys’ Choir and studied choral conducting with Georg Grün, Harald Jers and Frieder Bernius as well as orchestral conducting with Klaus Arp at the University of Music in Mannheim.

He is the founder and musical director of the Ensemble Vocapella Limburg and his recordings with this group include the first complete recording of Max Reger’s male voice choruses. He also founded the semi-professional chamber choir Vox Quadrata, with which he published the world’s first recording of Friedrich Gernsheims choral music in 2022. He is the Artistic Director of the professional Chamber Choir Of Europe, conducts the Beethovenchor Ludwigshafen and is in addition the artistic director of the Jugendchor Hochtaunus.

With his ensembles Tristan Meister won first prizes at several competitions like the German Choir Competition and the International Choir Competition in Varna, where he was awarded the special prize for the best conductor of the competition.

He is frequently invited to festivals at home and abroad, among others to the World Choral Expo 2019 in Lisboa, as well as to the Abu Gosh Festival 2022 in Israel or the ACDA National Conference in Cincinnati 2023.

He works with orchestras like the Baden-Baden Philharmonics, the Kurpfälzisches Kammerorchester or the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, leads workshops for singers and conductors, is editor of several choirbooks and juror at national and international choral competitions.

MARIA EMMA MELIGOPOULOU

Dr. Maria Emma Meligopoulou is Assistant Professor of Choral Conducting at the Macedonia University School of Music Science and Art, Thessaloniki, Greece. She holds a PhD and a Postdoctoral Diploma from Ionian University School of Music and a Master's Degree in Choral Conducting from Boston University College of Fine Arts. She is also recipient of a bachelor’s degree in Law, from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki School of Law. She is research associate at the Ionian and Aegean Universities, Greece.

Her international career spans in all continents with numerous performances of choral music and distinctions in international choral competitions. As adjudicator she has served is some of the most prestigious choral competitions, such as the Bali International Festival (Indonesia), the World Choir Games (USA, Russia, South Africa, China, Austria, Belgium etc.), the European Choir Games (Germany, Sweden, Latvia etc.), the Busan International Choir Competition (Korea), and many others in Europe (Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Israel, Austria etc.). As clinician she has lead seminars, lectures and workshops worldwide (Greece, China, Israel, Germany, Italy, USA, Canada, Sri Lanka etc.).

Dr. Meligopoulou is author of university textbooks Introduction to the Art of Choral Praxis (2011) and Choral Art in History, Theory & Practice (2023), along with score editing of choral music by Greek and international composers.

RICARDO PORTILLO

Graduated from the Faculty of Arts of the National University of Cuyo as a Music Professor, specializing in Choral Conducting. In this Faculty he studied, among others, with professors José Felipe Vallesi, Elifio Rosaenz, Carlos Barraquero, Eduardo Grau, Guillermo Scarabino, Mirta Poblet, Susana Antón, Gloria Basso.

He completed advanced courses in Orchestral Conducting with Guillermo Scarabino and in Choral Conducting with: Eric Ericson (Sweden), Robert Sund (Sweden), Helmut Rilling (Germany), Sergio Siminovich (Italy), Mario Baeza (Chile), Jorge Fontenla , Guillermo Graetzer, Leonardo Waisman, Carlos López Puccio, María del Cármen Aguilar, Andrés Aciar, Nestor Andrenacci, Néstor Zadoff.

With the choirs under his direction he has performed in the most important cities in Argentina. In Latin America he has toured in Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Uruguay, as well as in Europe in cities in Italy, France, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, having obtained First Prizes in important national and international competitions.

He served as a teacher in the Choral Conducting Chair at the UNCuyo Faculty of Arts between 1981 and 1992, then between 2008 and 2014, as well as teaching Choral Conducting courses at the San Luis School of Fine Arts.

He founded the Choir of the City of Mendoza in 1983, which he directed until October 2022. He is Director of the Women's Choir of the School of Teaching-UNCuyo (since 1986), Founding Director of the Choir of the University of Aconcagua (since 1995) , Founding Director of Coral Feminas (since 2013) and Director of Vox Prima – EnsambleVocal (since 2017)

PEARL SHANGKUAN

Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and workshops on six continents. She is the National President-elect of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), having previously served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America, as well as ACDA central division president and ACDA Michigan state president. Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she is also the chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a Grammy-nominated professional orchestra.

Appointed in 2022 as the Editor of Hinshaw Music, a major choral music publisher in North America, she also has a signature choral series with earthsongs and is the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Choral series published by GIA. She has conducted several times at Carnegie Hall and other major concert halls in the US and was an invited guest lecturer at the World Symposium for Choral Music held in Seoul, South Korea. Her guest engagements regularly take her to Europe, Asia, and across the United States.

Dr. Shangkuan has served on the jury of several international choral competitions in Europe and Asia and has led conducting masterclasses for the ACDA national conference, Chorus America conferences, the University of Michigan and the University of Illinois Choral Conducting Symposium among many prominent programs, institutions and organizations in the US. She has conducted numerous All State choirs, ACDA national and division honor choirs, and choral festivals nationally and internationally and has headlined several ACDA state and other professional conferences.  She has commissioned and premiered numerous choral works and her choirs have performed at ACDA national, division and state conferences.

The Michigan YWCA honored her with its Arts Tribute Award in 2007. In 2013, Michigan ACDA honored her with the Maynard Klein Choral Award for “artistic excellence and lifetime leadership in choral music.” In 2023, the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) gave her its Honorary Life Member Award for “distinguished leadership and extraordinary service to the choral community, both nationally and internationally.”

JUAN STAFFORINI

Juan Stafforini is a composer, conductor, and teacher. He holds a degree in Music from the Faculty of Arts and Musical Sciences at the Catholic University of Argentina.

He is actively involved as a composer and arranger of vocal music. In 2019, he received the First Prize from the Tribuna de la Música Argentina, in the Choral Music Composition category, for his work "Puñuna." He has been a workshop facilitator, guest conductor, and trainer at numerous national and international festivals and gatherings.

He has been a singer, instrumentalist, and composer in Obra Inversa, with whom he released the albums "Camino Inverso," "Obra Inversa" (nominated for the 2008 Grammy Awards), and "Alto."

He is a founding member of Música Inaudita, a contemporary vocal music composition and performance group, with whom he carries out an intense activity creating and promoting contemporary music. Her work has been presented in venues such as the Teatro Colón Experimentation Center, the CCK National Auditorium, the Teatro Colón's Golden Hall, and the OSDE Foundation, among others.