Meet Our 2021 Jury
ANJI HINKE
Anji Hinke is an outstanding singer, songwriter and voice coach with an impressive credit list for both live and studio performances all over Europe. She’s an admired teacher at the Vienna Conservatory as well as JAM MUSIC LAB Private University and Central Musicschool Eisenstadt.
PETRA HINTERHOLZER
Petra Hinterholzer studied musicology and communication at the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, after which she worked at the Neuen Mozart Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition), and headed the artistic manager’s office for Camerata Salzburg. She’s led concert—including the contemporary music festival Dialoge and seasonal concert series for the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation—and Mozartwoche program planning for the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum (Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation). Petra has been a university lecturer and is an active member of the Salzburg Bach Choir. Last year, Petra accepted a lead role at the Ernst Krenek Institute and Ernst Krenek Forum at the Campus Krems.
GOTTFRIED ZAWICHOWSKI
As a member of the Lower Austrian Culture Senate, executive director of Musikfabrik Lower Austria and research associate of Art and Cultural Sciences at the Danube-University Krems, Gottfried Zawichowski has developed a renowned reputation as an advocate for the performing arts. including being member of the Arnold Schönberg Choir for 10 years. He’s has functioned as conductor and musical floor manager at the ORF (Austrian TV broadcasting).
PETER KOCH
Peter is a Self Employed and a former chorister and an enthusiastic supporter for the Zawinul Foundation.
MEL VEREZ
Mel Verez studied jazz and pop vocals in Vienna and is known for her multifaceted voice and powerful energy on stage. For the past 12 years, she has performed her music all over Europe, toured in China and is currently producing new music for her project “Melvee.”
Besides her work as a songwriter and singer, Mel is a vocal lecturer at the Vienna Music Institute.
INES REIGER
Ines Reiger is an extraordinary and unique singer, composer, arranger, lyricist, educator, psychotherapist, all of that at university levels, and radio host of Ö1 (Austrian broadcasting) since 2006.
As an educator, Ines has accepted teaching duties at the MUK in Vienna, the Music College in Weimar (Germany), the Scuola in Triest (Italy), the Schubert Conservatory in Vienna and many more. Additionally she delivers numerous workshops all over Europe and developped the “Natural Voice Training,“ one of the most efficient vocal techniques in jazz and popular music.
Her artistic career includes numerous appearances at jazz festivals all over the world, on telelvision, in musical productions, recordings and solo performances.
KEITH BARRY
Keith “Tree” Barry is a versatile multi-instrumentalist, playing the viola, guitar, saxophone, flute, clarinet, trumpet and harmonica. He is also an educator, avid bicyclist and mean cook. A native of New York City, Keith moved to Los Angeles where he studied the viola with noted teachers Norman Botnick and Roland Kato. Keith attended Berklee College of Music before embarking on his career in music. Keith has performed and recorded with a diverse range of artists including Ray Charles, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Patti LaBelle and many others. He has also performed and recorded his own music. In 2001 Tree and his high school classmate Flea, bassist of the Chili Peppers, founded the Silverlake Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, a non-profit school dedicated to providing arts education for all, including for families who could not otherwise afford it.
KELLY FAIR
Kelly Fair is a 30-year veteran of the entertainment and broadcast production industry, beginning with studying music education and performance at Central Washington University. His passion for music led Kelly to Los Angeles where he pursued a career as a set drummer and percussionist. This led to work behind the microphone as well as in front of the microphone.
In 1989, Kelly began his career in film, television and broadcast audio production, gaining experience working with Audio Services Corporation and Sennheiser Electronic Corporation. At Sennheiser, Kelly played a part in the development of many of the products from Sennheiser as well as its sister company Neumann.
In 2006, Kelly joined Riedel Communications, a German matrixing production intercom company, helping it grow from a small player in the U.S. entertainment and broadcast production industry to being a leader in the market.
Kelly joined Lectrosonics as their western regional manager in December 2015. Today, he manages the distribution network, spearheads market development and serves as the key technical presence in the marketplace as well as serving as artist relations manager.
Kelly has also returned to performing as a drummer for a variety of music acts ranging from country to blues, rock and jazz.
THOMAS HEHER
Thomas Heher has been active in the Austrian cultural sector active since 199. He’s now working for several companies as an consultant in the field of music business and marketing, and as a music and film curator. Thomas also developed the concept for Waves Vienna – Music Festival & Conference and is as the director of the festival responsible for programming and marketing.
Previously Thomas worked as the chief editor of pop culture magazine TBA and was co-founder of pop culture magazine The Gap, and the literature magazine Volltext.
Before that, he used to run the Viennese record label P.A.M. Records and collected lots of experience promoting concerts, readings and film screenings.