2025 Adjudicators

Silas Chinsen is a multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, composer, and choir director based in Guelph, Ontario. He holds a M.Mus and B.Mus in classical guitar and voice performance, and has work featured on Naxos Records. Silas creates music for choirs and solo guitar, and scores for audio-visual collaborations, musical theatre productions, commercials, and video games. Silas graduated with the highest distinction from the University of Ottawa, and was twice the recipient of the Ed Honeywell Scholarship for Classical Guitar. He studied guitar with Patrick Roux and voice with Dillon Parmer, in addition to conducting with David Curry and Laurence Ewashko. Silas won the Ottawa Guitar Society's "Call for Scores" composition competition with his piece "Different Expectations", and has received various grants for his compositions, including the Guelph Arts Council Research and Renewal Award, the City of Guelph Artist In Residence Grant, and the City of Waterloo Lumen Festival. He composed and recorded the score for "One Small Misstep", a full length musical theatre production, and was music director of the 2023 cast album recording which received an Ottawa TACTICS grant. The musical is currently being rehearsed for a fully staged production as part of the 2025 Ottawa Undercurrents Festival.
Silas currently teaches privately, at the Guelph Youth Music Centre, and is director of Grand Harmony Chorus, an award
wining women's barbershop chorus in Waterloo. He regularly performs around Ontario with various professional choral
ensembles, and his choral arrangements are performed with groups such as Wilco, Everclear, and the Edison Singers.