Three Slovenian choirs will be joined by choirs from the US, Sweden, Latvia, Ireland, Indonesia and Germany for the first round taking place on Saturday.

An international jury chaired by conductor Helena Fojkar Zupančič will select five finalists that will compete on Sunday for the Gallus - Maribor grand prix and the ticket to Varna.

Since 2008, the Maribor competition has been a part of the six competitions from which the European Grand Prix finalists are selected, the other five being the competitions in Arezzo, Debrecen, Tolosa, Tours and Varna.

The last time Maribor hosted the competition was in 2012, when the Sofia Vokalensemble from Stockholm won the accolade.

The competition was this year renemed after Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591), a late-Renaissance Slovenian composer. The winner will receive a small statue of Gallus, a work by sculptor Metka Kavčič.

To promote Slovenian music, each competing choir must perform a song by Gallus and another by a contemporary Slovenian composer.