Here we got a big surprise: Among the moderators not only was a conductor who will be competing with her own choir as well as one of the workshop clinicians, but also former members of Louisville Cardinal Singers.

We know this choir quite well, because it participated in the World Choir Games 2004 in Bremen and became Double Champion in “Mixed Chamber Choirs” and “Gospel & Spiritual” categories. Also my colleagues and participating choirs will welcome their director Kent E. Hatteberg in June at “Sing’n’Joy Vienna 2012” in June where he’s going to act as adjudicator! It’s really sad that these great voices won’t be able to attend the 2012 World Choir Games as well!

The meeting went very good for all of us. Earl Rivers, Artistic Director of the WCG from Cincinnati side, made the Knox Presbyterian Church available to us. He and my colleague Kim Mann warmly welcomed all moderators and gave a short overview of the event, followed by our Artistic Director Ralf Eisenbeiß who gave a short introduction to emceeing a competition combined with a little coaching: What should be noted in general? How to pronounce the names of the adjudicators? And not to forget a first insight in the names of the choirs and their competition program in different categories – it’s not that easy!

In the coming weeks the moderators will receive the competition programs for practice and before the Games start they will have individual coachings as well.

I’m sure everybody will be highly concentrated and do a great job!

Yours
Jelena

After my arrival I was glad to meet my colleagues Kim and Lori again. We had a leisure dinner together, had an exchange of news and discussed the to-do’s for the upcoming week. And we even listened to the official World Choir Games Song, written by Kirk Franklin, and also we tried to sing it! We’re going to officially present it to you soon, so look forward to it!

On Friday morning I had first business talks, and then I had to go to a recording studio – that was really exciting! I narrated text for Radio and TV commercials. So my voice will be sounding in whole Cincinnati area over the next few weeks! I’m really curious about these advertising jingles and I will definitely post the one or other here as soon as I get them.

So stay tuned and come back to my blog soon!

Yours
Jelena

I will stay in the USA until May 20 and this time it’s really my last visit before the World Choir Games – when I’ll be back next time it will be starting already. That’s why I’m a bit nervous now, as the upcoming days will be full of very important meetings. There are so many details to be discussed and we’re not less than 55 days away!

We’re currently working on the program book and we’re creating an individual schedule for each choir: When can the performances, rehearsals, concerts, transfers, meals, etc. take place with no overlaps? It’s all just around the corner, and on Monday (May 14), for example, we’re already meeting with those who are going to emcee the competitions!

Now I’m about to board plane and I recommend to take a look at the latest e-newsletter “Prelude”, where I am featured in!

See you soon!

Yours
Jelena

Some time ago Kapiti College Choir from Australia showed how it works and it seems to be a successful and fun idea according to Bridget O’Shanassy, choir director of Kaipiti College Choir:

“Backstage it was mayhem. The models had quick changes and were told not to smile when walking the catwalk. The local designers showcased their new Winter range, the Choir performed, the models walked and the crowd donated generously to our trip. It is costing us over NZ $100,000 to bring 19 students to the USA, and this fundraiser netted nearly NZ $5000.”

And when asked about her experiences Sally Brady, model and chorister said: “Fashion, fashion, FASHION…What is fashion? To us at Kapiti College, fashion was our friend. What was simply dubbed as ‘the fashion show’ turned out to be an awe inspiring showcase of clothes, shoes, and gorgeous babes!”

Another fashion show will be happening tonight at Stellenberg High School in Durbanville, South Africa. Stellenberg Girls Choir, a World Choir Games participant, will take to catwalk to raise funds for their trip to Cincinnati. Let’s hope they will be as successful as the Australians!

2012 is the year of the Dragon in the Chinese calendar – so what would be more obvious than choosing a little dragon to be the mascot for the 1st Xinghai Prize International Choir Championships 2012 (XPICC) in Guangzhou, China?
Welcome, LeLe!

Maybe you’ve already read about “LeLe” on our website after it had officially been presented during a meeting to prepare the event. But how it happened that he’s part of the XPICC we have not yet told you:

Originally our mascot symbolizes “Qiuniu”, the first son of the Chinese Dragon in Chinese mythology. It’s the musician among the dragons and it adores music.

As mascot for the 1st XPICC Qiuiu was named “LeLe”. It stands for the sharing of joy at music, and also the syllable “Le” has an important meaning in the original Chinese saying of Confucius: “To have friends come from far away – isn’t that a joy?”

It’s a name that couldn’t be more suitable for our Mascot for the die 1st Xinghai Prize International Choir Championships in Guangzhou, isn’t it?

Well, hope you’re looking forward to meeting in Guangzhou as much as we do!

See you there!

Congratulations!

And these are the winners of the categories:

Mixed Choirs with compulsory piece:
Anderson Junior College Choir (Singapore), conducted by Nelson Kwei

Mixed Choirs without compulsory piece:
Riga Stradins University Mixed Choir “Riga” (Latvia), conducted by Evita Taranda & Zane Zilberte

Female Choirs:
Edel´veys (Russia), conducted by Larisa Ovchinnikova

Mixed Chamber Choirs:
Coro Maese Rodrigo (Spain), conducted by Alberto Álvarez Calero

Folklore:
Riga Stradins University Mixed Choir “Riga” (Latvia), conducted by Evita Taranda & Zane Zilberte

Children’s Choirs:
“Vdokhnovenie” Children’s Chor Moscow (Russia), conducted by Olga Skvortsova

Youth Choirs of equal voices:
Dekliški Pevski Zbor Gimnazije Celje-Center (Slovenia), conducted by David Preložnik

Youth Choirs of mixed voices:
Coro Giovanile “I Minipolifonici” (Italy), conducted by Stefano Chicco

Musica Sacra:
Ensemble Dali (Norway), conducted by Eirik Sørborg

The results in detail are available here!

Congratulations to all participating choirs! We hope to meet you again!

Don’t forget to check out the photos of the past days on flickr!

The jury has chosen twelve choirs to sing:

Riga Stradins University Mixed Choir “Riga” (Latvia), directed by Evita Taranda and Zane Zilberte

Anderson Junior College Choir (Singapore), directed by Nelson Kwei

Coro Giovanile “I Minipolifonici” (Italy), directed by Stefano Chicco

Coro Maese Rodrigo (Spain), directed by Alberto Álvarez Calero

Edel’veys (Russia), directed by Larisa Ovchinnikova

St. Paul’s Co-Educational College Treble Choir (China/Hong Kong SAR), directed by Oi Yee Ivy Lo

Musica e Danza (Czech Republic), directed by Helena Séquardtová

“Vdokhnovenie” Children’s Choir Moscow (Russia), directed by Olga Skvortsova

Dekliški Pevski Zbor Gimnazije Celje-Center (Slovenia), directed by David Preloznik

Ensemble Dali (Norway), directed by Eirik Sørborg

Vox Cantabilis (Austria), directed by Andreas Gassner

Ensemble Fonte Gaia (Norway), directed by Floranna Spreafico

Good luck to all of you!

When more than 50 singers are heading by bus, it always takes some time to wait for everyone to be ready. Someone is always missing. But at some point it started ideed and we were able to get hold of the boat to bring us to Venice.

It’s quite easy to get lost in Venice, as there are countless bridges and narrow streets, which often end at one of the canals and then don’t lead anywhere. For that reason the group had a guide to lead the way through this labyrinth. 50 choir singers wearing bright orange t-shirts were following – a nice picture!

Of course, choir singers would not be choir singers, if they did not like to serenade to everybody whereever they wanted to. Whether just in the middle of San Marco or even in front of Venice’s Opera House, the Grand Theatre La Fenice, the University Choir “Riga” was always on the scene, also in the afternoon for a Friendship Concert on Campo Santo Stefano, where they even caused a sensation!

However, more would be telling, as what happened on Santo Stefano and how the trip was ending will be shown in a short movie about yesterday to be published soon. Look forward to watching it!

The parade of the choirs was fantastic, for choirs and also for visitors and inhabitants of Jesolo Lido! Singers from Mexico, Latvia, Germany, Singapore, Norway and from many other countries went through the streets from Jesolo Lido to the Opening concert singing out loud, waving their flags and often dressed in traditional costumes.

We and also the audience especially liked the performance of “Petits Chanteurs des Strasbourg” from France at the Opening concert. Also the scenical contribution of the conductor of “‘Nosu Planetas’ Children’s Choir of Ventspils Music School” from Latvia was a highlight – just have a look at our photo and you’ll know what we mean!

Speaking of photos: Find more photos from the opening day on flickr!

The choir ranked number one in the World Rankings “Folklore” is Boğaziçi Jazz Choir from Turkey. A great success, but it’s been a long way.

The choir had to finance the whole trip through sponsorship and, for example, captured great media attention after publishing this video. Nevertheless, only on the day of departure it became clear that they were able to finance the trip. So only the same day the group around conductor Masis Aram Gözbek applied for a visa to enter Austria. First the embassy called us in the festival office in Graz and only when we confirmed the choir’s participation the visa was issued and the choir was given green light for Graz.

Well, once arrived in Graz the group had no hotel rooms, because their coming had been uncertain until the very last moment. We did everything we could, but the singers had to split up and stay in different hotels anyway. During the whole week they had to change their accommodation three times in all, as almost all hotels in Graz were occupied. This was another moment of stress in addition to the strain regarding the World Choir Championships competitions!

However, the singers were more than rewarded all stresses and strains: As double Champion in the Folklore and Musica Contemporanea categories they are now seeded number one in the Folklore World Rankings. Also they’re ranked number 13 in the overall World Ranking and thus are one of the best 20 choirs in the world!