pianomania: 9TH SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL GRAND PRIX CONCERT & AWARD CEREMONY / Review

9TH SINGAPORE

INTERNATIONAL CHORAL FESTIVAL

GRAND PRIX CONCERT

& AWARD CEREMONY

Esplanade Concert Hall

Sunday (27 July 2025)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 29 July 2025 with the title "Singapore International Choral Festival Grand Prix concert showcases choral excellence".

The culmination of the 9th Singapore International Choral Festival organised by One Choral Company and Rave Group International was its Grand Prix concert. Eight best choirs selected from field of 74 from eleven nations spread over eleven choral categories vied for the top prize. The two-hour concert was a showcase of choral excellence and diversity in harmony.

There were two children’s choirs, both from People’s Republic of China. Opening the evening was the Shenyang Radio and Television Children’s Choir (Chorusmaster: Liu Jiaqi) with 34 singers in bright olive-green outfits. They impressed with clarity and homogeneity in Xingzimin Pan’s New Qingping Music Village Residence sung in Mandarin, and various vocal sound effects with hand-clapping and foot-stomping in Cao Guanyu’s Dolly Budgie.

More than double its size with 71 singers was the Liwan Children’s Choir (Li Huikun) in bright red and maroon which closed the concert. Singing in Mandarin, Wu Zhuoxian’s Lightyear highlighted lyricism and sentimentality while Guan Yu’s Banks of the Densely Forested Red River was a vigourous highland song in local Yunnan dialect, accompanied by a traditional folk singer and percussion instruments.

Hong Kong’s contribution was the Ying Wa College Choir (Ernest Hui), an all-men’s ensemble smartly-attired in black blazers and resembling a university glee club. Its excellent deportment carried into Hong Kong composer Yip Ho-Kwen’s Camping Insights, the sung language easily recognisable as Cantonese with excellent pronunciation and diction. Just as idiomatic was its English in The Drop by Latvian composer Andris Dzenitis, based on Urdu poetry by Mirza Ghalib.

There were three choirs from Indonesia. First to perform was Libels Voice Youth Choir (Achmad Yarziq Mubarak) from Surabaya. When ladies mostly wearing hijabs sing “I believe in God” in Kim Arnesen’s Even When He Is Silent with such beauty and sincerity, one’s faith is affirmed. In contrast, Katerina Gimon’s Fire from Elements, nonsense syllables and percussive beats emphasised the raw and raucous.

Easily the most colourful outfits were worn by Gita Maizan Choir (Odhi Pratama Maizan) from Yogyakarta, complete with tribal headgear, face-paint and bare feet. Sung in Latvian, Perkontevs (Father Thunder) by Laura Jekabsone simulated falling raindrops and wind, building up to a full-blown storm. Jungle animal sounds, resonant tribal singing and rhythmic movement made West Papuan folksong E Mambo Simbo-2 a gripping experience.

The visual and aural spectacle continued with Puellae Orantes Choir (Wladislaw Pachota) from Poland, resplendent with traditional costumes, floral headbands and ribboned braids. Johannes Brahms’ motet Regina Coeli was founded on purity and innocence, while the mazurka rhythm of Frederic Chopin’s Zyczenie (A Maiden’s Wish), sung in Polish, was enhanced by pretty and dainty folk-dancing.

The third Indonesian choir, Harmony Project (Haryono Sumerah) from North Sulawesi turned its two songs into a full-blown gospel service with Sumerah’s groovy arrangements of a mash-up of the hymns Glory and Nearer My God To Thee, and Kirk Franklin’s Love Theory. With such soulful solos, spirited rapping and exuberant voices, one has to wonder whether one has wandered into Harlem, New York City.

The sole Singapore representative was Choralimus (Chong Wai Lun), winner of the Popular and Jazz category with The Four Tops’ Baby, I Need Your Lovin’ and John Lennon / Paul McCartney’s In My Life. Both had excellent solos backed by very tight close harmony, sung with verve and spirit. So let it no longer be said that Singapore choirs lack soul or jive.

Anxiously awaiting the results,
there was friendly rivalry between the
contingents from Taiwan and China.

Has anyone noticed that both
Indonesia and Poland have very similar flags?

Four levels of fandom.

Odhi Pratama Maizan, founder of
the Gita Maizan Choir gets the Grand Prix
on behalf of his singers.

This year’s Grand Prix, determined by an international jury of 12, was awarded to the wonderfully vibrant Gita Maizan Choir, which goes on to compete in next year’s Asian Grand Prix held in South Korea.