Spanish choir ‘Cor Infantil Amics de la Unio’ has won in the category of ‘Children and Youth Choirs’ as well as the overall prize, the ‘Silver Bowl’ of ‘Let the Peoples Sing 2013’, an international competition for amateur choirs organized by the European Broadcasting Union which took place yesterday evening at Luxembourg’s Philharmonic Hall. It was hosted by Radio 100.7, Luxembourg’s Public Radio and presented by Remy Franck. The broadcast was relayed by radio stations in Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great-Britain, Norway, Slovenia and Spain.
‘Let the Peoples Sing’ was founded by the BBC in 1961 as an annual competition for British choirs. Since the 1980s it has been organized by the European Broadcasting Union as an international event. Nowadays the competition takes place every two years, each time hosted by a different European broadcaster, and it attracts entries from all over the world: in recent years choirs from Canada, the United States, Israel, the Philippines, Malaysia Singapore and Europe.
Eight choirs from Europe and the USA were competing in Luxembourg: Bayerischer Landesjugendchor (Germany), Key Ensemble (Finland),
The Sirens (Norway), VoicesInTime (Germany), Cor Infantil Amics de la Unio (Spain), Wells Cathedral School Choralia (Great Britain), and ‘Choeur Robert Schuman’ (Luxembourg).
The winning choir ‘Cor Infantil Amics de la Unio from Spain’ was founded in 1996 at the music school ‘Societat Coral Amics de la Unió’ of the city of Granollers in Spanish Catalonia. It has approximately 30 singers aged between 11 and 17. The choir is directed by one of Spains foremost choral conductors, Josep Vila Jover. Their performance was enthusiastically applauded by an ebullient audience.
The winner in the category for Adult Choirs is the Finnish Key Ensemble conducted by Teemu Honkanen. This chamber choir has been created in 2005 in Turku and became rapidly one of the foremost vocals ensembles of Finland.
The single candidate and, therefore, the winner in the ‘Open Category’ is the German ensemble ‘VoicesInTime’. This Munich-based rock and jazz choir with 25 singers was conducted by its musical director, Stefan Kalmer.
The jury comprised Bent Grønholdt, Danish Radio (President), Pascal Labrie, RTBF, Belgium, Matthias Keller, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Germany, Michael Emery, BBC, Great Britain, Guy Engels, Radio 100.7, Luxembourg, Helge Lindeman, Norwegian Radio, Norway, and Brian Newhouse, Radio MP, United States.
