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Manila Bulletin devider Philippines devider National devider PH church choir wins international festival

PH church choir wins international festival

Published Jun 9, 2021 10:32 am

A Philippine church choir has won the top Grand Prix prize in the Queen of the Adriatic Sea International Choral Festival and Competition in Italy.

(Photo from Kammerchor Manila / FB)

The church choral group Kammerchor Manila winning piece was Dan Forrest’s “Entreat Me Not To Leave You."

The competition was streamed online from June 4 to 6 with participating choirs from Armenia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Italy, Japan, Poland, UK, USA, and Russia.

The festival is part of the Rimini International Choral Competition, which takes place in September of every year.

Kammerchor Manila’s Anthony Villanueva also bagged the Best Conductor award.

"It really felt good that even during this pandemic, the hard work our group exerted has paid off. But this time, in the virtual stage,” Arvin John Garcia, one of the choir members, said in a CBCP News post.

“It gave me hope that after this pandemic, Filipino performers and talents will soon conquer international stages once more,” he added.

The choral group of the Hearts of Jesus and Mary Parish in West Triangle, Quezon City also won the Sacred Music Category and received a gold medal for two other categories: pop, folk and Gospel, and mixed choirs.

Since the competition was held virtually, most of the categories required all of the choirs’ pre-recorded performances.

Prior to the competition, the choir also won the Grand Prix at the first Leonardo DaVinci International Choral Festival in Florence, Italy, and first place in Habaneras at the 63rd Certamen Internacional de Habaneras y Polifonia in Torrevieja, Spain in 2017.

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