International Choral Festival

The line-up has been announced for the City of Derry International Choral Festival, which runs from October 21 to 25 this year.
By The Newsroom
Published 24th Jun 2015, 20:00 BST
Choral Festival imageChoral Festival image
Choral Festival image

Over 60 choirs will take part in competitions, concerts, performances and workshops on the weekend before Halloween and world-renowned guest artists Bob Chilcott and The King’s Singers will be part of this year’s programme.

The highlight of the weekend will be the International Competition, to be held on Saturday, October 24 in St. Columb’s Hall, when 10 choirs, representing eight countries, will compete for the Oak Tree of Derry trophy and a cash prize of £2,000.

Competing are:

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Academic Choir of Carinthia Mohorjan, Slovenia; Chamber Choir of the Feliks Nowowiejski Academy of Music, Poland; Chorus Amici, England; Härlanda Voces, Sweden; Polifonica Chamber Choir, Belarus; Saint Nicholas Choir Litija, Slovenia; Salutaris Chamber Choir, Belarus; Voci Nuove, Ireland; Vokalconsort Osnabrück, Germany and Vox Iuvenalis, Czech Republic.

Adjudicating the International Competition (and the school and national competitions) will be a panel of distinguished choral directors with a wealth of experience as international jurors. Ragnar Rasmussen, Professor of Conducting at the University of Tromsø, Norway, panel chairman for the third year.

Accompanying Professor Rasmussen on the adjudication panel will be: Bernie Sherlock, Ireland (Musical Director of award-winning chamber choir New Dublin Voices); Julian Wilkins, England (Musical Director of Cambridge Chorale, CBSO Youth Chorus and Phoenix Chorale); Gabriella Thesz, Hungary (Artistic Director of the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir); and Josep Vila, Spain (Director of the Orfeó Català and Cor de Cambra del Palau).

Artistic Director of the festival, Dónal Doherty, said, “We are delighted to announce a fantastic line-up of 10 wonderful choirs for the 2015 International Competition. The standard is incredibly high and will guarantee a genuinely inspirational five days of choral singing. The festival is already becoming a significant event in the international choral calendar, and this year’s outstanding choirs and adjudicators will raise its profile to an even higher level. It will be a week not to be missed”.

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