Ave Chamber Choir Wins First Prize at the 10th Maribor International Choir Competition

The 10th biannual Maribor International Choir Competition, organised by the Public Fund for Cultural Activities of the Republic of Slovenia, took place April 17-19 in Maribor. The competition, which last year was welcomed into the consortium of competitions for the Grand Prix Europe, played host to twelve choirs from ten European countries. This year the top prize was shared between the Ave Chamber Choir of Slovenia and the KUP Taldea Choir from Tolosa, Basque Country in Spain.

The choirs were evaluated by a jury consisting of Anders Eby of Sweden (who served as president), Valérie Fayet of France, Máté Szabó of Hungary, and Stojan Kuret and Urša Lah of Slovenia. The choirs were judged for each individual stage of the competition (rounds featuring free and obligatory programmes, and the final round for the grand prize), while the final score was derived from averaging the scores from all three rounds

This year the first prize (as well as the monetary prize — each choir took 1,750 €) was shared by the Kup Taldea choir, led by Gabriel Baltes, and the Ave Chamber Choir, led by Andraz Hauptman. In spite of the tie (both choirs earned 91.7 points), the jury made the decision to send only the Ave Chamber Choir on to the European Grand Prix choral competition to be held in Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain in 2010 where the winners of all the European competitions will face off for the top prize. Ave won two of the three rounds, the free programme and the grand prize, while KUP Taldea won the round featuring the obligatory programme. Last year the biennial international competition in Maribor became a member of the associated choir competitions leading to the Grand Prix Europe, which was established in 1988 by a consortium of choir competitions including the Concorsko Polifonico Guido d'Arezzo (Italy), Bela Bartok International Choral Competition Debrecen (Hungary), C. A. Seghizzi Gorica (Italy) and the Florilege Vocal de Tours (France). The G. Dimitrov May Choir Competition in Varna Bulgaria joined in 1989, while the Certamen Coral de Tolosa competition followed a year later. The Seghizzi competition is no longer part of the alliance. The first contest for the top European prize to take place in Maribor is scheduled for 2012 when the city is to serve as the Cultural Capital of Europe.

In addition to the top prize, the following prizes were also awarded: a monetary prize of 1000 Euros went to the third place winners, the Batavia Madrigal Singers from Indonesia. Fourth place was awarded to the St. Nikolai Choir of Slovenia and fifth place to the Sola Youth Choir of the Latvian Academy of Culture. All three choirs also received a plaque commemorating their participation on the final concert. The remaining choirs were accorded recognition for taking part in the competition.

A number of special prizes were also awarded: the prize for the best performance of a work by Jacobus Gallus went to the KUP Taldea choir for their reading of Elisabethae vero impletum est tempus. The prize for the best performance of the obligatory work, Vem da je zopet pomlad, by modern Slovenian composer Lojze Lebic was awarded to the Mornington Singers of Ireland. Special recognition and a prize of 1000 € from the Slovenian Public Fund for Cultural Activities (JSKD) for the best Slovenian choir went to the Ave Chamber Choir. A monetary prize of 500 € for the best single-voice ensemble went to the Akademiska Sanforeningen male choir from Finland. Finally, the audience prize for the best out-of-competition performance of folk songs and the prize awarded by the Slovenian choir directors for the best opening concert programme went to Sola, the youth choir of the Latvian Academy of Culture.

Two single voice choirs, the Coro Femminile EOS, an Italian female choir led by Fabrizio Barchi, and the Akademiska Sangföreningen male choir, led by Kari Turunen, also competed for the top prize. The remaining choirs competed in the mixed-voice category. The only two choirs from Slovenia were the St. Nikolai Choir, directed by Helena Fojkar Zupancic, and the Ave Chamber Choir. The other participating mixed choirs came from Indonesia (the Batavia Madrigal Singers, led by Avit Priatna), Ireland (The Mornington Singers, directed by Orla Flanagan), Latvia (Sola, Youth Choir of the Latvian Academy of Culture, led by Karpas Adamsons), Hungary (the Canticum Novum Chamber Choir, directed by Ágnes Török and the Victoria Chamber Choir, conducted by Ádám Cser), Romania (The Academic Choir “Divina armonie” - Unesco Club, led by Cristian Marius Firca), Spain (KUP Taldea, directed by Gabriel Baltes) and Sweden (Falu Kammarkör, conducted by Tony Margeta).

The obligatory programme for all choral formations consisted of a composition of the choir’s choosing by Jacobus Gallus, a work from the Romantic Period of the choir’s choice and the pieces 'Vem da je zopet pomlad' for the mixed choirs and 'Cas' for single-voice choirs by Lojze Lebic. The ensembles also had the chance to display their skills with a selection of works of their own choosing in a free programme. The conditions for participation in the competition included having a membership exclusively of amateurs — only the director and possible accompanying instrumentalists could be professional musicians. In addition, the number of participating choirs was limited to twelve ensembles who must be made up of no less than sixteen and no more than forty-eight singers.

Two Slovenian choirs have thus far competed for the European Grand Prix and have won prizes: The Tone Tomsic Academic Choir of the University of Ljubljana won the competition in Arezzo in 2002 under the leadership of Stojan Kuret, and again last year in Debrecen, this time led by Urša Lah. This month, the Academic Choir of Primorska University under the artistic direction of Ambroz Copi took part in the finale in Tours, France. Joining them next year in the final competition for the Grand Prix in Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain will now be one more choir, the Ave Chamber Choir of Ljubljana.