Peking University, Sept. 4, 2014: In the 8th World Choir Games held in Riga from July 9 to July 19, PKU Students Choir participated in two categories, Mixed Chamber Choirs and Musica Contemporanea, and won two gold medals. Professor Hou Xijin from School of Arts, PKU is the conductor.
The World Choir Games are known as the Olympics in the field of chorus. Held every other year in different cities, the Games this year moved to Riga, the capital of Latvia and a city known as the European Capital of Culture. More than 480 choirs with roughly 27,000 participants entered the competition, marking a new record.
PKU Students choir consists of students from 39 schools and departments. Under the guidance of Professor Hou Xijin, they had undergone strenuous practice for over a year prior to the competition and morphed into a cohesive choir of high-standard.
In the Mixed Chamber Choir category, 31 choirs participated, including world champions and European champions of previous years. In such a competitive category, 20 choirs were awarded gold medals. PKU students’ fascinating tone and effusive emotions arrested judges’ attention. They claimed the 10th place, best result among Chinese choirs.
In the Musica Contemporanea category, PKU student choir stood out in their music selection. “The Holy Lake, Nam Co,” composed by Chinese composer Cao Guangping, created a profound and mysterious artistic conception. The second song, an original folk music “In Haze”, composed by a PKU student, abounded with Beijing folk melodies and miscellaneous vocal elements. Their performance received high praise from the jurors and won them 8th place among 18 choirs.
After the award ceremony, Yang Guoqiang, Chinese Ambassador to Latvia, congratulated the students for their outstanding performance and success, and expected them to make further contributions to the cultural communication between China and Latvia.
PKU Students Choir was founded in September, 1990. The members are non-music majors. Over the past two decades, the choir went through constant improvement and became a multi-genre choir with international influence. They have held public concerts with or without other groups. They have performed in more than a dozen countries and are well received in the local. In 2012 World Choir Games, PKU Students Choir participated in three categories of Male Chamber Choirs, Female Chamber Choirs and Musica Contemporanea, and came back with three gold medals.
The next host of the World Choir Games will be Sochi, Russia, from July 6 to July 16 in 2016.
Extended Reading
“Singing together brings nation together”
As the world’s biggest choir competition, the World Choir Games are hosted biennially (every even year) since 2000 in a select city across the globe. Organized by INTERKULTUR Foundation, the games are open to amateur choirs from all over the world to “bring together people and peoples, who are united through singing, in peaceful competition.”
“Participation is the highest honor”
The focus of the World Choir Games is more on participation than winning. The games “shall inspire people to experience the strength of interaction which is able to challenge personality and community equally by singing together.” Choirs from all ages and backgrounds get together to compete in two classes (Champion and Open) and in different music categories. Alongside the competition, there are also many other events such as workshops and concerts for the choirs and the public to participate in. It is a great festival of music for people to celebrate.
Written by: Wang Jingwei
Edited by: Chen Long
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
