Cantamus Girls' Choir's success in major international competitions continues

[Oldcrofter]

Congratulations to Cantamus Girls Choir from Mansfield, Notts, who with their Musical Director Ann Irons and accompanist Michael Neaum have just won the Gold Diploma and First Prize in the Equal Voices class and the Audience Award at the Concorso Corale Internazionale, Riva del Garda (Italy) 2014

I believe they are the UK's most successful choir in international competitions from 1971 to 2014

http://www.cantamus.com/achievements.htm

They are currently ranked third in the world (Interkultur rankings) in Youth Choirs:

[DracoM]

Yeah, and what a pity that The Choir - ostensibly devoted to choir singing etc - failed to pick this up, nor to get regular updates of the international completions that so used to be part of the Sunday schedules - Let the People / Peoples Sing? Anyone remember that?

Eheu!

[subcontrabass]

Yeah, and what a pity that The Choir - ostensibly devoted to choir singing etc - failed to pick this up, nor to get regular updates of the international completions that so used to be part of the Sunday schedules - Let the People / Peoples Sing? Anyone remember that?

Eheu!

My recollection of "Let the People Sing" is that it was an early evening programme on Network Three, and so must then have been on a weekday. It was compulsory listening in our house at one time when the presenter was Leslie Regan, a first cousin of my father.

[ardcarp]

Yes, very many congratulations to Cantamus. And I absolutely agree that this is what R3's The Choir should be celebrating.

[Oldcrofter]

A few more details: Choirs from 14 countries inc. S.Korea, Australia, USA, Turkey & Puerto Rico plus European countries were competing at Riva del Garda. Cantamus' main rivals in the Youth Choir category were the Norwegian National Girls' Chamber Choir (Norske Jentekors Studiokor). I think there were six or seven choirs competing in that category. The Grand Prix winners (which brings all the different category winners into the final competition) were the South Korean choir Gracias (mixed university student-age choir) and Cantamus (all singers still at school) won the Audience Prize as well as First in Youth Choir competition and awarded Gold Medal.

[DracoM]

Makes their non-appearance on The Choir or any other R3 slot even more inexplicable.

Many thanks, Oldcrofter

[Oldcrofter]

The next major international event is the 8th World Choir Games (formerly World Choir Olympics) to be held in Riga, Latvia, July 9th - 19th this year.

Back in November, over 300 choirs had registered from 42 countries.

I believe there are four British choirs competing:

Barnsley Youth Choir
Bradford Catholic Girls' Choir
Cantate Youth Choir, Bishop's Stortford, Herts.
Nidus Children's Choir, Cwmbran.

As far as I can see, there are no British university or adult choirs entering. There are at least sixteen choirs travelling from South Africa of all ages. Over thirty from China.

I can't see Radio 3 being very interested, really, in a handful of yougsters representing their country.

[ardcarp]

I can't see Radio 3 being very interested, really, in a handful of youngsters representing their country.

[DracoM]

[Oldcrofter]

Well, of course, I'd love to see Radio 3 show an interest - I just don't think it's going to happen. When Cantamus returned from Bremen in 2004 as Choir Olympic champions and retained their title in Xiamen (China) in 2006, I can't recall any coverage except the Mansfield local newspaper (The Chad) and a short item on local radio.

Many people in Mansfield and the Nottingham area have great pride in the choir's achievements but that's about as far as it goes. Even on this board, 90% of the comments are about cathedral or Oxbridge college choirs, or their past and present DoMs. That's understandable - it's the common denominator of Radio 3 broadcasts.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Well, of course, I'd love to see Radio 3 show an interest - I just don't think it's going to happen. When Cantamus returned from Bremen in 2004 as Choir Olympic champions and retained their title in Xiamen (China) in 2006, I can't recall any coverage except the Mansfield local newspaper (The Chad) and a short item on local radio.

Many people in Mansfield and the Nottingham area have great pride in the choir's achievements but that's about as far as it goes. Even on this board, 90% of the comments are about cathedral or Oxbridge college choirs, or their past and present DoMs. That's understandable - it's the common denominator of Radio 3 broadcasts.

To be fair, there are loads of choral competitions around the world, all year round. And someone wins each one of them. The success of Cantamus in competitions over the years is very impressive and obviously great for them and their supporters/fans. But should Radio 3 (or anyone else for that matter) mention it every time someone wins a musical competition somewhere in the world?

[ardcarp]

Without grinding any axes at all, I would love a wider spectrum of choral groups and repertoire to be discussed on this Forum. Usually (but not always) we talk about what is broadcast on R3, and it is a great sadness the The Choir (the R3 programme, I mean) has lost its way. Could it not dedicate each programme to a first-rate choir, e.g. a youth choir, a N.European choir, a U.S. choir, etc, etc, This would certainly give us something to talk about outside the 'Anglican tradition' choirs. As a suggestion, how about starting off with a programme dedicated to our own Exaudi? It's a small pro chamber choir specialising (though not exclusively) in contemporary music.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Without grinding any axes at all, I would love a wider spectrum of choral groups and repertoire to be discussed on this Forum.

I guess a lot of contributors here are only (or primarily) interested in Choral Evensong and liturgical choirs, which is fair enough.

[Oldcrofter]

I don't think anyone would expect competition results to be announced on Radio 3 like football scores. Hardly any British choirs enter international competitions anyway so there can't be much general interest. And obviously liturgical choirs are, as I said, the common denominator for most Radio 3 listeners - they are the ones regularly broadcast an the ones most closely followed.

I have a feeling that choral singing is seen from a very different angle in the Baltic countries, Gabriel - am I right ? It's more an expression of 'nationalism' (in the best sense - I mean an expression of national identity and social cohesion) which sometimes involves the coming together of thousands of singers, many in national dress. Plus, of course, high levels of participation in local choirs at all levels from children through youth to adult choirs and performing at a high level. I don't know if there are also many cathedral and church choirs which are also prominent in the Baltic countries.

I'm very familiar with Sweden where there is also a very high level of participation in choirs and although actual church attendance is very low in this very secular country, churches in cities, towns and villages are where many of the choirs are based and they sing a very wide variety of music. Some may also sing for some church services, but in the main, the choirs' repertoire is drawn from the huge stock of folk songs, seasonal songs, student songs, gospel, 'trubadur' (singer-songwriter) songs by a host of popular composers from Bellmann in the 18th c. to Evert Taube, Cornelis Vreeswijk, Dan Andersson etc. all of whose music is well-known and much loved. Swedish choirs also have a large repertoire of Anglo-American music sung of course in English, songs from neighbouring countries in Danish & Norwegian - a very much wider repertoire, I would suggest, than found in the UK.

I personally would love to hear more about the variety of choral techniques, the training of young singers, improving voice production, choral traditions from other cultures and so on - such topics to me seem admirably suited to radio.

[DracoM]

Your last sentence, Oldcrofter, is what many of us have been lobbying The Choir to do since it started, devote extended time to getting serious experts to explain / share with other interested practitioners etc how they achieve the voices they need for their particular specialisms, and as you say, topics eminently suited to RADIO.

Too often the magazine snippet format on The Choir is simply facebook style biogs of choirs, the who, when, where, and NOT about the how. Voice training, the different traditions in different countries are not explored in any depth at all. The programme is now mere bitty 'tracks n'chat'.

Liturgical ensembles are of course, by and large, the ones many people will hear week in week out, and there is a huge amount in that genre to be explored and explained in its own right, but as ardcarp says, there are many other ensembles pro, semi-pro and excellent amateur in UK, let alone abroad, whose initiatives, techniques, methodology are intriguing and worth sharing.

I know I keep coming back to this, but more people weekly sing in choirs etc in UK than watch Premier League football, many of whom would be very interested in the how of their craft. So get real experts on to explain the how, maybe with in-studio / eavesdropped sessions in which we get to hear a series of lessons. Obvious one: new kids go into choir schools, new men and women go into choruses / choirs every September, so what happens to those voices? Why not follow a couple of kids from two or three different choir schools / new entrants to choirs etc and see AND HEAR how their voices change and develop over let us say 6 months. Why does the trainer ask for such and such skills / sounds, what is the aim etc? How do they mould voices to that end?