RP choirs garner top honors

The Sta. Teresita Parish Chorale under conductor Ronaldo Raz garnered the Grand Prize in the “A Voyage of Songs” International Choral Festival 2007 held in Pattaya, Thailand on July 12-16, besting 33 choirs from 10 countries.

The competition had five categories: Open Mixed Choirs, Open Equal Voices, Children’s Choirs, Youth Choirs of Equal Voices and Folklore Categories. The top prize winners of the five categories then competed for the Grand Prize.

Because two foreign choirs received the highest ratings not only in one but in two different categories, the jury decided to include in the Grand Finals two additional choirs next in rank to the two choirs so that five choirs can compete for the Top Prize.

This resulted in the inclusion of two Filipino choirs in the Grand Finals: the Sta. Teresita Parish Chorale and the Chiang Kai Shek College Youth Choir.   The Sta. Teresita Parish Chorale garnered the Grand Prize while the Chiang Kai Shek College Youth Choir received the Most Promising Choir Award.

Five Filipino choirs participated in the Festival, all garnering gold and/or silver awards: the Sta. Teresita Parish Chorale (Grand Prize winner; Gold Awards: Folklore & Open Mixed Choirs Categories), the Chiang Kai Shek College Youth Choir (Most Promising Choir Award; Gold Awards: Youth Choirs of Equal Voices & Folklore Categories); the Mapua Concert Singers (Gold Awards: Folklore & Open Mixed Choirs Categories), the Most Holy Redeemer Parish Master Chorale (Gold Award: Open Mixed Choirs Category; Silver Award: Folklore Category) and the Cultural Center of the Philippines Chorale (Silver Awards: Folklore & Open Mixed Choirs Categories).

The Sta. Teresita Parish Chorale is composed of individuals from different choirs who actively serve in the Sta. Teresita Parish. The choir won in the 2006 Hong Kong International Youth and Children’s Choir Festival where it bagged Gold and Silver Awards in the Contemporary and Folklore Categories.

Now on its 26th year, the Chiang Kai Shek College Youth Choir was a third place winner in the 1996 National Music Competitions for Young Artists.  Since then the group has constantly performed for special events, concerts, festivals and outreach programs. Its conductor is Irma Tan Su.

The Mapua Concert Singers is the official choir of the Mapua Institute of Technology and has garnered silver awards in the Choir Games held in Xiamen, China in 2006. Its conductor is Angelito E. Ayran Jr.

The Most Holy Redeemer Parish Master Chorale is composed of members from ten different choral groups of the Most Holy Redeemer Parish who assist in its Sunday Masses. The group has participated in various Christmas choral competitions which gave them high honors. Its conductor is Joey Mejia.

The Cultural Center of the Philippines Chorale is composed of employees from the various departments of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Since it was organized in 2002, the choir regularly performs for in-house events and formal concert programs in various venues of the Cultural Center. Its conductor is Arwin Tan, an alumnus of the Philippine Madrigal Singers.