European Grand Prix for Choral Singing

The European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (in French, Grand Prix Européen de Chant Choral, commonly abbreviated as European Choral Grand Prix or GPE) is an annual choral competition between the winners of six European choral competitions. It was inaugurated in 1989.

Despite its name, the GPE is not limited to European choirs; this is because choirs from any country can join the choral competitions in any of the GPE's member-cities. As of 1995, one choir from Japan, one choir from Argentina, one choir from Indonesia, and two choirs from the United States have won the GPE, while two choirs from the Philippines and United States have won the GPE twice. In addition, the contest is not limited to adult choirs; three of the grand prize-winning choirs are children's choirs.

As of 2018, five choirs had won the EGP twice: the Philippine Madrigal Singers[1][2] (1997 and 2007), APZ Tone Tomšič (2002 and 2008),[3] Youth choir "Kamēr..." (2004 and 2013),[4] University of Utah Chamber Choir (renamed from the University of Utah Singers) (2006 and 2015) and Vesna Children's Choir (2000 and 2017).

And in the summer of 2019 Youth choir "Kamēr..." became the 1st choir ever, and currently the only choir, having won the EGP three times (2004, 2013 and 2019).

As of 2020, only one conductor has won the EGP twice: Stojan Kuret (2002 and 2010).

Organizing committee and member cities

The GPE is organized by the organizing committees of the following choral competitions, from which the GPE contenders are selected:

  1. Concorso Polifónico Guido d'Arezzo (International Guido d'Arezzo Polyphonic Contest) - Arezzo, Province of Arezzo, Italy
  2. Béla Bartók International Choir Competition - Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar county, Hungary
  3. International Choral Competition Gallus Maribor - Maribor, Slovenia
  4. Certamen Coral de Tolosa (Tolosa Choral Competition) - Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain
  5. Florilège Vocal de Tours (Tours Vocal Competition) - Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France
  6. International May Choir Competition «Prof. G. Dimitrov» - Varna, Varna Province, Bulgaria

Each individual contest is usually referred to by the name of its host city instead of the competition's official title. The grand prize winners of each contest are automatically eligible to compete at the GPE.

The hosting of each annual GPE competition is rotated among the six member cities.

History

The European Grand Prix for Choral Singing was created in 1988 through the initiative of the competitions of AREZZO (Italy), DEBRECEN (Hungary), GORIZIA (Italy) and TOURS (France) Two others have also been associated: VARNA (Bulgaria) in 1989, and TOLOSA (Basque Country/Spain) in 1990. In 2008 Gorizia stepped out of the Association and MARIBOR (Slovenia) joined it.

Regulations

Eligibility

As mentioned earlier, the contest is open only to the grand prize winners of the six-member European choral competitions in the previous year. In other words, if a choir wins the grand prize in any of the six cities' choral contests, it is eligible for then next year's GPE. Consequently, this also means that, unlike other choral competitions, the GPE does not solicit participants to the contest; no choir may directly apply or audition in order to join the GPE. If an eligible choir backs out, a substitute choir may take its place; as a penalty, any choir that backs out will not be eligible to compete in any of the six qualifying contests for the next year.

No choir may win the grand prize in more than one qualifying competition in a single year. For example, if a choir is named the grand prize winner in Arezzo, it is automatically disqualified to compete in the contests from the five remaining cities for the rest of the year.

There are no specific regulations prohibiting a former finalist (or even a former laureate) from competing in (or even winning again) the GPE more than once. The Philippine Madrigal Singers (laureate of the 1997 GPE) have won the 2006 Florilège Vocal de Tours,[5] going on to win the Grand Prize in 2007 in Arezzo, Italy. In the same competition, the Madrigal Singers competed with the Vesna Children's Choir (laureate of the 2000 GPE), who won the grand prize of the 2006 Tolosa competition.[6]

Repertoire and choir membership

Each competing choir is required to sing in the same group/category as they performed in respective competitions. Choirs are encouraged to perform songs from various eras and composers. Songs with accompaniment (by any instrument) are allowed as long as the total length of accompanied songs does not exceed ten (10) minutes. The host city determines the total maximum performance time allowed to each finalist.

Each competing choir is also required to have the same number of singers it had from the qualifying competition, plus or minus ten percent (10%) of that number. The total number of singers per choir may be a minimum of 12 singers and a maximum of 60 singers regardless of the number of voice sections or groups; this is because the eligibility requirements vary for each of the six qualifying competitions. Because of this, it is possible for mixed-voice choirs to compete directly against all-male and all-female choirs; it is also possible for children's choirs to compete against adult choirs (and even win, as in 2000, 2001, 2017, and 2018).

The grand prize winner

The GPE grand prize winner, or laureate, is awarded a diploma, a trophy and additional prizes to be determined by the host city, including a cash prize of up to 4,000 Euros (usually awarded).

The GPE winner is not allowed to compete in any international choral competition, member of the European Grand Prix Association, for two years.

Laureates

The following are the lists of grand prize winners for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.[7][8][9]

Laureates per year
Laureates of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing per year
Year Edition Host Choir Director/Conductor City of Origin Country of Origin
1989 1 Arezzo Kammerkoret Hymnia Poul Emborg and Fleming Windekilde Copenhagen  Denmark
1990 2 Debrecen (postponed) NA NA NA
1991 3 Tours Chamber Choir of the Conservatoire Tadas Šumskas Vilnius  Lithuania
1992 4 Gorizia St Jacobs Kammarkör Gary Graden Stockholm  Sweden
1993 5 Varna Jauna Musica Vaclovas Augustinas and Romas Skapas Vilnius  Lithuania
1994 6 Toulouse The Mats Nilsson Vocal Ensemble Mats Nilsson Stockholm  Sweden
1995 7 Arezzo Kallos Choir Fumiaki Kuriyama Tokyo  Japan
1996 8 Debrecen Pro Musica Leánykar Dénes Szabó Nyíregyháza  Hungary
1997 9 Tours Philippine Madrigal Singers Andrea Veneracion Quezon City  Philippines
1998 10 Gorizia University of Mississippi Concert Singers Jerry Jordan Oxford, MS  United States
1999 11 Varna Lunds Vocal Ensemble Ingemar Månsson Lund  Sweden
2000 12 Toulouse Vesna Children Choir[lower-alpha 1] Alexander Ponomariov Moscow  Russia
2001 13 Debrecen Magnificat Children's and Youth Choir Valéria Szebellédi Budapest  Hungary
2002 14 Arezzo A.P.Z. Tone Tomsic Stojan Kuret Ljubljana  Slovenia
2003 15 Tours Kamerinis choras Brevis Gintautas Venislovas Vilnius  Lithuania
2004 16 Gorizia Youth Choir "Kamer..." Māris Sirmais Riga  Latvia
2005 17 Varna Allmänna Sången Cecilia Rydinger Alin Uppsala  Sweden
2006 18 Toulouse University of Utah Singers Brady Allred Salt Lake City  United States
2007 19 Arezzo Philippine Madrigal Singers Mark Anthony Carpio Quezon City  Philippines
2008 20 Debrecen A.P.Z. Tone Tomsic Urša Lah Ljubljana  Slovenia
2009 21 Tours Coro Universitario de Mendoza Silvana Vallesi Mendoza  Argentina
2010 22 Varna Vokalna akademija Ljubljana Stojan Kuret Ljubljana  Slovenia
2011 23 Toulouse The Swedish Chamber Choir Simon Phipps Gothenburg  Sweden
2012 24 Maribor Sofia Vokalensemble Bengt Ollén Stockholm  Sweden
2013 25 Arezzo Youth Choir "Kamer..." Jānis Liepiņš Riga  Latvia
2014 26 Debrecen S:t Jacobs Ungdomskör Mikael Wedar Stockholm  Sweden
2015 27 Tours University of Utah Chamber Choir[lower-alpha 2] Barlow Bradford Salt Lake City  United States
2016 28 Varna UT Insieme Vocale Consonante Lorenzo Donati Santa Firmina  Italy
2017 29 Toulouse Vesna Children Choir[lower-alpha 3] Nadezhda Averina Moscow  Russia
2018 30 Maribor The Resonanz Children Choir Avip Priatna Jakarta  Indonesia
2019 31 Arezzo Youth Choir "Kamer..." Aivis Greters Riga  Latvia
Total 30 laureates (none in 1990)

Laureates per country
Laureates of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing per country
Country Laureates Notes
 Sweden 7 wins Four choirs from Stockholm
 Lithuania 3 wins All from Vilnius
 Slovenia 3 wins All from Ljubljana; APZ Tone Tomšič winning twice
 United States 3 wins University of Utah Chamber Choir (renamed from University of Utah Singers) winning twice
 Latvia 3 wins Jauniesu koris "Kamer..." winning thrice – 1st choir to win three times
 Russia 2 wins Vesna Children's Choir winning twice
 Hungary 2 wins
 Philippines 2 wins Philippine Madrigal Singers winning twice - 1st choir to win twice
 Argentina 1 win
 Denmark 1 win
 Japan 1 win
 Italy 1 win
 Indonesia 1 win
Total 30 wins

Laureates per continent
Laureates of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing per continent
Continent Laureates
Europe 22 wins
Asia 4 wins
North America 3 wins
South America 1 win
Total 30 wins

References
  1. Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine List of winners at the 2007 Arezzo competition, including the GPE
  2. Archived 2007-10-11 at the Wayback Machine "Madrigal Singers win European Grand Prix for the second time". The Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 27, 2007.
  3. List of winners at the 2008 EGP. Archived 2008-03-19 at the Wayback Machine From the official EGP website
  4. Latvian Institute News page
  5. Archived 2006-10-13 at the Wayback Machine List of winners at the 2006 Florilege de Tours, from the official Florilege website.
  6. Archived 2007-09-27 at the Wayback Machine. News article in Spanish
  7. Archived 2007-03-13 at the Wayback Machine List of GPE Winners, from Florilege Vocal de Tours official website.
  8. Archived 2006-05-09 at the Wayback Machine List of GPE Winners, from GPE official website.
  9. Archived 2011-09-05 at the Wayback Machine List of GPE Winners, from Concurso Tolosa official website.

Notes
  1. Link to Classical archives; not an official web site for the Vesna Children Choir
  2. Renamed from the University of Utah Singers
  3. Link to Classical archives; not an official web site for the Vesna Children Choir

European Grand Prix for Choral Singing - GPE Official home page

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