Shaoxing Sings World Harmony
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July 16th, 2010 witnessed the grand opening of the Sixth world Choir Games in shaoxing. The ceremony was held at the International Conference and Exhibition Center of China Textile City at Keqiao, Shaoxing. A city of history and culture in eastern China’s coastal Zhejiang, Shaoxing had just celebrated its 2,500 anniversary the day before.
The World Choir Games is a major international cultural event organized and promoted by Interkulture, a foundation based in Germany. The event is crowned as "The Olympics" ofchoirs. Since its inauguration in Austria in 2000, the international festival has been held every two years and has become the most dynamic and influential choir event around the world.
This 11-day-long 6th World Choir Games attracted 472 choirs from 83 countries and regions. Altogether there were 25,000 singers. Never before has any prefecture-level city in China held such a world-level large-scale art event.
A 2,500-year-old city noted for its culture and history, Shaoxing is considered a museum without walls. It needs books to relate the ancient city’s long history, culture and celebrities. Musically, the city goes a long way back to history. Over the past decades, the city has become home to a number of good choirs. In July 2008, a choir from Shaoxing University grabbed a gold medal at the 5th World Choir Games in Vienna, adding a new chapter to the long history of the musical city.
Seventeen choirs from Shaoxing participated in the singing games. In order to improve their performances and winning chances, Professor Yang Hongnian, an authority on chorus singing in China, had been invited to coach the teams for months. Also invited to coach the local choirs was Professor He Zhanhao, the co-composer of “Butterfly Romance”, China’s first ever violin concerto. These groups rehearsed for months. And in April, a Belgium band was invited to Shaoxing to stage a concert in partnership with local choirs. Before the games opened, the local choirs had attended various shows to fine-tune their choral singing.
Zhejiang Song and Dance Ensemble also sent its choirs to participate in competition. The ensemble had had a choir ofsingers for 14 years. In order to better present itself at the games, the ensemble reorganized its choir into several groups to take part in competition in different categories. Their competing songs were national and regional: Qiantang River (the mother river of the province), Three Variations on Yangguan Fortress (a famous ancient farewell melody), Flowers at Moonlit Night on Spring River (an ancient poem), and Li Yousong, a folk ballad from southern Zhejiang.
Zhejiang might have the largest number of domestic participating choirs at the Games whereas Russia boasted the largest number of foreign participating choirs. Altogether 31 Russian choirs joined the Games.
Also present at the Games were choirs of Chinese ethnic singers from Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, Sichuan and Guangxi. Some of these choirs sang in unique ethnic ways.
The competition lasted from 16th to 26th July and comprised two sections. The first section ran from July 16th to 19th. The first section saw altogether 13,935 singers in 302 choirs competing in ten categories such as children, gospel, modern, and ballad. Competition in the second phase was divided in 12 categories. The competition was held respectively at Shaoxing Grand Theater, Shaoxing Theater, Shaoxing Opera Art Center, Shaoxing Academy of Performing Arts, Shaoxing University, and Shaoxing County Culture Center.
Altogether there were about 500 competitions, 100 friendly shows and lectures. It is widely agreed that the 6th World Choir Games was the largest and best games since its inception in 2000.
From 16 to 26 July, 13 choirs from China, Estonia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the United States, the Netherlands, and Hong Kong won gold medals.
On the evening of July 26, the curtain fell on the Sixth World Choir Games. At the closing ceremony the gold-medal winners at the games all performed. The next World Choir Games will be held in Cincinnati, USA. Artists from Cincinnati performed at the closing ceremony. At the closing moment, the choirs and an audience of 8,000 chanted “We Are the World” together to celebrate the complete success of the choir gala.