Imusicapella from the Philippines won the grand prize in the 57th Concorso Internazionale di Canto Corale Seghizzi 2018 in Gorizia, Italy.
The church choir from Cavite also won first prize in the historic polyphonic, 20th century polyphonic and pop and jazz categories.
The choir also ran away with the Public (Audience) Prize (“Andrea Giorgi”). Conductor Tristan Caliston Ignacio got the best conductor prize.
Ignacio said Imusicapella sang prize-winning composer Nilo Alcala’s “Dayo Dayo Kupita” for the historic polyphonic division and his arrangement of John Lennon’s “Imagine” in the pop category.
Imusicapella is a choir at Our Lady of the Pillar Parish Church in Imus, Cavite.
Morricone
In another development, the UST Singers sang “Laudate Dominum,” composed by its conductor Fidel Calalang, and won second prize in the 5th Morricone International Choral Composition Competition in Florence, Italy.
First prize went to Alexandre Jamar de Bolsee (Belgium) and third prize to Elizabeth Ekholm (Canada).
The one-man jury was Ennio Morricone, 89, one of the most influential living composers and arguably the most successful film scorer ever. His music for Sergio Leone’s “Spaghetti Westerns” starring Clint Eastwood is one of the most familiar tunes in cinema and pop culture, and he finally won the Oscar best original scoring award after five previous nominations for Quentin Tarantino’s “The Hateful Eight” in 2016.
Meanwhile, pianist Gabriel Paguirigan and flutist John Castro won first prize in the First International Chamber Music Festival in Thailand.—CONTRIBUTED
