The first-ever Asia Choral Grand Prix will be launched by the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) on July 21, 6 p.m. at the close of the Andrea O. Veneracion International Choral Festival, which will be held on July 18-21.

The event is patterned after the European Choral Grand Prix, which the Philippine Madrigal Singers have won twice and which has been held in France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Bulgaria and Slovenia.

In the Asia Choral Grand Prix, the University of the Philippines Los Baños Choral Ensemble of Laguna will square off with not one but five Indonesian choirs: Vocalista Harmonic Choir ISI of Yogyakarta, St. Louis High School Choir of Surabaya, Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Padjadjaran of Bandung, Brawijaya University Student Choir of Malang and E Deum Voice of Medan.

The six competing choirs are all past winners of the Veneracion choral festival at the CCP, which is held every two years and has two winners for each festival.

Why the slew of Indonesian choirs for this first event?

“Since 2013 there have been Indonesian choirs in our (Veneracion) choral fest,” explained Melissa Mantaring, who is in charge of music programming at the CCP. “They have actively joined us; every two years there has always been at least one Indonesian choir. A Chinese choir from Singapore was one of the winners of a past (Veneracion) choral festival, but they couldn’t make it for the Asia Grand Prix so the other winner—an Indonesian choir—
stepped in.”

For this first event, “there is only one competition and only one winner, and that’s it,” Mantaring said. “The prize money is US$6,000 and trophy. The artwork is designed by Toym Imao.”

There will be a 2nd Asia Choral Grand Prix in Bali, Indonesia, in 2021 and a third such event in Singapore in 2023.

“We are starting something new in the Asian region,” the CCP official said. “This has been initiated by the Philippines.” —CONTRIBUTED