A $10,000 prize is up for grabs in the inaugural International Christian Choir Competition.
Choirs around Australia – and worldwide - are being invited to enter the inaugural ‘International Christian Choir Competition’, an online event being run by Excelsia College in Sydney.
The competition aims to give a platform to choirs at all levels and styles of singing, from acapella to gospel to church worship, celebrating the tradition of singing in harmony.
Participants will have the opportunity to showcase their talents before a panel of judges, including international composer, Excelsia Ambassador and William Byrd Fellow, Antony Pitts.
Antony said the competition was open to any choir, as long as the songs they enter are based around Christian texts. The musical style can range from classical to contemporary.
“We want to encourage choirs who sing Christian music around the world and particularly in Australia, to get together and to show what they can do,” Antony said.
“Excelsia being a Christian college, we’ve got this label of being Christian on the competition, which is quite a bold label. There are lots of choir competitions around the world but I’m not aware of one specifically tagged as Christian.
“It’s really a recognition that so much of the very best music from around the world is actually Christian in origin – whether that’s a hundred years old or contemporary.”
Antony explained that there is a lot of “very good choral singing” going on at many levels, including community, church, school and university.
“A lot of choirs are very secular in themselves but still end up singing music that is Christian in origin,” he said. “So this competition might provoke a bit of discussion [in the choirs] about what do those Christian works mean.”
The competition carries a generous first prize of $10,000, and there is also a community prize for choirs based in NSW, to encourage entries that are more local to Excelsia College.
Entries close on June 1st, with choirs required to prepare a video of Antony Pitts’ choral arrangement of the famous hymn text, ‘There is a Green Hill Far Away’, along with a video of their best performance of a Christian song or piece of music with a Christian text - in any language.
The chosen finalists will then need to prepare another 16-to-20-minute performance video by July 6th , comprising four pieces of music chosen according to a set of repertoire guidelines.
The judging panel will judge these video entries on July 13, as part of the Grand Final event online.
For full details head to the competition website.
Feature image: The Excelsia Choir