BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SINGERS, WINNER OF AEGIS CARMINIS GRAND PRIX

'' This time, for us, all the participants are winners. They overcame fear and despair and each contributed to the revival of choral activity, which was forced into silence during the pandemic. We were honored and happy that so many choirs from different parts of the world responded to our invitation and together co-created an eminent choral event. '' (Ambrož Čopi, artistic director of IYCF Aegis

GRAND PRIX

AEGIS CARMINIS 2021

BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SINGERS (USA)

Conductor Andrew Crane

Jake Runestad: (1986*) LET MY LOVE BE HEARD (Alfred Noyes)

 Video concept by: Eldon Griffin

Video editing by: Philip Klocke

Seventeen choirs (one participated in A and B) from eight countries (America, Taiwan, Indonesia, Ukraine, Russia, Bulgaria, Italy and Slovenia) took part in the competition. The competition was held in four categories, which were divided into subcategories (live recordings and virtual choirs). Choirs were able to perform exclusively with compositions by composers from their countries written in the 20th and 21st centuries. With this, the organizer wanted to encourage the performance of composers from different parts of the world and present the diversity and richness of musical expression. Special attention was drawn to the new compositions created in the last three years. Some experienced an online premiere at the festival.

The eminent international jury of renowned choral experts composed of Gary Graden (Sweden), jury president and jury members Petra Grassi (Italy - Slovenia), Marco Antonio Garcia de Paz (Spain), Naomi Faran (Israel) and Stojan Kuret (Italy - Slovenia) is evaluated the received videos according to the quality of the performance of the song, the thoughtfulness of the concept and the innovativeness of the video production.

 

As many as seven choirs under the age of 27 applied for category A. The length of the recording sent to the competition should not exceed six minutes, the performance had to be a capella and at least four voices. The jury rated the highest in the sub-category "live performance" three choirs and awarded the 1st prize to the American choir Brigham Young University Singers under the direction of Andrew Crane. With its video and performance, the choir was also awarded by the AEGIS CARMINIS GRAND PRIZE, as the highest rated choir of the competition and a cash prize of 700 euros. The 2nd prize was awarded to the Ukrainian choir  Onma Student Choir named after A. V. Nezhdanov under the direction of Halyna Shpak, and the 3rd prize went to the Fortissimo Vocal Group from Bulgaria under the direction of Milena Dobreva. Two choirs participated in the subcategory "virtual choirs", the Ukrainian choir Oriana Youth Female Choir led by Halyna Shpak, which received a special award for the best performance of NEW WORK, written after March 2018, worth 200 euros and the Indonesian Talkom University Choir led Aldo Randy Ginting, who was particularly impressed with the production of the video for which they received special award (Ryan Kurnia Pratma, video production). The jury awarded the 2nd prize to both, with the same number of points.

Unfortunately, only one participant applied for category B - high school choirs up to 19 years of age. The length of the recording sent to the competition should not exceed six minutes, the performance had to be a capella and at least three-part. The Slovenian representative was awarded the 1st prize by the Girl's Choir of the Celje - Center Gymnasium under the leadership of David Preložnik, who despite the pandemic managed to record a virtual video and present a new adaptation of I travel the young composer Leon Firšt.

In category C - choirs up to 15 years of age, five choirs applied. The recording could last up to four minutes and the composition could be performed by the choirs a cappella or with melodic instrumental accompaniment, if provided in the original of the selected composition, but it had to be at least two-part. In the subcategory "live performance", the children's choir Vocal formation "Morski pasachinki" led by Milena Dobreva, who was awarded the 1st prize and a special award for the performance of composition written in the period 1991-February 2018, impressed the jury the most with folklore medely written by Atanas Iliev and Milena Dobreva. The 2nd prize went to the Russian children's choir "Ryabinka" led by Tatiana Popel´ for the song The spell of the winter by Alexander Grechaninov they recived special award for performance of composition written in the period 1900-1945. In the subcategory "virtual choirs", the Slovenian Childrens Choir of the France Bevk Elementary School from Tolmin, led by Barbara Kovačič, impressed the jury with its performance and concept. The jury awarded him the 1st prize and a special award for the most original concept of the video presentation of the song, prepared by Tereza Gregorič and the award for the best Slovenian choir at the competition.

Three choirs from abroad applied for the special D category - the award of the Astrum Music Publishing House, which was prepared by the organizer in cooperation with the Astum Music Publishing House with the desire to promote Slovenian music abroad. With the performance of Ave maris stella by young composer Tine Bec, he was most impressed in the subcategory "live performance" Sean's concert choir from Taiwan under the direction of young conductor Sean Yao, who received the 1st prize and music literature worth 100 euros from Astrum. The 3rd prize went to the Perezvony School of Art M. Glinka Children's Choir under the direction of Larisa Yarutskaya, and in the "virtual choirs" subcategory to the Girls' Vocal Group Vesela pomlad from Italy under the direction of Meta Praček.

The organizer presented the received recordings at an online concert on May 14, 2021. You can watch the recording at this LINK

AWARDS: DOWNLOAD PDF

rezultatiresults-zborichoirs-aegis-carminis-2021_1.pdf

CATEGORY A1 – Choirs up to 27 years (LIVE PERFORMANCE)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Country	Points
1.	BRIGHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY SINGERS  Conductor: Andrew Crane	USA	91,0           I.
2.	STUDENT CHOIR  ONMA NAMED A.V. NEZHDANOVA      Conductor: Halyna Shpak	Ukraine	85,0           II.
3.	VOCAL ENSEMBLE “FORTISSIMO”  Conductor: Milena Dobreva	Bulgaria	83,3            III.
4.	SEAN’S CONCERT CHOIR   Conductor: Sean Yao	Taiwan	82,3
5.	CHORUS „DIVIN” CITY SAMARA  Conductor:  Grinina Natalya Alexandrovna	Russia	82,0
6.	ACADEMIC CHOIR  OF THE SIBERIAN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY   Conductor: Dmitry Zadnepryanov	Russia	82,0
7.	ROGANOVA YOUTH CAPELLA “HARMONY”  Conductor: Eugene Ivanov	Russia	79,3

CATEGORY A2 – Choirs aged up to 27 years  (VIRTUAL CHOIRS)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Country	Points
1.	ORIANA YOUTH FEMALE CHOIR   Conductor: Halyna Shpak	Ukraine	86,7           II.
2.	TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR  Conductor: Aldo Randy Ginting	Indonesia	86,7          II.

  

CATEGORY B2 – Youth choirs aged up to 19 years (VIRTUAL CHOIRS)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Country	Points
1.	DEKLIŠKI PEVSKI ZBOR GIMNAZIJE CELJE – CENTER  Conductor: David Preložnik	Slovenia	90             I.

 

CATEGORY C1 – Childrens choirs aged up to 15 years (LIVE PERFORMANCE)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Country	Points
1.	VOCAL FORMATION “MORSKI PESACHINKI”   Conductor: Milena Dobreva	Bulgaria	90,0           I.
2.	CHILDRENS CHOIR ‘’RYABINKA’’  Conductor: Tatiana Popel´	Russia	86,7          II.
3.	CHILDRENS CHOIR ‘’VESELIE GOLOSA’’   Conductor: Natalia Mazko	Russia	78,7
4.	CHILDRENS CHOIR ‘’ANIMA’’  Conductor: Irina Brusova	Russia	78,3

 

 

CATEGORY C2 – Childrens choirs aged up to 15 years (VIRTUAL CHOIR)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Country	Points
1.	MLADINSKI PEVSKI ZBOR OŠ FRANCETA BEVKA TOLMIN   Conductor: Barbara Kovačič	Slovenia	90,3          I.

 

 

 

CATEGORY D1 – ASTRUM Music Publishing AWARD  (LIVE PERFORMANCE)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Država	Points
1.	SEAN’S CONCERT CHOIR  Conductor: Sean Yao	Taiwan	90,0           I.
2.	CHILDRENS CHOIR PEREZVONY SCHOOL OF ART M. GLINKA      Conductor: Larisa Yarutskaya	Russia	82,0          III.

 

CATEGORY D2 – ASTRUM Music Publishing AWARD  (VIRTUAL CHOIRS)
NAME OF THE CHOIR Conductor		Država	Points
1.	DEKLIŠKA PEVSKA SKUPINA  VESELA POMLAD   Conductor: Meta Praček	Italia	82,0         III.

 

 

 

SPECIAL PRIZES     A special award to the choir for the best performance of a piece composed in 1900–1945:   CHILDRENS CHOIR ‘’RYABINKA’’ (Russia) Conductor: Tatiana Popel´ Alexander Grechaninov: THE SPELL OF WINTER (Maria Pozharova)   A special award to the choir for the best performance of a piece composed in 1946–1990:   VOCAL FORMATION “MORSKI PESACHINKI”, (Bulgaria) Conductor: Milena Dobreva Atanas Iliev / Milena Dobreva: BULGARIAN FOLKLORE MEDLEY – YA IZGREY, SLYNCE & BRE, PETRUNKO    A special award to the choir for the best performance of a piece composed after March 2019 (new work), 200€:   ORIANA YOUTH FEMALE CHOIR (Ukraine) Conductor: Halyna Shpak Hanna Kopiika (1983*): LIFE IS LIKE A RAILWAY STATION (Lina Kostenko) - 2020       A a special award for the most original concept of video presentation of the composition:   Video concept: TEREZA GREGORIČ     MLADINSKI PEVSKI ZBOR OŠ FRANCETA BEVKA TOLMIN (Slovenia) Conductor: Barbara Kovačič Anej Černe: VEČERNA PRAVLJICA (Gregor Strniša)   A special award for the most original video production:   Video production: RYAN KURNIA PRATAMA    TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR (Indonesia) Conductor: Aldo Randy Ginting Ken Steven (1993*): DIES IRAE       A special award to the best Slovenian choir:    MLADINSKI PEVSKI ZBOR OŠ FRANCETA BEVKA TOLMIN (Slovenija) Conductor: Barbara Kovačič

 

ASTRUM Music Publishing AWARD  Scores in the value of 100 € to a foreign choir for the best performance of a composition by a Slovenian composer   SEAN’S CONCERT CHOIR (Tajvan) Conductor: Sean Yao  for performing composition Tine Bec (1993*): AVE MARIS STELLA (Vespers hymn in Latin) Astrum

 

TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE AWARD

An online voting for the Audience Award took place from 25 to 31 May. Indonesian Telkom University Choir received the most likes for its virtual video in which it featured the song DIES IRAE by composer Ken Steven and became the winner.

TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR WINNER OF THE AUDIENCE AWARD

 

An online voting for the Audience Award took place from 25 to 31 May. Indonesian Telkom University Choir received the most likes for its virtual video in which it featured the song DIES IRAE by composer Ken Steven and became the winner. He was followed by the Girls 'Choir of Gimnazija Celje - center from Slovenia, the Girls' Choir Vesela pomlad from Italy and Oriana youth female choir from Ukraine.  

We thank all the participants once again for their participation and congratulations on the successful presentations.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE WINNER OF TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR FOR THE AUDIENCE AWARD!TELKOM UNIVERSITY CHOIR (Indonesia)

Conductor: Aldo Randy Ginting

 

Ken Steven (1993*)

DIES IRAE A Medieval Latin Poem (latinsko besedilo) - 2014

Ken Steven

 

Video concept: Telkom University Choir 

Video editing by: Ryan Kurnia Pratama

 

 Short Presentation of the Video Concept :

The concept of this video is a depiction of the Day of Wrath, in which there are shocks in the video and elements of fire, and ashes. In this video there is also The grim reaper on the part as a judge on the day of judgment as conveyed in the sentence "Quando Judex est venturus" (when the judge).

Regarding color, this video broadly highlights the color Purple which means majesty and repentance from sin as depicted in the purple fire element at the beginning of the song, the singer costumes, and the purple light in the Pie Jesu part, where this section tells about asking for God's help and forgiveness of sins. This video is also supported by supporting colors such as red which symbolizes fire, gold as a symbol of majesty and holiness, and black as a symbol of darkness. On the last part of the video, it gets more intense and peaks until the end of the song there is an explosion and turns into ashes as conveyed in the sentence Solvet sæclum in favilla which means the world will dissolve in ashes.

 

Short Biography :

 Telkom University Choir (TUC) formed in February 21st 2014. Under the direction of the coach team Aldo Randy Ginting and Vina Lusiani, TUC regularly holds concerts and participates in choir competitions both in Indonesia such as Bandung, Jakarta, Semarang, Malang and abroad such as Thailand (2016), Austria (2018), Poland (2018), Taiwan (2019). 

TUC succeeded in making history as the first choir in Indonesia and Southeast Asia to compete at the World Choral Championship. TUC won Grand Prix Champion di Taipei International Choral Competition 2019 and will compete in World Choral Championship – Rimini, Italy.

A sincere thank you to all those who in any way contributed to the realization of the International (virtual) choral competition Aegis carminis 2021. The biggest thanks go to all the participating choirs who prepared an exceptional concert for us. 

We would also like to thank the international jury, which, with its professional approach and understanding of the current situation, was able to listen to the performances, get excited about them and evaluate them. 

We thank all the sponsors and supporters of the festival:

General sponsor:

 

Sponsor:

Supporters and co-organizers: 

Special thanks go also to the dedicated team of the Aegis carminis festival, who knew how to adapt and design an online event with all dedication, especially to our technician Martin Šiškovič, who prepared and designed the online concert.