For the first time in the club’s 12-year history, the SMU Chamber Choir was invited to the Grand Prix of a choral competition.

SMU Chamber Choir took part in the 2^nd Salzburg International Celebration and Choral Competition, held from 19 to 24 June 2019 at the Mozarteum, in Salzburg, Austria. They attained two Gold Diplomas, one for each of the categories they took part in – Open Mixed (B1) and Musica Sacra. They topped the former and were awarded Category Winner, qualifying them for the Grand Prix. The Grand Prix is a final competition, reserved for category winners who achieve a high-enough score, as deemed worthy by a jury panel. Other Grand Prix finalists included choirs from Norway, Philippines, Czech Republic, South Africa and Iceland. The event saw a total of 19 choirs, comprising a good mix of community, school and church choirs.

SMU Chamber Choir’s competition repertoire was curated by its Conductor, Kenny Khoo, to help showcase the flexibility of the group in delivering different genre and types of music. One of the pieces SMU Chamber Choir performed was a Mandarin song, Yao Lan Qu (trans. Lullaby), composed by Singaporean, Zechariah Goh.

“Yao Lan Qu was programmed in our competition repertoire as I wanted to bring a piece composed by a Singaporean composer, to share music from our country on an international platform so that others can better understand our songs and culture”, shared Kenny, an SMU Lee Kong Chian School of Business (LKCSB) alumnus from the class of 2010, who helped to form SMU Chamber Choir.

The team representing the SMU Chamber Choir was made up of 21 SMU undergraduates and alumni. It was led by Club President, Timothy Lim.

“I had an enriching experience as I got to learn about different cultures and ways of singing through interacting with other choirs. It was truly heartening seeing SMU Chamber Choir grow musically and I have a newfound appreciation of choral music,” shared Timothy, a year 2 LKCSB student.

Of the SMU alumni who took part, a handful have gone on to further their choral music pursuits with Singapore’s oldest community choir, the SYC Ensemble Singers. The alumni were instrumental in guiding and preparing the students for the competition over a two-month period.

“Our goal of reaching the Grand Prix was achieved because of the individual and collective hard work of each of us, and I feel immensely proud standing on the world stage with my SMU Chamber Choir family,” remarked Kingsley Lai, a SMU LKCSB alumnus from the class of 2018.

Back in Singapore, the SMU Chamber Choir will feature next at the SMU Arts Festival Opening on 6 September 2019. They will be performing alongside a senior citizens choir from the Central Singapore Community Development Council.

[Featured Photo: The SMU Chamber Choir with SMU Alumnus Kenny Khoo]