Cebuano choral groups win big at 1st Asian Choir Games in Jakarta

Two Cebuano choral groups won big at the first ever Asian Choir Games—also dubbed as the Asia-Pacific Olympics for Amateur Choirs—held from November 2 – 10, 2007 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In a text update received by The FREEMAN Entertainment Saturday afternoon, the Cebu Chamber Singers, the only year-old mixed singing group composed of professionals, students and different church choir members, scored two golds in the gospel singing category and mixed choir category.

The Garbo sa Sugbo awardee, Mandaue School for the Arts’ Children’s Choir, on the other hand, collected three golds, after competing in the children’s choir, folklore and music of the religions categories.

The Asian Choir Games is the first international competition for both groups. They will be arriving from Jakarta tomorrow, 11:00 in the morning. Both Cebu Chamber Singers and Mandaue Children’s Choir are conducted by award-winning homegrown composer-musician Dennis Sugarol.

Asian Choir Games was organized by Musica Mundi, the same group behind the World Choir Games.

This latest triumph comes on the heels of the recent victory of the college-based choir UV Chorale at the Busan Choral Festival and Competition earlier this November, wherein they won the Silver (Ethnic/Folk category) and Bronze (Classical category) along with the ranking “Internationally Very Good” among 36 choral ensembles from all over the world.