CEBU, Philippines - The 29 pupils of Saint Benedict Childhood Education Center will represent the Philippines in the 6th World Choir Games in Shao Xing China to compete with 50 other countries all over the world this coming July 15-26.
Composed of Grade 3 to grade 5 pupils, the children were directed and choreographed by Dennis Sugarol of the Mandaue Choir and Shirlyn Merallo for about two months as their preparation for the competition, which will be categorized into three.
Having been in existence for just almost two years, the Saint Benedict Childhood Education Center choir will be joining the children’s category. They will be singing 12 original songs from Cebu, Mindanao, and other local dialects and other songs in foreign language like French. Socorro Codilla, directress registrar of the said school, said that it is the first time for their school choir to join an international competition and it has not even joined any local competition here in Cebu.
On July 2, the school-based children’s choir successfully held a send off concert at the St. Theresa’s College auditorium.
Last year, during the 5th World Choir Games, the country was represented by the 20-voice Las Piñas Boys Choir (LPBC) which won the gold medal and was declared as the “world champions” in the children’s category held in Graz, Austria. LPBC is a well-known group in the Philippines and in international youth choir contests. (FREEMAN NEWS)