European Grand Prix for Choral Singing

The European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (in French, Grand Prix European de Chant Choral, commonly abbreviated as European Choral Grand Prix or GPE) is an annual choral competition between the winners of six European choral competitions. It was inaugurated in 1989.

Despite its name, the GPE is not limited to European choirs; this is because choirs from any country can join the choral competitions in any of the GPE's member-cities. As of 2007, one choir from Japan and two choirs from the United States have won the GPE, while a choir from the Philippines has won the GPE twice. In addition, the contest is not limited to adult choirs; two of the grand prize-winning choirs are children's choirs.

As of 2008, two choirs have won the EGP twice: the Philippine Madrigal Singers [http://www.polifonico.org/index.php/polifonico_ita_it/notizie/primo_piano/polifonico_2007_dedicato_a_giovanni_maria_nanino] List of winners at the 2007 Arezzo competition, including the GPE] [http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/breakingnews/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=85002] "Madrigal Singers win European Grand Prix for the second time". The Philippine Daily Inquirer, August 27, 2007.] (1997 and 2007) and A.P.Z. Tone Tomšič (2002 and 2008). [http://www.gpeuropa.com/gpe/gpe2008/gpe2008.htm List of winners at the 2008 EGP.] From the official EGP website]

Organizing committee and member cities

The GPE is organized by the organizing committees of the following choral competitions, from which the GPE contenders are selected:

:# Concorso Polifónico Guido d'Arezzo ("International Guido d'Arezzo Polyphonic Contest") - Arezzo, Province of Arezzo, Italy:# Bela Bartok International Choir Competition - Debrecen, Hajdú-Bihar county, Hungary:# Concorso «Cesare Augusto (C.A.) Seghizzi» ("C.A. Seghizzi Competition") - Gorizia, Province of Gorizia, Italy (also known as the Seghizzi contest):# Concurso Coral de Tolosa ("Tolosa Choral Competition") - Tolosa, Basque Country, Spain:# Florilège Vocal de Tours ("Tours Vocal Competition") - Tours, Indre-et-Loire, France:# International May Choir Competition «Prof. G. Dimitrov» - Varna, Varna Province, Bulgaria

Each individual contest is usually referred to by the name of its host city instead of the competition's official title. The grand prize winners of each contest are automatically eligible to compete at the GPE.

The hosting of each annual GPE competition is rotated among the six member cities. In 2007, the City of Arezzo hosted the GPE; the next installment of the GPE will be held in Debrecen [http://www.gpeuropa.com/information.htm] Retrieved on 2007 August 27]

Regulations

Eligibility

As mentioned earlier, the contest is open only to the grand prize winners of the six member European choral competitions in the previous year. In other words, if a choir wins the grand prize in any of the six cities' choral contests, it is eligible for then next year's GPE. Consequently, this also means that, unlike other choral competitions, the GPE does not solicit participants to the contest; no choir may directly apply or audition in order to join the GPE. If an eligible choir backs out, a substitute choir may take its place; as a penalty, any choir that backs out will not be eligible to compete in any of the six qualifying contests for the next year.

No choir may win the grand prize in more than one qualifying competition in a single year. For example, if a choir is named the grand prize winner in Arezzo, it is automatically disqualified to compete in the contests from the five remaining cities for the rest of the year.

There are no specific regulations prohibiting a former finalist (or even a former laureate) from competing in (or even winning again) the GPE more than once. The Philippine Madrigal Singers (laureate of the 1997 GPE) have won the 2006 "Florilège Vocal de Tours" [http://www.florilegevocal.com/palmares.php?lang=en&year=2006] List of winners at the 2006 Florilege de Tours, from the official Florilege website.] , going on to win the Grand Prize in 2007 in Arezzo, Italy. In the same competition, the Madrigal Singers competed with the Vesna Children's Choir (laureate of the 2000 GPE), who won the grand prize of the 2006 Tolosa competition [http://www.euskosare.org/kultura/certamen_tolosa_ganador_06-es] . News article in Spanish] .

Repertoire and choir membership

Each competing choir is required to sing in the same group/category as they performed in respective competitions. Choirs are encouraged to perform songs from various era and composers. Songs with accompaniment (by any instrument) are allowed as long as the total length of accompanied songs does not exceed ten (10) minutes. The host city determines the total maximum performance time allowed to each finalist.

Each competing choir is also required to have the same number of singers it had from the qualifying competition, plus or minus ten percent (10%) of that number. The total number of singers per choir may be a minimum of 12 singers and a maximum of 60 singers regardless of the number of voice sections or groups; this is because the eligibility requirements vary for each of the six qualifying competitions. Because of this, it is possible for mixed-voice choirs to compete directly against all-male and all-female choirs; it is also possible for children's choirs to compete against adult choirs (and even win, as in 2000 and 2001).

The grand prize winner

The GPE grand prize winner, or laureate, is awarded a diploma, a trophy and additional prizes to be determined by the host city, including a cash prize of up to 4,000 Euros (usually awarded).

The GPE winner is not allowed to compete in any international choral competition, member of the European Grand Prix Association, for two years.

List of Winners

The following are the list of grand prize winners for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. [http://www.florilegevocal.com/gpe.php?lang=en&page=2] List of GPE Winners, from Florilege Vocal de Tours official website.] [http://www.gpeuropa.com/text/palmares.html] List of GPE Winners, from GPE official website.] [http://cittolosa.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=51&Itemid=121] List of GPE Winners, from Concurso Toloda official website.]

Here are the tally of winners by country as of 2008::*SWE produced the most number of laureates at four (4) choirs.:*LTU has three (3) laureates, all from Vilnius).:*HUN, USA each have two (2) choirs winning the grand prize.:*PHL and SVN have one choir winning twice Philippine Madrigal Singers and A.P.Z. Tone Tomšič:*DNK, JPN, LAT and RUS each have one choir emerging as the GPE laureate.

References

External links

* [http://www.gpeuropa.com/ European Grand Prix for Choral Singing] - GPE Official home page
* Official web sites for each member-city:
** [http://www.polifonico.org Arezzo]
** [http://www.bbcc.hu Debrecen]
** [http://www.seghizzi.it Gorizia (Seghizzi)]
** [http://www.cittolosa.com Tolosa]
** [http://www.florilegevocal.com Tours]
** [http://www.choircomp.org/ Varna]
* Laureates of the GPE (Official websites, except where noted; arranged by year)
** [http://www.jaunamuzika.lt/ Jauna Musica] (1993)
** [http://www.philippinemadrigalsingers.com/ Philippine Madrigal Singers] (1997 and 2007)
** [http://www.lundsvokalensemble.org/thechoir.php?lang=en Lunds Vocal Ensemble] (1998)
** [http://www.concertsingers.com/ University of Mississippi Concert Singers] (1998)
** [http://www.classicalarchives.com/artists/vesna.html Vesna Children Choir] (2000) - information page from another website, not an official web site
** [http://www.apz-tt.si/news.php A.P.Z. Tone Tomsic] (2002 and 2008)
** [http://www.uofusingers.org/ The University of Utah Singers] (2006)