Mansfield University Concert Choir wins three Golds!

The Mansfield University Concert Choir returned Monday evening victorious from the World Choir Games in Cincinnati, Ohio!   They won three Gold Medals, the only American choir to achieve this record thus far in the 2012 Games.

 

On Friday, they were awarded a Gold Medal in the Folklore category, placing fourth among 25 choirs and ranking just behind the top choir from Venezuela and two choirs from China.  On Saturday, the MU Choir placed second among 12 choirs from around the world in the Mixed Youth Choir category, just behind the champion from China. In the Musica Sacra division, the Concert Choir was among only 12 of 28 choirs competing in this category to achieve the ranking of Gold!    

 

In addition, the 2012 Concert Choir gave their performance of a lifetime in the Corbett Theatre of the School for Creative and Performing Arts as a part of the World Choir Games special events. This completely sold-out concert, entitled “Voices of Gold” also featured choirs from the Czech Republic and China.  The enthusiastic audience gave the Concert Choir three separate spontaneous standing ovations!  

 

Peggy Dettwiler, director, said the competition was particularly intense this year with the judges awarding more Bronze and Silver rankings than ever before.   In order to receive a Gold Medal in a championship round, a choir must achieve at least 80 of 100 points accumulated from seven judges on an international jury.

 

362 choirs from 64 countries are participating in 2012 Games.  60 of those choirs come from China and 167 from the USA.  In the 10 categories completed thus far in Part I, choirs from China won four of the championships, a choir from South Africa won two, a choir from the Netherlands also won two, and one choir each from Venezuela and Switzerland won one championship.  As in the Olympic Games, the national anthem is sung for the champion of each category. To date, the Star Spangled Banner has yet to be sung for an American champion.  Part II of the Games began on Tuesday and will end on Saturday, July 14.