New Dublin Voices – First Irish Choir to Earn Place in European Grand Prix

For the first time, an Irish choir has won a place in the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. On Saturday night, the chamber choir New Dublin Voices and founding conductor Bernie Sherlock took first prize at the Concorso Polifonico in Arezzo, Italy, one of six elite choral competitions which provide the only means of entry to the European Grand Prix. New Dublin Voices will now go on to compete against the other 2013 winners at the Grand Prix which takes place in Debrecen, Hungary, next March. On Friday and Saturday, New Dublin Voices competed against choirs from all over Europe and Asia, taking first in the Vocal Ensemble class whereby it won a place in the grand finale against category-winners from Japan, Spain, and Hungary. Singing music by the Irish composers Michael Holohan and Charles Stanford, and by the Hungarian Zoltán Kodály, New Dublin Voices earned the highest number of first-place votes from the seven-member international jury and won its ticket to the European Grand Prix, the first Irish choir to do so.

 

 

(this site was updated to include the winner of the 2013 European Grand Prix which also took place in Arezzo earlier this week. New Dublin Voices won a place in the 2014 Grand Prix).