Eurovision Choir - Details and resuts

Over the weekend, on Saturday evening the 3rd August 2019 (and early morning for those Eurovision fans in Australia), the Eurovision Choir 2019 took place at the Partille Arena, in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Hosted by British presenter Petroc Trelawy and Swedish presenter Ella Petersson, and organised by Swedish broadcaster SVT and in partnership with Interkultur and Goteborg & Co, this biennial choral competition was combined with the Opening Ceremony of the European Choir Games that take place during the week. The impressive show was a perfect fit for Sweden as hosts this year. Sweden has maintained over 200 years of choral tradition, with over 600,000 Swedish people actively involved in choir singing.

If you haven’t yet watched the Eurovision Choir 2019 you can still watch it online through SVT’s worldwide access online coverage by visiting https://www.svtplay.se/ where it will remain until January 2020. Also check out our previous Q&A article where you can find out everything you need to know about Eurovision Choir.

First Round

Ten countries participated in this years event with Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland making their debut. Each choir group performed in an unaccompanied ensemble of no more than four minutes in a genre of their choice. Let’s look at the countries who participated in the order they performed along with their choir group names, conductors and songs:

• Sweden - Zero8 - Conductor: Rasmus Krigström Songs: “Khourmi", "Hej, dunkom så länge vi levom” (All sung in Swedish)

• Belgium - Almakalia - Conductor: Nicolas Dorian Song: "Made in Belgium-medley“ (English, French)

• Latvia - Babite Municipality Mixed Choir MASKA - Conductor: Jãnis Ozols Song: “Pērkontēvs" (Latvian)

• Germany - BonnVoice - Conductor: Tono Wissing Songs: "O Täler weit”, "Die Gedanken sind frei” (All sung in German)

• Norway - Volve Vokal - Conductor: Gro Espedal Song: “Ønskediktet" (Norwegian)

• Denmark - Vocal Line - Conductor: Jens Johansen Song: “True North” (English)

• Scotland - Alba - Conductor: Joy Dunlop Songs: "Cumha na Cloinne”, "Ach a' Mhairead”, “Alba” (All sung in Scottish Gaelic)

• Slovenia - Jazzva - Conductor/Artistic director: Jasna Žitnik Song: “Spomenčice” (Solvene)

• Switzerland - Cake O’Phonie - Conductor: Antonie Krattinger Songs: "Chante en mon cœur”, "La sera sper il lag”, “Poi”, "Le ranz des vaches”, "La ticinella”, “Beresinaliedet”, "Chanson d’ici" (All sung in French, Italian, German, Romansh and Patois)

• Wales - Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion - Conductor: Islwyn Evans Songs: “Cúlna" (Irish), "Ar Lan y Môr” (Welsh)

Jury and procedure

The professional jury included Katarina Henryson, from Sweden, John Rutter from the UK, a previous judge from the 2017 competition, and Deke Sharon, from the USA. The jury members judged the performances based on four categories: technical skill and accuracy, quality of sound, musicianship and interpretation, and communication. In general terms they also looked at repertoire choices. They had to make the tough choice of selecting only three countries to perform in the second round.

They chose Latvia’s mixed choral group Babite Municipality Mixed Choir MASKA, Denmark’s mixed choral group Vocal Line and Slovenia’s jazz choir group of seven Jazzva.

Second Round

In this final round the three selected choirs chosen by the jury performed a second 3 minute set performance.

• Latvia - Babite Municipality Mixed Choir MASKA - Conductor: Jãnis Ozols Song: “Come, God!” (Latvian)

• Denmark - Vocal Line - Conductor: Jens Johansen Song: “Viola” (Danish)

• Slovenia - Jazzva - Conductor/Artistic director: Jasna Žitnik Song: “Fly, Little Bird” (Solvene)

Winner

The winner of the Eurovision Choir 2019 and the group with the biggest cheers and crowd reaction through out the show was Vocal Line from Denmark with their amazing performance of “Viola”. They won the specially made trophy and all expenses paid trip to the World Choir Games Flanders 2020 in Belgium. In runner up place was Latvia’s Babite Municipality Mixed Choir MASKA, and in third place Slovenia’s Jazzva.

Interval Acts

The show included performances from the Massed Choirs of the Region of West Sweden, which consisted of 300 singers from over 20 choirs with the conductor being Fred Sjöberg, accompanied by the Bohuslän Big Band with soloist Madelene Johansson. They started off the show performing a rendition of ABBA’s “Mamma Mia” with the flag ceremony. During the interval they performed an exceptional rendition of Avicii’s “Without You”. And ended the show with energetic rendition’s of ABBA’s “Dancing Queen” and “Thank You For The Music” accompanied by the other contestants.

The other interval act was the Eurovision Choir Riga 2017 winners Carmen Manet with the conductor Primož Kerštanj and they performed “Shepherd Boy”.

Did you enjoy the show? Who was your favourite choral group? Let us know.