The variety of choral music from all over the world was showcased at the first Celebration Concert of the World Choir Games 2018 in the Aula of the University of Pretoria. Four choirs from South Africa, Russia, and Indonesia enchanted the audience with breathtaking performances.

The concert started with University of Pretoria Camerata, the host choir of these World Choir Games, conducted by Dr. Michael Barrett. The choir celebrated its 50th anniversary this year and is consisting of students of different departments. Roughly 90 singers fascinated the audience with powerful voices and fantastic soloist parts presenting international music from different genres.

The second choir of the evening, “Credo” from Russia was awarded a Champions title at the World Choir Games Sochi 2016 in the “Musica Sacra with accompaniment” category. It also had the honor to perform at the Closing Ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Sochi. At the concert the singers presented a nice mixture of national and international repertoire inspiring with the ease of their voices.

From Russia the choral trip went on to Indonesia: The “Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Hasanuddin” is a student choral organization founded in 1970. Wonderful costumes and accompanying dances captured the audience and introduced it to different tribes from Indonesia. There is no doubt that the highlight of the performance was a tribute to the host city when the choir suddenly presented the letters T-S-H-W-A-N-E at the end of one piece – the local audience broke the house down, the cheering seemed endless.

A South African choir again concluded the evening. The boys’ of “Drakensberg Boys Choir” aged 9-15 presented the program “Scenes from Africa”. A captivating performance of powerful dancing, rhythmic clapping and accompanying drums took the audience’s hearts by storm – a fantastic closing of the evening!

The complete Celebration Concert can be watched once again on Facebook, see here.