The choir of Menlopark High School
INTERKULTUR presents the participating choirs of the World Choir Games 2016
Less than four month until the biggest choir festival will unite the world of choral singing in Sochi. Until then INTERKULTUR wants to introduce the choirs, which will attend the Olympics of choral music. The following choir will travel from Pretoria/South Africa to Sochi, to compete in the categories "Mixed Youth Choirs", "Folklore a cappella" and "Sacred Choral Music a cappella".
The Menlopark High School is one of the prestige High Schools in South Africa. The mixed choir of the High School was founded in 1992 and consists of 90 pupils aged between 14 and 18.
Since 1997 the choir has been under the baton of Jeanmari van Papendorp. Under her direction the choir has performed in acclaimed concerts throughout Gauteng and South Africa. The repertoire of the concerts included some of the great oratorios and passions, such as Handel's "Messiah", Bach's "St John Passion” and the Requiems of Mozart and Brahms. In 2006 and 2007 the choir performed with the National radio station "Radio Sonder Grense" in two Christmas concerts.
Competitively, the choir takes part in Eisteddfods and the National Choir Competition of the "Afrikaans Language and Culture Association" (ATKV). During the past 19 years of competition, the choir achieved a high number of golden and silver diplomas as best mixed school choir. In 2012 the choir was the overall-winner of the National ATKV Choir Competition.
Beside national performances the choir also staged concert halls outside of South Africa. The choir's first European tour in 2008 took them to Turkey, the Czech Republic and Austria. They took part in the World Choir Games in Graz in the category "Mixed Youth Choirs" and obtained a score of 89 in the qualifying round. Their second tour in 2010 took them to Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria). In 2013 the singers took part in the "Summa Cum Laude Choir Competition" in Vienna where they won the Youth Choir Category.
We are looking forward to welcoming the young singers of the Menlopark High School in Sochi!
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