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European Grand Prix for Choral Singing

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The European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (in French, Grand Prix European de Chant Choral, commonly abbreviated as European Choral Grand Prix or GPE) is an annual choral contest between the winners of six European choral competitions. It was founded in 1989.

Despite its name, the GPE is not limited to European choirs; this is because choirs from any part of the world (inside and outside Europe) can join the competitions in any of the the GPE's member-cities. As of 2006, two choirs from the United States, one choir from Japan and one choir from the Philippines have won the GPE.

The last winner of the GPE (2006, in Tolosa, Italy) is The University of Utah Singers from Salt Lake City,  United States.

Organizing committee and member cities

The GPE is organized by the organizing committees of the following choral competitions, from which the GPE contenders are selected:

  1. Concorso Polifónico Guido d'Arezzo (International Guido d'Arezzo Polyphonic Contest) - Arezzo, Italy
  2. Bela Bartok International Choir Competition - Debrecen, Hungary
  3. Concorso «Cesare Augusto (C.A.) Seghizzi» (C.A. Seghizzi Competition) - Gorizia, Italy (also known as the Seghizzi contest)
  4. Concurso Coral de Tolosa (Tolosa Choral Competition) - Tolosa, Spain
  5. Florilège Vocal de Tours (Tours Vocal Competition) - Tours, France
  6. International May Choir Competition «Prof. G. Dimitrov» - Varna, Bulgaria

Each individual contest is usually referred to by the name of its host city instead of the competition's official title. The grand prize winners of each contest are automatically eligible to compete at the GPE.

The hosting of each annual GPE competition is rotated among the six member cities. The last GPE in 2006 was held in Tolosa.


Regulations

As mentioned earlier, the contest is open only to the grand prize winners of the six member European choral competitions in the previous year. In other words, a choir is eligible to compete in the next year's GPE if and only if it wins the grand prize in any of the six cities' choral contests.

Each competing choir is required to sing the same repertoire that they sang during their respective competitions. In addition, they are also expected to have the same number of singers in the GPE (which may be a minimum of 12 singers and a maximum of 60 singers).

No choir may win the grand prize in more than one contest in a single year. For example, if a choir is named the grand prize winner in Arezzo, they are automatically disqualified to compete in the contests from the five remaining cities for the rest of the year.

The GPE grand prize winner is awarded a diploma, a trophy and, at the discretion of the host city, a maximum price of 4,000 Euros (usually awarded). In addition, the GPE grand prize winner is not allowed to compete in any international choral competition for seven years (i.e. until after the next time the same host city where they won gets to host the GPE again). Because of this, no choir has ever won the GPE more than once.

List of Winners

The following are the list of grand prize winners for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing. [1] [2] [3]

Winners of the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing
Year Host Choir City of Origin Country of Origin
1989 Arezzo Kammerkoret Copenhagen  Denmark
1990 Debrecen (postponed) NA NA
1991 Tours Chamber Choir of the Conservatoire Vilnius  Lithuania
1992 Gorizia St Jacobs Kammerchör Stockholm  Sweden
1993 Varna Jauna Musika Vilnius  Lithuania
1994 Tolosa The Mats Nilsson Vocal Ensemble Stockholm  Sweden
1995 Arezzo Kallos Choir Tokyo  Japan
1996 Debrecen Pro Musica Leanikar Nyiregyhaza  Hungary
1997 Tours Philippine Madrigal Singers Quezon City  Philippines
1998 Gorizia University of Missisipi Concert Singers Oxford, MI  United States
1999 Varna Lunds Vocal Ensemble Lund  Sweden
2000 Tolosa Vesna Child Choir Moscow  Russia
2001 Debrecen Magnificat Children Choir Budapest  Hungary
2002 Arezzo A.P.Z. Tone Tomsic Ljubljana  Slovenia
2003 Tours Ensemble Brevis Vilnius  Lithuania
2004 Gorizia Jauniesu Koris "Kamer..." Riga  Latvia
2005 Varna Allmånna Sangen Uppsala  Sweden
2006 Tolosa The University of Utah Singers Salt Lake City  United States

 Sweden produced the most number of winners, with four (4) choirs, followed by  Lithuania (three choirs), and  Hungary and the  United States (two choirs each).  Denmark,  Japan,  Latvia,  Philippines,  Russia and  Slovenia each have one choir emerging as the grand prize winner.

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