The International Choral Festival Wales, the brain child of former Llangollen Music Director Eilir Owen Griffiths, will be welcoming the international choral world back to Wales in October – virtually!
The online competition will take place on 30 October 2021 and will be the third iteration of the festival – the first two events being held in person in the Wales Millennium Centre in 2018 and 2019.
The timing of the announcement is significant, too, as Eilir Owen Griffiths explains:
“We had hoped to be able to restart the festival in person this year, and our opening concert was scheduled for the beginning of July. What might otherwise have been a sad day, is now a time of excitement as we launch our first online competition.
“The team and I can’t wait to be able to welcome international choirs back to Wales again. We are, after all, the Land of Song! What we had started with the International Choral Festival Wales was a world class, yet inclusive competition and I’m just so pleased we’re able to continue the competition online.”
The online competition will be open to choirs from all around the world, of all ages and voices. To enter, the choir will need to submit their video entry by 1 October 2021, and as with previous years, the choirs will be judged by a panel of internationally acclaimed adjudicators.
Mr Owen Griffiths went on to say:
“As a choral director myself, I know how sad its been to not be able to get together to sing and compete. Of course we’ve missed the social aspect too, but it’s in having something to work towards that really brings a choir forward.
It’s my hope that this virtual competition will give choirs around the world something they can get involved in, and give them a chance to produce something special together. With so much uncertainty right now with live events and international travel it’s great to be able to run an international choral competition that has no such barriers.”
