Guangzhou hosts international choral championships

Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong province, is hosting international choral championships in which more than 7,000 performers from China and overseas will take part.

A total of 164 choirs will perform at the 2012 Xinghai Prize International Choir Championships from November 8-14.

In addition to 91 domestic choirs with 4,000 performers, 73 choirs with 3,000 performers from overseas countries and regions will perform, said Lu Zhiqiang, director of the Guangzhou Bureau of Culture, Broadcasting, Television and Press Publication. Lu is also deputy director of the event’s organizing committee.

A total of 25 choral competitions and 6 special choir concerts will be organized during the event, Lu said on Tuesday.

The choirs will also perform for local communities, in public squares, on housing estates, on the banks of the Pearl River and college campuses, Lu said.

He said the event will help boost Guangzhou’s reputation at home and abroad.

Guenter Titsch, president of the Germany-based Interkultur Foundation, which is organizing the championships with the Guangzhou government, said the event is expected to help promote choral cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world and further improve the standard of choirs.

The opening concert will be staged on Thursday, performed by choirs from Austria, Belarus, Germany, Canada, Slovenia, Sweden and Indonesia.