'UST Singers' wins World Champion of Champions title in online poll

The University of Santo Tomas Singers bested 32 other teams from different parts of the world during the Choir of the World Champion of Champions Online Voting Contest.

After winning the mixed (male and female) category in 2010, the group was selected as candidate for the Choir of the World Champion of Champions title, which was to be awarded to any of the 32 grand prize winners from 1987-2018 in an online voting contest.

The video of UST Singers’ winning performance in 2010 singing “Her Sacred Spirit Roars,” and “Gabaqan,” an ethnic-inspired contemporary piece by Filipino composer Ruben Federizon, was posted in the online voting contest.

Conductor and Conservatory of Music alumnus Fidel Calalang led the winning performance.

“The UST Singers will also celebrate 28 years of its foundation with a concert at the Cultural Center of the Philippines, which will see the participation of all the UST Singers’ members, from 1993 to the current batch,” Calalang said during an online interview with The Varsitarian.

Winning the Luciano Pavarotti Grand Prize of the Choir of the World competition  in 1995 and 2010, the UST Singers is the first choral group to win the award twice.

The Choir of the World contest is held in the village of Llangollen in North Wales, United Kingdom.

It was launched by the LLangollen International Music Eistedfodd, an annual music festival founded in 1947 which hosts one of the world’s oldest international choral competitions. —Joviland Rita/LBG/KG, GMA News