Concert Choir Makes Final Preparations for World Games

MANSFIELD, PA— Anticipation is running high as the Mansfield University Concert Choir prepares to travel to Cincinnati, OH to participate in the 2012 World Choir Games, the largest international choral competition in the world.
This marks the first time the event will be held in North America and makes for a much shorter trip than the last time the MU group participated, although it would be impossible to argue it wasn’t worth the trip.
In Graz, Austria, four years ago, the Concert Choir, directed by Peggy Dettwiler, won the championship in the Gospel and Spiritual category and the Mansfieldians, directed by Sheryl Monkelien, won the first place in the jazz vocal ensemble a cappella category.
Based on their 2008 performance, the MU Concert Choir has been invited to go straight to the championship rounds in next month’s competition, which begins July 4 and runs through July 14.
The Mansfield ensemble has also received a special invitation from Interkultur, the event organizers, to perform in one of the Celebration Concerts of the World Choir Games. The “Voices of Gold” concert will be held on Friday, July 6, 7:30 pm in the School for Creative and Performing Arts at the Corbett Theater in Cincinnati. MU is one of only three choirs selected to perform at the concert.
The Concert Choir will also have a special performance on Thursday, July 5, 7 p.m. in St. Catherine of Siena Church, 2848 Fischer Place, Cincinnati. This concert has been organized by Mansfield alumna Michelle Edwards Conda ’77, professor of Piano at the University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music.
The World Choir Games takes place every two years. Approximately 20,000 participants representing 70 countries are expected to attend the 2012 Games. There will be competition in 23 musical categories, including Barbershop and Show Choirs, which have been added for the first time because of their popularity in the U.S.
The Mansfield Choir will participate in three categories: Mixed Youth Choir, Musica Sacra, and Folklore.
The Concert Choir's musical program at the Games, which they have been preparing throughout the past academic year, features a wide variety of works with contrast in styles and choral colors including music from the Renaissance, 19th and 20th centuries, and selections from the American folk and spiritual traditions. The repertoire follows strict guidelines for the three competitions in which the choir will participate.
In the Interkultur Choir Rankings, which are based on the results of all World Choir Games and Interkultur competitions held since 2000, the Mansfield University’s Concert Choir, including the Mansfieldians, is ranked third in the world in the Pop, Jazz, Gospel category. In the Youth Choir category MU shares ninth place and in the Mixed Choir category Mansfield is ranked 18th. Only two other choirs from the U.S., the University of Louisville Cardinal Singers and Mt. San Antonio College Singcopation, are ranked.
For schedule, ticket and other information on the World Choir Games, go to 2012worldchoirgames.com/