Concert Choir Brings Home Gold from World Choir Games

MANSFIELD, PA—The Mansfield University Concert Choir won three Gold Medals at the World Choir Games in Cincinnati, OH over the weekend. Mansfield is the only American choir to accomplish this impressive feat thus far in the 2012 Games.
On Friday, The MU Chorus was awarded a Gold Medal in the Folklore category, placing fourth among 25 choirs and ranking just behind the top choir from Venezuela and two choirs from China.
Saturday, Mansfield placed second among 12 choirs from around the world in the Mixed Youth Choir category, just behind the champion from China. In the Musica Sacra division, the Concert Choir was among only 12 of 28 choirs competing in this category to achieve the ranking of Gold.
“The competition was particularly intense this year with the judges awarding more Bronze and Silver rankings than ever before,” MU Director Peggy Dettwiler said. “In order to receive a Gold Medal in a championship round, a choir must achieve at least 80 of 100 points accumulated from seven judges on an international jury.”
The Mansfield Chorus will make its triumphant return to campus Monday (July 9) evening. To see photos of the group's return, click here.
In the 10 categories completed thus far in Part I of the Games, choirs from China have won four of the championships, a choir from South Africa has won two, a choir from the Netherlands has also won two, and one choir each from Venezuela and Switzerland have won one championship. To date, the Star Spangled Banner has not yet been sung for an American champion.
Part II of the Games will begin on Tuesday and end on Saturday, July 14.
For information on the World Choir Games, including pictures and videos, go to 2012worldchoirgames.com/