Reported By: KANG Ziliang
Photographed By: DOU Libo
Translated By: MENG Huan
Edited By: Jennifer Taylor
Updated: 2013/4/21
Recently the HIT Chamber Choir MUSICA attended the 14th International Choir Competition and Festival Budapest held in Budapest, the capital of Hungary. They won the silver medal in the Mixed Choirs Without Compulsory Piece Group and showed the HIT students’ excellence in the international arena.
The International Choir Competition and Festival Budapest organized by the Interkultur and the Hungarian Government, is one of the oldest large-scale and high-level choir competitions in the world. This competition included a total of 15 sections, attracting 64 teams from 21 countries including China, Germany, Italy, Russia, the USA and Japan.
The HIT Chamber Choir MUSICA in the Mixed Choirs Without Compulsory Piece Group needed to sing three songs. The first song had to be the work of a Baroque composer before 1705. The second song had to be a national folk song. The third song had to be the work of a modern composer after 1950. The songs couldn’t be repeated. With the Latin song Ubi Caritas (True Charity), the Yimeng Folk Song and the English song Dancing in the Fire, they won the silver medal.
After the competition, MUSICA was invited by the competition organizing committee to perform in a Friendship Concert including choirs from Germany, Japan and the US. MUSICA sang songs with strong Asian cultural characteristics, such as the Hayao Miyazaki Animated Movie Suite and Dance of Youth as well as Dancing in the Fire.
HIT Chamber Choir MUSICA was founded in September 2011 by the Honors School and the Center for Arts Education in School of Humanities and Social Sciences. It is made up of 29 members including students from different majors from 11 schools in HIT and Lara Ek, an English teacher in the School of Foreign Languages. They have learnt the music that they sing starting from the basics. The choir rehearsal works range from Baroque classical chorus to modern jazz chorus, from accompanied chorus to a cappella. The works’ languages have included Latin, English, Japanese, French, Filipino and Chinese. Their preparation for the trip to Hungary for the contest included a week spent in Beijing practicing for 8-15 hours a day. The hard work paid off in their success in the contest.
MUSICA rehearsing in Budapest.
A group photo of MUSICA members after the Friendship Concert performance
