The Macao Youth Choir of the Macao Conservatory, institution under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from the Portuguese acronym), recently flew to Singapore in order to participate in the 1st Singapore International Choral Festival, under the leadership of the Conservatory’s Music School Director, Liu Chang, conquering a gold medal in this four day long competition. In the year that marks the 15th anniversary of Macao’s handover to China, the Macao Youth Choir celebrates its 10th anniversary, giving special significance to this invitation to represent the city and the remarkable result achieved in the event.

Each choral ensemble competed and performed in several celebrated venues with strong artistic and cultural atmosphere, such as the Singapore Conference Hall and the Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay complex. Participant groups, from over fifty countries and regions and comprising different age groups and ethnicities, came together to jointly establish an international choral art exchange platform. The Macao Youth Choir interpreted three different pieces, namely the religious Ave Maria, the Hungarian folk song Egyetem, Begyetem (Hippity, Hoppity) and the Chinese work Swallow, going through rigorous training and under the careful guidance of Conductor Liu Mingyan. Choir members put all efforts into their performances and showed remarkable singing techniques, thereby conquering a gold medal in the competition. The results for each ensemble were announced one by one by the emcee at the closing ceremony. The Macao participants, the second highest rated group in the competition, were greatly moved by coming first in the equal voices category, finally seeing their efforts throughout the years recognized in the international arena. The young singers believe that participation in this large scale competition will contribute not only to raise the level of the local choir but also to broaden each participant’s international artistic horizons.

In addition to participating in the contest, the Macao Youth Choir was further invited to perform outdoors, bringing choral chants to the population, earning enthusiastic applauses from residents and tourists, who praised the harmonious voices of the group. At the same time, competition producers expressed wishes to invite the choir to perform in Singapore again in the future. Liu Chang affirmed that not only did the organization and IC attach great importance to the success attained in the event, but also that said success depends on the parents’ cooperation as well as the selfless dedication of the faculty. The Director of the School of Music further thanked all sectors of society for the recognition and support given to the Choir, hoping to have other future opportunities to represent Macao in overseas competitions, thus promoting the city’s artistic and cultural characteristics.

The Macao Youth Choir, established in 2004, aims to increase students’ culture and music aesthetic appreciation as well as enrich their extracurricular life through basic knowledge acquisition on all music genres, choral singing and performance practice, providing its members a complete and healthy growth. The Choir has as main goal its development and establishment as a juvenile performing arts group representative of Macao, actively participating in concerts and competitions all over, achieving good results and earning praise from music professionals.