Every year, the Provincial Choral Championships is hosted as part of the Old Mutual National Choral Festival. This year the Free State competed for top honours on 7 October in City Hall in Bloemfontein. In total, 16 Choirs competed with 5 in the “large” category and 11 in the “standard” category.
Ben Marcato Choir from Welkom took the prize in the standard category, whilst the Free State Choristers from Bloemfontein won the large category. These two choirs will now join the national champions from 6-10 December in Durban for the national finals. Belcanto Voices from Bloemfontein will be defending their national title and is the first choir in the country to win the national championship in different categories consecutively.
The District choral structure, the Lengau Choral Music Association (LECMA) in collaboration with the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation, will be hosting a District choral music festival in support of these choirs. The festival will also serve as a fundraising for these two choirs. This is the role that the association in the districts are playing to support their choirs on the road to the national finals in Durban.
This year’s competition will see the introduction of a third category called the “Champs of Champs” category. This will see the national champions of the past five years compete against each other to be crowned the "Champ of Champs". Belcanto Choir from the Free State will take part in this third category.
Choirs that will compete in the national championship are:
- Belcanto Coices (Bloemfontein)
- Free State Choristers (Bloemfontein)
- Ben Marcato (Welkom)
Choirs that are invited to take part at the District festival are:
- Cut Choir
- UFS Choir
- GMS Choir
- Department Of Health Choir
- Mangaung Municipality Choir
The festival details are as follows:
Date: 18 November 2012
Time: 13h00
Venue: Paradise Hall, Batho (Bloemfontein)
Entrance: R10 for choristers and R20 for public
Your media house is cordially invited for coverage of the event.
Media enquiries:
Tankiso Zola
Tel: 051 4104742/4786/4719
Cell: 082 940 2392
Email: tankiso@sacr.fs.gov.za
General enquiries:
Tona Molalenyane
Tel: 051 4104711/12
Cell: 0825657747/0744601299
E-Mail: kenosi@sacr.fs.gov.za
