Another Competition
day – Scenic Pop at 11h30. The boys had
an early start this morning – they had to be down for breakfast at 07h30. After
breakfast they had a rehearsal just outside our hotel from 08h00 to 10h00. We left the hotel at 10h15 for the Riga
Congress Centre where the boys were to perform second on the program in the
Scenic Pop category.
The boys were all
very excited for this competition – Pop music is after all one of our choir’s
strong points and favourites to perform. They were in very high spirits as we
got on the tram and could not help themselves from bursting into some psyche-up
songs.
The hall was
packed with audience members eager to be entertained by some fresh pop music –
this is obviously a very popular category.
In the Pop category, the acoustic rehearsals happen just before the
performance. The boys received loud
cheers and applause from the audience during this rehearsal.
From the first
moment that our boys walked onstage, the air was electric. The boys’ performance had the whole audience
on their feet after the first song. There were many female fans in the audience, which off course just
spurred our boys on even more to give the performance of a lifetime!
They did a really
superb job and executed a nearly flawless performance. The jury members were recording everything
with their phones and were some of the first people to jump tot heir feet after
the last song. After the performance,
media teams descended upon the boys - interviewing them, taking photos and
videoing them singing Kearsney war cries. The boys felt good about today’s performance and Chef shared their
sentiments, giving them 9 and a half - a job extremely well done!
After their
performance, the boys had a quick lunch at 12h30 of bolognaise tagliatelle at Chili Pika, an Italian restaurant close to our hotel. We had a choir workshop from 14h00 to 15h00
at the Latvian Cultural Cociety Hall, where the boys assisted Chef in
introducing the audience to African music. After the workshop, the boys hade some free time to explore or rest and
had to be showered, dressed and ready to leave the hotel at 17h00 to go for
supper at the World Choir Games catering centre before going to the first
Awards Ceremony in the Arena Riga at 19h00. Supper was again a traditional Latvian meal of beef stew with cumin and
a corn-and-coleslaw salad.
The Awards
Ceremony was a truly phenomenal experience. It is an epic event with thousands of people in attendance. Different
country flags were everywhere and all the choirs sat in eager anticipation for
their results. Fortunately no time is wasted and we immediately got down to
business with the first category to be announced, Young Male Choirs, where we
received a score of 85,63% (Gold Medal) and second in the category. The winners of this category were the
excellent Hong Kong Diocesan Boy’s School Choir with a superb result of
96%! Our boys were over the moon with their
accomplishment.
After this
category, there were still another 8 categories before we would get to the
Scenic Folklore results, which were announced last. Our boys scored 87,50% in this category
earning them a Gold Medal and fourth place in the category. The top choir in this category was the Nankai
University Choir from China with an incredible 96%. The choir who received second place was the
University of Pretoria Choir and third was the College of Performing Arts Choir
from Namibia. Our choir received so many
compliments - even after the results were announced. It is clear that they are a
firm favourite with the audience.
Many of the boys
were understandably disappointed not to be champions, but Chef was very happy
with the results of the choir in both categories announced so far and praised
the boys for their hard work.
We got back to
the hotel at about 22h30 and the boys were given free time to go and explore
some more sights of Riga nightlife and to let off some steam in the vibrant Old
Town of Riga.
The second Awards
Ceremony is tomorrow morning at 09h00 at Arena Riga, when we will hear our
results for the Scenic Pop category.
Please cross your fingers for that result!