The European Grand Prix for Choral Singing is an annual choral competition between the winners of six European choral competitions. It was inaugurated in 1989. Despite its name, the GPE is not limited to European choirs; this is because choirs from any country can join the choral competitions in any of the GPE's member-cities., one choir from Japan, one choir from Argentina, one choir from Indonesia, and two choirs from the United States have won the GPE, while two choirs from the Philippines and United States have won the GPE twice. In addition, the contest is not limited to adult choirs; three of the grand prize-winning choirs are children's choirs. As of 2018, five choirs had won the EGP twice: the Philippine Madrigal Singers, APZ Tone Tomšič, Youth choir "Kamēr...", University of UtahChamber Choir and Vesna Children's Choir. And in the summer of 2019 Youth choir "Kamēr..." became the 1st choir ever, and currently the only choir, having won the EGP three times. As of 2020, only one conductor has won the EGP twice: Stojan Kuret.
The GPE is organized by the organizing committees of the following choral competitions, from which the GPE contenders are selected: Each individual contest is usually referred to by the name of its host city instead of the competition's official title. The grand prize winners of each contest are automatically eligible to compete at the GPE. The hosting of each annual GPE competition is rotated among the six member cities.
History
The EuropeanGrand Prix for Choral Singing was created in 1988 through the initiative of the competitions of AREZZO, DEBRECEN, GORIZIA and TOURS Two others have also been associated: VARNA in 1989, and TOLOSA in 1990. In 2008 Gorizia stepped out of the Association and MARIBOR joined it.
Regulations
Eligibility
As mentioned earlier, the contest is open only to the grand prize winners of the six-member European choral competitions in the previous year. In other words, if a choir wins the grand prize in any of the six cities' choral contests, it is eligible for then next year's GPE. Consequently, this also means that, unlike other choral competitions, the GPE does not solicit participants to the contest; no choir may directly apply or audition in order to join the GPE. If an eligible choir backs out, a substitute choir may take its place; as a penalty, any choir that backs out will not be eligible to compete in any of the six qualifying contests for the next year. No choir may win the grand prize in more than one qualifying competition in a single year. For example, if a choir is named the grand prize winner in Arezzo, it is automatically disqualified to compete in the contests from the five remaining cities for the rest of the year. There are no specific regulations prohibiting a former finalist from competing in the GPE more than once. The Philippine Madrigal Singers have won the 2006 Florilège Vocal de Tours, going on to win the Grand Prize in 2007 in Arezzo, Italy. In the same competition, the Madrigal Singers competed with the Vesna Children's Choir, who won the grand prize of the 2006 Tolosa competition.
Repertoire and choir membership
Each competing choir is required to sing in the same group/category as they performed in respective competitions. Choirs are encouraged to perform songs from various eras and composers. Songs with accompaniment are allowed as long as the total length of accompanied songs does not exceed ten minutes. The host city determines the total maximum performance time allowed to each finalist. Each competing choir is also required to have the same number of singers it had from the qualifying competition, plus or minus ten percent of that number. The total number of singers per choir may be a minimum of 12 singers and a maximum of 60 singers regardless of the number of voice sections or groups; this is because the eligibility requirements vary for each of the six qualifying competitions. Because of this, it is possible for mixed-voice choirs to compete directly against all-male and all-female choirs; it is also possible for children's choirs to compete against adult choirs.
The grand prize winner
The GPE grand prize winner, or laureate, is awarded a diploma, a trophy and additional prizes to be determined by the host city, including a cash prize of up to 4,000 Euros. The GPE winner is not allowed to compete in any international choral competition, member of the European Grand Prix Association, for two years.
Laureates
The following are the lists of grand prize winners for the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing.
