By Reporter Kayla lee
The champion competition award ceremony, announcing the results of the smoothly concluded competition of the participating choirs in Part 2 of the Gangneung World Choir Championships, took place on July 13 at Gangneung Arena.
In the Women's Chamber Choir category, the Belgian choir 'Amaranthe' emerged as the champion, while the Dutch choir 'De Koor Close Harmony' claimed the championship in the Jazz and Gospel categories, receiving enthusiastic applause from the choirs.
JOA Choir, which was among the top 10 teams in the SBS Choir Audition Sing for Gold, unfortunately, only received the gold medal in the jazz category. However, the mixed contemporary music category champion, Classicus from South Korea, achieved the highest score of 95.75.
As a special award, the Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Award was also presented. The Minister's Award was given to the domestic choir with the highest score among the participating choirs in the championship competition, and Classicus received this honor.
After all the competitions, the participants in Part 2 will attend the closing ceremony, which will take place at 7:30 p.m. on July 13, and then depart for Incheon Airport the next day, the 14th.
A Gangneung City official stated, "While there were 2,833 participants in the 2018 Winter Olympics, more than 8,000 choir members participated in this competition, including 4,149 international participants. As a large-scale event with a large number of participants, we prioritized safety as the foremost task in operating the competition, and we are deeply grateful to the volunteers and relevant agencies such as the police and fire department for successfully concluding the event without any accidents."
The closing ceremony is scheduled to begin with a procession of the participating countries, who have embarked on an 11-day journey together, and it will feature a grand choir performance where they will come together in one place to express their hopes for peace, along with the announcement of the next host country.
