From 30 October to 2 November, the Leidor Theatre hosted the 56th edition of the Tolosa Choral Competition. This year there was a special prelude, as the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing was also held in Tolosa, in its 35th edition, on Sunday 26 October.

This year the competition also marked a change of leadership. After 39 years in the position, Luis Miguel Espinosa has been replaced by Xabier Ormazabal. Xabier is a veteran of the competition, having been Espinosa’s deputy for many years, which makes this change a natural progression.

The Tolosa competition belongs to the select club of the best continental choral competitions, alongside those of Arezzo (Italy), Debrecen (Hungary), Maribor (Slovenia), Jurmala (Latvia), and Varna (Bulgaria). The winners of each competition compete the following year in this kind of ‘Choral Champions League’, which is held on a rotating basis in one of the cities mentioned above. Tolosa hosted it for the sixth time this year. It had previously done so in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2011 and 2017. The groups participating on this occasion were ‘Choir Sola’ from Latvia, ‘Musicapella’ from the Philippines, ‘Youth Choir Kamēr…’ from Latvia, ‘The Singers of Manila’ from the Philippines, and ‘The Resonanz Children’s Choir’ from Indonesia. The winner was the Latvian Youth Choir ‘Kamēr…’.

Within a week, Tolosa welcomed almost 700 people, including participants, jury members and volunteers. Eighteen choirs from different corners of the world took part and gave a total of 65 concerts at the competition and outside it, on their respective tours.

The American choir Delaware Choral Scholars won the grand prize at the 56th Tolosa Choral Competition.
The Americans won four awards: first prizes in the Polyphony and Folk sections, the Kutxa Grand Prize and the prize for the best performance of a Basque work.

These were all the winners:

Vocal groups – Sacred Music
•First prize: Svanholm Singers (Sweden)
•Second prize: Sonat Vox (Germany)
•Third prize: En Kör (Sweden)

Vocal groups – Secular music
•First prize: En Kör (Sweden)
•Second prize: Sonat Vox (Germany)
•Third prize: Svanholm Singers (Sweden)

Chamber choirs – Polyphony
•First prize: Delaware Choral Scholars (United States)
•Second prize (joint winners): Yumecan Choir (Japan) and Youth Choir Balsis (Latvia)
•Third prize: Choir of Detmold University of Music (Germany)

Chamber choirs – Folk music
•First prize: Delaware Choral Scholars (United States)
•Second prize: Yumecan Choir (Japan)
•Third prize: Youth Choir Balsis (Latvia)

Kutxa Grand Prize: Delaware Choral Scholars (United States)

Best performance of a Basque work: Delaware Choral Scholars (United States)

Audience Award: Sonat Vox (Germany)