From 29 October to 1 November, the Leidor Theatre hosted the 57th Tolosa Choral Competition, with the London-based choir The Epiphoni Consort winning the Grand Prize and earning the honour of representing Tolosa at the 2027 European Choral Grand Prix in Arezzo. The London choir also took top honours in the polyphony and folk categories, although in the latter it had to share the prize ex aequo with the competition’s other award-winning group, APZ Tone Tomšič from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.

The Tolosa competition belongs to the select club of the continent’s finest choral competitions, alongside those in Arezzo (Italy), Debrecen (Hungary), Maribor (Slovenia), Jurmala (Latvia) and Varna (Bulgaria). The winners from each of these competitions go on to compete the following year in this sort of ‘Choral Champions’ event, which is held on a rotating basis in one of the aforementioned cities. Tolosa hosted it last year for the sixth time. It had previously done so in 1994, 2000, 2006, 2011 and 2017.

Over the course of a week, Tolosa welcomed 14 choirs from 10 countries. In the Chamber Choirs category:

-Ensemble Vocapella Limburg (Germany)

-Zwozwoeins Men’s Choir (Germany)

-The Academic Choir Tone Tomsic (Slovenia)

– Chamber Choir Ipavska (Slovenia)

– Jakarta Youth Choir (Indonesia)

– Vox Angelica Choir (Indonesia)

– Coro Musicanova (Italy)

– Ewha Women’s Choir (South Korea)

– Mixed Choir Juventus (Latvia)

– The Epiphoni Consort (United Kingdom)

These were joined by four ensembles in the Children’s Choirs category:

-Bulgarian National Radio Children’s Choir (Bulgaria)

-Pequeñas Voces de La Alhambra (Spain)

-Saint Angela Choir (Indonesia)

-Kajetán Children’s Opera Choir (Czech Republic)

Winners

Kutxa Grand Prix: The Epiphoni Consort (United Kingdom)

Polyphony

1. The Epiphoni Consort (United Kingdom)

2. APZ Tone Tomšič (Slovenia)

3. Mixed Choir Juventus (Latvia)

Folklore or popular music

1. (joint winners) The Epiphoni Consort (United Kingdom) and APZ Tone Tomšič (Slovenia)

2. Mixed Choir Juventus (Latvia)

3. Vox Angelica Choir (Indonesia)

Children’s Competition

1. Kajetán Children’s Opera Choir (Czech Republic)

2. Saint Angela Choir (Indonesia)

3. Pequeñas Voces de la Alhambra (Granada, Andalusia, Spain)

Best performance of a Basque work: Pequeñas Voces de la Alhambra (Granada), for ‘Besarkatu ninduzun’ by Josu Elberdin

Audience Award: APZ Tone Tomšič (Slovenia)