The Baltic Course
Riga, 09.07.2008.
All day long at the University of Latvia, as a sidelight to the ongoing XXIV Latvian Song Festival, the traditional “choir wars” took place, and the results were announced LETA last evening.
In the category “best mixed choir”, first place honors went to the Riga youth choir “Kamer”, in second place was the Riga Latvian Society mixed choir, “Austrums”, while two choirs shared third place – the Latvian Academy of Culture youth choir “Sola” and the Riga Small Guild youth choir “Balsis”.
In the category, “best women’s choir”, top honors were taken by the Jelgava High School No.4 women’s choir “Spigo”. Second place was awarded to the University of Latvia women’s choir “Minjona”, while third place was shared by the Riga City Council Culture Department/Riga High School No.1 women’s choir “Sapnis” and the Riga Teachers’ College’s women’s choir “Balta”.
It was a close battle in the men’s category with first/second place being shared by the Riga Technical University men’s choir “Gaudeamus” and the Riga Small Guild men’s choir “Frachori”. Taking the bronze medal was the Riga City Council Culture Department New Riga men’s choir.
36 choirs took part in the competition and the jury was international in its make-up; the music experts hailed from Latvia, Norway, Switzerland, Lithuania and Estonia.
