UiTM chamber choir winner of Kalamata International Choir Competition 2017
SHAH ALAM: UiTM Chamber Choir (UCC), a choir team from Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Faculty of Music, won the 2nd Kalamata International Choir Competition held in the southern Greek city of Kalamata which ended Sunday (Oct 15).
UiTM vice-chancellor Prof Emeritus Datuk Dr Hassan Said said in the competition, UCC won the gold diploma in the mixed choir category while UiTM Women's Chorale team won first place in the women choir category.
By being top winner in both the categories, UCC emerged as the grand champion of the competition.
"This is the second time UCC has won an international choir competition. I am extremely proud of UiTM Chamber Choir's achievement and this success is not only for UiTM, but also for Malaysia.
"The meaningful victory was achieved through hard work and determination, proving that we can actually compete with anyone and succeed if we work hard enough," he said in a statement here today.
The Kalamata International Choir Competition and Festival 2017 was UCC's first attempt to compete under the guidance of conductor Dr. Masashi Kishimoto, a foreign senior lecturer who is working on contract at the Faculty of Music.
Masashi who holds a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from Osaka College of Music also has a string of qualifications from American universities.
UCC previously won three gold medals and a special jury award at the 30th Praga Cantat, Checz Republic in 2016.
The Kalamata festival, which began on Oct 11 saw the participation of choir teams from 14 countries and throughout the five days, various activities such as workshops, competitions and a cultural exchange concert were organised for participants.
Apart from joining the competition, UCC also took up an invitation to hold a workshop on Music Education and Choir Music in Malaysia at the University of Athens where they also held a choir performance.
UCC also performed at Musikverein, Vienna, Austria, one of the world's most renowned concert halls with the best acoustics. The visit was hosted by Malaysia's ambassador to Austria, Datuk Adnan Othman. — Bernama