Contact person: Dr. MD MOON HYUNG SUK Shanghai is a music-loving city, where choral arts is acknowledged as an important way for citizens to express their passion for culture and art. With leadership of municipality, Shanghai International Choral Festival was initially held in 2013 and takes place every other year. In the past four editions, hundreds of choirs from 35 countries from five Continents have attended a variety of festival events. 5th The Heart of Chorus International Choral Festival & Competition will be held in Shanghai from May 28 to Jun 3, 2025, expecting over 100 choirs from home and abroad to participate. The festival functions positively in popularizing choral works, revealing characteristics and trends of choral arts, establishing friendships, and facilitating choral arts exchanges and collaborations. Participants organize their own transport, accommodation and meals. If you would like assistance from the organizing committee, please send an inquiry after receiving approval to participate. Tentative schedule: May 28 - June 3, 2025 / Shanghai (Only Shanghai) Co-organizers: Shanghai Choral Arts Center Shanghai Federation of Literary and Art Circles Art Creation and Promotion Center Shanghai Audio & Video Publishing House Visions: To reveal characteristics and trends of choral arts To facilitate exchanges and collaborations between domestic and international choirs To provide accesses to instructions and trainings by international choirmasters Honorable prizes: Grand Prix CNY50,000 Most Popular Choir CNY20,000 Most Promising Choir CNY10,000 The Best Performance of Chinese Choral Composition CNY10,000 Preliminary schedule: AM Afternoon Evening Day 1 Arrival & Registration Day 2 Dress Rehearsal Opening Ceremony Day 3 Competition Competition Competition Day 4 Competition Choral Carnival Concert Day 5 Competition Choral Carnival Concert Day 6 Dress Rehearsal Closing Ceremony Day 7 Departure Note: In case of non-competition days, the organizing committee will accordingly schedule sightseeing, cultural exchanges, masterclass or workshops. The tour concerts will be held after the schedule in Shanghai, which need further discussion. Main programs: Choral competition Invitation concert Friendship concert Workshop/Masterclass Concert tour Cultural exchange Choral competition rules: Part I - Structure and artistic requirements Basic requirement: Each choir can choose choral pieces that can express its cultural and musical traditions. In order to highlight the characteristics of Shanghai International Choral Festival, each choir must sing at least ONE Chinese choral composition. For choirs that are not familiar with Chinese choral compositions, the organizing committee has the responsibility to recommend excellent Chinese choral compositions. Each choir can register for up to 2 categories. 1) Category: The Heart of Chorus - 2025 5th Shanghai International Choral Festival (Competition) offers 14 categories as follows: 1: Preschool Choirs, SA, Age: Under 8 2: Children’s Choirs I, S(S)A(A), Age: Under 12 3: Children’s Choirs II, S(S)A(A), Age: 12-16 4: Youth Choirs (Mixed Voices), SATB, Age: 16-30 5: Youth Choirs (Equal Voices), T(T)B(B), S(S)A(A), Age: 16-30 6: Mixed Choirs I (Age 30-50) SATB 7: Choirs of Equal Voices I (Age 30 -50): T(T)B(B), S(S)A(A) 8: Mixed Choirs II (Age Above 50) SATB 9: Choirs of Equal Voices II (Age Above 50) T(T)B(B), S(S)A(A) 10: Contemporary Music 11: Sacred/Gospel Music 12: Pop and Vocal Jazz 13: Folklore 14: Show Choirs The cap number of each category shall not exceed 60 members per choir. 2) Time limit (maximum singing time): 13 minutes 3) Number of compositions: Category 1 ~ 2: 2 compositions Category 3 ~ 10: 3 compositions Category 11~14: unlimited 4) Composition requirements Except Category 1,2,13 & 14, all the other categories must include at least one unaccompanied composition. In category 10, choirs must sing compositions using modern/contemporary composing techniques.Compositions in this category must be under organizing committee’s review for approval. For unpublished compositions, a declaration about the composer’s authorization for performance must be attached in the application form. For category 1-10, each choir must sing at least ONE Chinese choral composition. Part II - Jury and competition evaluation 1. General rules Internationally recognized choral experts compose the jury and evaluate the competition. The decision of the jury cannot be contested. 2. Evaluation rules 1) Each jury of a competition consists of 5 internationally recognized choral experts. 2) In each competition, the performance of each composition will be evaluated according to the following items: a) Intonation b) Sound quality of the choir c) Artistic evaluation, including: Fidelity to the score (in each category) Interpretation Practice (in category 10 and 12) Authenticity (in category 11) d) Overall artistic impression e) Difficulty level 3) Each adjudicator will give a score for a choir’s performance of each single composition according to criteria a), b), and c), and criteria d) will be used to evaluate this choir’s overall performance of all compositions, e) will be taken into account in the event of same scores. 4) A qualified choir’s final score given by each individual adjudicator ranges from 1 point to 40 points. 5) The final result of a choir is made up of the average of all final scores of the adjudicators. Part III - Awards and prizes 10 – 20.99 Points Bronze Medal 21 – 30.99 Points Silver Medal 31 – 40 Points Gold Medal Besides, the organizing committee offers the following honorable prizes: Grand Prix CNY50,000 Most Popular Choir CNY20,000 Most Promising Choir CNY10,000 The Best Performance of Chinese Choral Composition (only to non-Chinese choir*) CNY10,000 Any group willing to participate must submit an Application form.