Samford’s A Cappella Choir Places in Two International Competitions

Samford University’s A Cappella Choir placed in two choral competitions during a recent tour of Europe, which ran from May 20–June 2.

The choir tied for second in the large mixed choirs category at the Florilège Vocal de Tours competition in Tours, France, and was one of four choirs in the overall finals. This was the second year for Samford to participate in this competition.

In addition, the choir received the Prix Á Cœur Joie International prize, awarded to a non-French speaking choir for the “quality of its musical performance and pronunciation of a work written by any French composer after 1750.” The choir’s performance of “Yver, vous n’estes qu’ un vilain” by Claude Debussy earned the prize.

Choir director Philip Copeland received the conductor’s prize for excellence in choral conducting at the competition. 

Earlier the choir participated in the annual Ave Verum competition in Baden, Austria. Samford won third prize in the first round and finished second in the finals. The choir also won a prize for “best interpretation of a piece written after 2000.”

In addition to the competitions, the choir sang at St. Matthias Church, Budapest, Hungary, and participated in a master class led by the director of the Vienna Boys Choir.