Around 60 contestants from home and abroad will showcase their interpretations of Chinese songs in Shanghai in the quarter-final of the first Chinese Art Song International Vocal Music Contest.
The quarter-final will be at the Heluting Concert Hall on November 8 and 9, and 10 of the participants will be selected for the final on November 10.
The contest, organized by the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, attracted applications from around 600 singers from five countries for the first-round selection through video clips. Those who made it to the quarter-final include four singers from the US, Australia and Costa Rica.
“To our delight, the post 80s and 90s generation makes up more than 90 percent of the applicants which may be a good sign for flourishing Chinese vocal talents,” said baritone Liao Changyong, chairman of the judging panel.
The contestants are required to sing either a Chinese art song piece from the 1920-30s or a contemporary Chinese art song piece for the quarter-final, and both for the final.
Some of the most popular programs so far include Lu Zaiyi’s “I Love This Land,” Qing Zhu’s “The River of No Return,” Zhouyi’s “Phoenix Hairpin” and Zhao Yuanren’s “How Could I not Miss Her.”
There's a top prize of 100,000 yuan (US$14,355) with two second prizes of 50,000 yuan, three third prizes of 30,000 yuan and four honorable mentions worth 5,000 yuan each.
The judging panel for the final includes Chinese composers Zhao Jiping and Lu Zaiyi, vocal coaches Hartmut Holl and Reinhard Edmund Linden, and tenor Warren Mok.
