Madrigal Singers bring home new glory from France

The Philippine Madrigal Singers scored another victory for the country when they won the grand prize in the Florilége Vocal de Tours competition in France earlier this month.

The group bagged first prizes in the Mixed Vocal Ensemble Category and in the Free Program Category, and was also awarded the Prix Special Renaissance, a separate category for a purely Renaissance-based program.

The group bested 14 other choirs from all over the world and earned the Grand Prix de la Ville Tours, the award given to the choir giving the most satisfactory over-all performance during the competition. This distinction gives the Madrigal Singers the right to compete in the 2007 European Grand Prix in Choral Singing.

The Florilége held in Tours, France is one of six prestigious European choral competitions. Champions from the six competitions — held in Toloso, Spain; Arezzo and Gorizia in Italy; Debrecen, Hungary and Varna, Bulgaria — then compete for the Grand Prix and the distinction as the best choral group in the world.

The Philippine Madrigal Singers first won that distinction in 1997.

The Madz was founded in 1963 by National Artist for Music Professor Andrea Veneracion as the University of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, composed of students, faculty and alumni of the UP College of Music. It was renamed the Philippine Madrigal Singers when it was chosen as one of the resident companies of the Cultural Center of the Philippines.

It debuted on the international stage in 1969 at the First Choruses of the World Festival in New York. Since then, the group has toured extensively, winning top prizes in choral competitions and earning critical and popular acclaim in concerts all over the world.

Prof. Veneracion retired in 2001. Mark Anthony Carpio, a Madz alumnus and faculty at the UP College of Music, took over as choirmaster and music director. The group is currently on an 11-city, seven-country tour of Europe.