This year marks the second edition of Eurovision Choir, a competition based around the concept of Eurovision, but as the name suggests, includes choirs. The contest is very quickly approaching, so here’s an overview of this year’s competition!
This year’s contest will take place on the 3rd of August in Partille Arena in Gothenburg, Sweden. The presenters of the show will be Petroc Trelawny and Ella Petersson.
A total of 10 countries will participate this year, one more than the inaugural edition of the contest. Four countries will be debuting, including Norway, Scotland, Sweden and Switzerland. Withdrawing from the contest are Austria, Estonia and Hungary.
Here is the list of participating countries, and their choirs:
- Sweden – Zero8
- Belgium – Almkalia
- Latvia – Babite Municipality Mixed Choir Maska
- Germany – BonnVoice
- Norway – Volve Vokal
- Denmark – Vocal Line
- Scotland – Alba
- Slovenia – Jazzva
- Switzerland – Cake O’Phonie
- Wales – Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion
Each of the choirs will perform a choral piece lasting no more than four minutes in length. Each set can include singular or several music pieces and there is no set genre however the set must contain some sort of national or regional influence from the participating country.
After all the choirs have performed, just three will be invited to perform a second set lasting 3 minutes, and after this, the winner will be announced. The winners will be presented with a trophy, and also awarded to a trip to attend the 11th edition of the World Choir Games which will be held in Flanders, Belgium in July 2020.
The winner is decided by votes from a professional jury which is made up of Katarina Henryson (singer and composer, founding member of ‘The Real Group’ a cappella ensemble), John Rutter (composer, conductor and also a judge in the 2017 contest) and Deke Sharon (singer, director, producer, composer and arranger).
More details have been released about the in-show entertainment, with the opening act to feature 21 choirs from across Västra Götaland County. The opening act will also feature the 10 participating choirs all performing Mamma Mia, the ABBA hit.
The interval act for the show will be Carmen Manet, the winners of the 2017 contest and The Bohuslän Big Band. The reprise act will be all 10 competing choirs performing ‘Thank You For The Music’ by ABBA.
How to Watch?
If you are interested in watching the contest, you can watch online on SVT Play from 20:30 CEST on August 3rd. If you are located in one of the 10 participating nations, you can also tune in to your local broadcaster. Here are the broadcast times:
- Belgium – 20:30 CEST (RTBF, La Trois & Musiq3, worldwide access)
- Denmark – 20:30 CEST (DR1)
- Germany – 20:30 CEST (WDR)
- Latvia – 20:25 CEST (LTV1)
- Norway – 20:20 CEST (NRK1, NRK Klassisk)
- Scotland – 19:30 BST (BBC ALBA)
- Slovenia – 20:40 CEST (RTVSLO, RTV1)
- Sweden – 20:30 CEST (SVT2, worldwide access)
- Switzerland – 20:30 CEST (RTS Un)
- Wales – 19:30 BST (S4C)
To get a feel for what the contest is about, watch the 2017 contest below: