Justin Miller, what have you done? A week after he competed in the collegiate contest in Anaheim, Justin and 35 members of Westminster Chorus took on a bunch of much older directors with much longer resumes and were the overall winners of prestigious Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod 2009. About 4,000 singers and dancers from 50 nations competed. Watch the announcement of their win here and see their winning set here. The festival message board is here.
A huge feather in the hat of our 2007 international champion, and a grand slam for barbershop harmony worldwide. They were consistently introduced as a barbershop chorus (and the winners of the festival's "Barbershop Choruses" competition, but they performed impressive classical pieces as well. After winning the "barbershop chorus" and "folk song choirs" competitions earlier in the week, Westminster took a close second place in the "male choir" competition. Then in the final competition, they performed two the same numbers that had gotten them second place and this time beat all others to win the Pavarotti trophy.
The visit to Wales came at great expense to these young chorus members. Chorus members will greatly appreciate your support in the form of donations. Please help out the best you can to support these wonderful ambassadors of barbershop harmony!
Catch the Westminster Chorus as they defend their international title against the never-been-better Vocal Majority Chorus next summer in Philadelphia!