MANSFIELD, PA—Three times Peggy Dettwiler, director
of Choral Activities at Mansfield University, brought her ensemble, the Concert Choir, to the World Choir Games (also known as the Choral Olympics) traveling to Graz, Austria in 2008, Cincinnati, OH in 2012 and, most recently Riga, Latvia in 2014.
The students came back not only with lots of unforgettable memories but also with gold medals for each of the categories they participated. In 2008, MU students were world champions in the Spiritual and Gospel categories and, under the direction of Professor Sheryl Monkelien, also in Vocal Jazz.
Last month, Dettwiler traveled without her choral ensemble and the usual MU entourage of supporters to Russia, where this year’s World Choir Games were held in Sochi, a resort area on the shores of the Black Sea—a mixture of beach and ski resort, and, because of its mineral springs in the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, also a spa town exuding old-fashioned Tsarist elegance. Two years ago, Sochi hosted the Winter Olympics
Olympic symbols such as flags and national anthems were very much in evidence also in this festival devoted to the choral arts. In fact, Dettwiler was chosen to bring in and help hoist the Flag of the World Choir Games in the opening ceremony to the sounds of the Choral Olympic Hymn. The organizers chose six conductors to represent Russia, Asia, Australia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
“I was so honored and thrilled to represent one of the world’s five continents—the Americas, Dettwiler said. “We even rehearsed for it several times, as nothing could be left to chance in this professional show recorded for broadcast in many countries of the world.”
The Russian organizers did not want to repeat the mishap of 2014, when the last of the five Olympic rings did not pop up properly during the fireworks—a minor blemish that was given ample coverage in Western media; meanwhile the image of the five rings with the fifth only producing a meager pop has become an iconic logo used in advertisements: the Olympics with a knowing wink.
But then the work began. After being properly introduced to the jury rules, the 58 jurors from 41 countries, including Dettwiler, went about their responsibilities: evaluating, in a cohort of seven judges for each of the categories, more than 12,000 singers in 283 choirs from 36 countries.
They notated their impressions on a scale from one to 10, the latter being perfect in various aspects–intonation, choral tone, faithfulness to the score, and artistic presentation for each piece being performed. The highest and lowest scores were later thrown out to avoid the perception of favoritism or malevolent intent.
Eighty or more points garnered a gold medal, 60-plus a silver, and 40-plus a bronze. Dettwiler served on the juries for the Mixed Youth Choirs, Children’s Choirs, Vocal Jazz, Gospel, Pop Choirs, Music of Spirit and Faith, Spiritual, Contemporary Music categories.
Dettwiler shared that it was fascinating to be on the other side, a juror instead of a conductor whose choir was being adjudicated. Knowing how many valid opinions go into the assessment of a performance makes her appreciate even more, how well the Concert Choir has been ranked in the three World Choir Games in which they have participated. But she was also reminded of the wonderful opportunity to meet great choral musicians and hear fabulous choirs.
She said it was particularly moving was meeting a blind choir from China, another with a significant number of singers in wheel chairs, and choirs from Jordan and Iran. Interkultur, the organizers of all these games, is true to their mission: “Participation is the greatest honor!”