THE 14 TH CHINA INTERNATIONAL CHORUS FESTIVAL AND IFCM WORLD CHORAL EDUCATION CONFERENCE 19 July - 25 July, 2018 Beijing
The 14th China International Chorus Festival I. Introduction Founded in 1992, China International Chorus Festival (CICF) is currently the only state-level international chorus festival in China which is approved by the state council. As the largest-scale and highest-level international chorus festival held in China, CICF is a cultural activity which brings choirs both at home and abroad together to sing. It is held once every two years, and the past 13 CICFs have been proved a great success. CICF plays an important role in improving the performance level of the participating choruses and promoting cultural exchanges between China and other countries. As a much-loved festival among worldwide choirs, CICF has a great influence and enjoys unanimous praise from professionals, chorus groups as well as people from all walks of life. According to statistics, in the past 13 festivals, the number of participating choirs has exceeded 2000 and more than 60,000 choir members were involved. In the tenet of Build a harmonious world together for the future---peace and Friendship, CICF invites people from different countries and regions, of different nationalities and colors to come together and compete on the same platform. Performers sing for peace and friendship, express their happiness and desire for peace, spread friendship and love throughout the world. The 14 th China International Chorus Festival will be held from July 19 to July 25, 2018. We sincerely welcome choral lovers from all over the world to join us building the sky of choral music.
II. Theme Come to Beijing, listen to the songs of the world.
III. Content 1. Opening Ceremony & Concert 2. IFCM Choral Education Conference 3. China Choral Development Seminar 4. IFCM Executive Committee Meeting 5. Group Choral Evaluation 6. High Level Choir Concert 7. Choral Carnival 8. Choral Exchange Concert 9. New Choral Work Concert 10. Master Class (Workshop) of Choral Conducting 11. Choral Public and Charitable Events 12. Choral Training Camp 13. SCO Summer Youth Camp 14. Choral Caravan 15. Closing Ceremony & Concert
IV. Opening Concert After the comprehensive evaluation of the artistic committee, a batch of highly professional and nationally characteristic choirs will be able to perform to show their skills and charm to thousands of audience from different continent. This performance will also be recorded by CCTV (China Central Television).
V. Choral System 1. Eligibility The organizing committee offers equal opportunity to all participated choirs to sign for the choral evaluation system. The purpose for this part of activity is to provide an international stage for choirs to sing and receive remarks and tutorship from international well-known choral experts, exchange with other choirs and improve oneself to better feel the charm of choral art. Suitable for All professional and amateur choirs Consist of 5 choral experts from home and abroad (3 of them will be Expert group international experts) who will give professional advice and guidance (25 experts of 5 groups in total) Evaluation For more information please check below the Evaluation System system Choirs will be classified into level A, B, C and D after evaluating by the experts. Groups will be awarded with trophy and certificate Choirs who are in level A will be qualified to be introduce to international choral festival representing the China. Conductors of level Honor & A choirs will be able to take part in next year s choral conductor master certificate class without paying application fee. The expert group will select one level A choir from each category to further take part in the CICF Closing Concert & High Level Choral Presentation. Those choirs will get the chance to receive the CICF Choral Development Funds.
2. Evaluation Rules A. Categories No. Category Age Size 1 Children s 6 12 25 50 2 Youth 13 18 25 50 3 Adult Mixed 19 49 25 50 4 Adult Male 19 49 18 50 5 Adult Female 19 49 18 50 6 Senior Mixed above 50 25 50 7 Senior Male above 50 18 50 8 Senior Female above 50 18 50 9 Vocal Ensemble none 4 16 10 Popular/Jazz none 4 16 11 Natural Style none 4 30 12 Folk none 4-16 The size of category 1 to 8 include conductor, piano accompanist, no more than 5 special instrument players. There is no size limitation to category 9 to 12. Based on the organizing committee rule, it will be acceptable for each choir to have no more than 10% singers over category age limitation. Choirs who do not fit the category description will be disqualified from the expert remark. Participated choirs can at most choose to take part in 2 categories evaluation system. Application fee will be charged accordingly. B. Accompany Accompany of piano, accordion, a cappella or less than 5 light ethnic instrument(s) will be acceptable. The organizing committee will only provide the choir with piano. All other instruments should be carried by choirs themselves. No recording is permitted. C. Repertoire Choirs will be allowed to sing no more than 3 songs from home or abroad. If any published piece is included, please adopt the original scores or authorized score. No unauthorized copy or hand written score is permitted. Choirs should sing exact the same based on the original score without re-composition. Please pay attention to the copyright protection. All related legal problem shall be solved by choirs themselves. D. Time limit Choirs will be able to sing no more than 15 minutes from the start of the prelude music till the end of singing. Any singing over 15 minutes will cause loss of points. E. Performance arrangement & order All performance arrangement and order will be determined by the organizing committee. Order to perform will be decided by draw lots.
F. Scores Each participated choir should bring 7 paper scores of each song including the name of the song, composer, lyrics and adapter (if have) and submit them to the organizing committee during their reception. All scores should be standard stave. 3. Choral Evaluation Committee & System A. China International Chorus Festival sets Choral Evaluation Committee (Evaluation Committee as follows) with 5 sub evaluation groups to proceed professional evaluation to all participated choirs. Committee consists of acknowledged senior music experts including composers, conductors, theorist, vocal artists and scholars etc. Each expert sub-group will include 5 experts with 3 of them are international choral experts. B. The Evaluation Committee will judge each choir s basic skills, vocal techniques and artistry: a). Basic skills: Intonation (the distance of interval & absolute pitch), faithfulness (speedtempo, rhythm, dynamics, accuracy of expression mark); b). Vocal techniques: Tone production, diction, blending, balance and overall c). Artistry: Stylistic performance of structure, moderation, rhythm and color & general and dynamics. To improve the accuracy of the evaluation, jury committee will give a maximum of 10 points for each single composition according to criteria a) and for the overall performance according to criteria b) and c) respectively. Each of the three parts has a maximum score of 10 and the total score of the choir will be the average score of the first part plus the rest two parts. The average of the adjudicators scores is the final score of the choir.
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ 1 Composition 1 6 2 Composition 2 7 3 Composition 3 7 Scoring method: criteria a) (average of 1-3)+criteria 6.67 7 8 b)+criteria c) Final score 21.67 The final score of each choir will be announced at the end of the evaluation. Choir will get the marking sheet with the adjudicators signature. Form attached is the sample marking sheet. As the evaluation rules are completely connected with the international conventions, this system are agreed by both IFCM and China Choral Association, which breaking the tradition of fixing the number of awards in advance but to build an individual scoring system and present the signed comments of all experts together with certificate as the proof and memory of CICF.
4. Evaluation Result No portion of evaluation standard will be set in advance. It will be determined based on the suggestion of the expert group. The organizing committee will give trophy and certificate to all participating choirs. A. Levels: all choirs will be classified in to level A, B, C and D based on the evaluation result. B. High Level Performance of Closing concert & CICF Development Funds: the expert group will select one choir who received the evaluation of level A from each category to be involved in the High Level Performance & CICF closing concert. Through the voting of 25 experts, those who receive top 3 votes from the expert group will awarded with CICF Choral Development Fund and the trophy. The price of the fund will be 50,000 RMB, 30,000 RMB and 10,000 RMB. C. Individual Honors (TBC): a) Elite Choral Conductor: will be chosen according to the evaluation and consensus of expert group. The winner will be awarded with trophy and certificate; b) Elite Piano Accompanist: will be chosen according to the evaluation and consensus of expert group. The winner will be awarded with trophy and certificate; c) Choirs for Peace & Friendship: for oversea choirs with trophy and certificate.
Evaluation Sheet for the 14 th CICF Category: 组别 : Choir: 合唱团 : Conductor 指挥 : Accompanist 伴奏 : Song 1: 参评曲目 1: 新作品 New Work: Song 2: 参评曲目 2: 新作品 New Work: Song 3: 参评曲目 3: 新作品 New Work: Judging Criteria / 评分标准 Full Score / 最高分 Awarded Score / 得分 Basic Skills / 基础能力 Intonation (the distance of interval & absolute pitch) / 音准 ( 横向旋律纵向和声 ) Faithfulness / 对作品的忠实度 1 节奏 2Rhythm / 节拍 3Speed & Tempo / 速度 4 Dynamics / 力度 5 风格 Accuracy of Expression Mark 6 各种表情记号的准确度 10 Vocal Techniques / 声音技巧 Tone Production / 音色美感 Diction / 用声力度 Blending / 声部统一 Balance / 声部间的平衡 Overall Harmony / 整体的和谐度 Artistry / 艺术表现 Stylistic Performance of structure, moderation, rhythm and color & General Impression and Dynamics / 情感层次 舞台效果等诸方面的综合艺术表现力 整体的完整性及感染力 10 10 Total Score / 合计 30 Nomination for Excellent Conductor / 优秀指挥提名 ( ) Nomination for Excellent Accompanist / 优秀伴奏提名 ( ) Comments / 评语 : Jury Member s Signature / 专家签字
VI. Choral Exchange Performance The organizing committee will arrange every choir with opportunity to exchange the joy of singing with choristers from all over the world, singing for the world peace and friendship, sharing the skills and experience of choral music.
VII. Choral Club For the purpose of celebrating, exchanging and learning, the organizing committee will establish a Choral Club for Chinese and international choirs who stay in the choral camp. Besides, choral lovers will also be able to enjoy delicious Chinese cuisine, shop for special designed souvenirs, improvise, exchange scores and CD with other choirs in the club. The Choral Club will become a Fiesta for choral lovers during the Festival. VIII. Sightseeing Being the capital city of China, Beijing is the international modern metropolis and one of the Four Great Ancient Capitals in China. With more than 3000-year history, Beijing owns abundant touristic resources who also has 6 world cultural heritages in the city. The organizing committee will arrange choirs to visit the Forbidden City (largest imperial palace in the world), Tian anmen Square (largest city center square), Temple of Heaven and the Great Wall.
IX. Application 1. Application A. Request application form through telephone, fill the form and send to : kevind@tqip.org B. Apply through provincial choral association (Chinese domestic choirs) 2. Registration Materials A. Application form with all the required information filled; B. Introduction of the choirs (no more than 200 words) and biography of the conductor (no more than 150 words); C. Photos of the choir (no less than 3) and the conductor (2). The photo quality should be 300 dpi or higher; D. Scores of each composition (7 paper scores as well as digital scores of each piece for both competitive and demonstrative choirs); E. Compositions must be performed in accordance with the composer s original score. Change of tone or adaptation should be marked with the adapter s name. Participating choirs must respect the published score and take full responsibility for any copyright issues. 3. Registration deadline March 31
X. Reception According to the regulation of China International Chorus Festival, to guarantee the smooth operation of whole events, the reception service of all participated choirs will be provided by China Cultural International Tours Inc. which is the officially designated reception unit. TQI Performance will coordinate all information. Reception Contents Activities Notes Time July 19th July 25th, 2018 Hotel Four Star Meal Three meals per day (from the breakfast on July 19th to the breakfast on July 25th ) Bus Bus with air conditioner Tour Guide Whole stay Opening Ceremony Whole Choir Performance 2 exchange performances with other choirs Exchange Exchange activities with other choirs Choral Club Celebrate and communicate with other choirs Closing Ceremony Choir representatives Sightseeing Entering tickets of Great Wall, Temple of Heaven and Forbidden city Other optional items (performance observing, master class, etc) could be found in announcements by the Organizing Committee
XIII. Photographs and Audiovisual Products All copyrights of photographs and recording materials produced by CICF Organizing Committee during the 14 th CICF are owned by the organizing committee. CICF Organizing Committee is authorized to use and advertise relative materials of the choirs (including record of performances) on media or internet. TQI PERFORMANCE P.O. BOX 23012 OVERLAND PARK, KS 66283-0012 KEVIN DIVINE KEVIND@TQIP.ORG 877 898-8687