Kimberley Rocks at Catholic Choir festival

by hazelelponiSC · Published December 29, 2018 · Updated December 27, 2018

St Peter’s Choir from Nelspruit, Witbank diocese, at the 2018 Interdiocese Music Festival. (Photo: Radio Veritas)

Kimberley and Pretoria won big at the 2018 Interdiocese Music Festival at the Sydney Choma Banquet Hall in Middelburg, Mpumalanga, this month.

The annual choir festival is hosted by the Interdiocese Catholic Church Choirs Music Association (ICCCMA).

The festival, which has run for over 40 years, showcased winning choirs which had passed an elimination round in their individual dioceses during September.

“The intention is to get young people interested in choirs and to improve the standard of Catholic choral music in parishes,” explained Khanya Litabe of Radio Veritas.

Pritchard Boyce, chair of the music subcommittee, said that this year the standard of music had improved across all categories.

“This is evidenced in the high mark allocation by the adjudicators,” he said, noting that this year’s festival set a new record for platinum scores (marks above 90%).

The finals included a diverse repertoire performed by the various choirs in categories including hymns, liturgical songs, and excerpts from well-known choral works.

These were adjudicated by a festival panel of four judges: Primrose Bandla, Xolani Fraser Gqasana, Peter Qwabe, and George Mohlala.

Notable guests included Fr Smangaliso Mkhatshwa, a co-founder of the festival, and Bishop Giuseppe Sandri of Witbank.

The bishop celebrated Mass for all participants on the festival’s last day.

“After this success, we are looking forward to next year and hoping to welcome back all dioceses which didn’t participate this year. It looks very promising,” said ICCCMA council member Tula Ndlovu.

Next year’s festival will be hosted in Polokwane diocese in December.

Kimberley diocese came out tops this year, as the overall winner at the festival.

The winners in various categories were:

Male category (singing “IsileyiSam” by M Khumalo): Kreste Modisa choir from Mafikeng, Kimberley.
Female category (singing “Plaude all’arrivo” by Verdi): St Peter Claver choir from Mamelodi, Pretoria.
Duet category (singing “Il core vi dono” by Mozart): Moya choir from Tembisa, Pretoria.
Mezzo-soprano category (singing “Ave Maria” by Schubert): St Conrad’s choir from Ramotswa, Gaborone.
Youth category (singing “O Boitshepo” by B Boatametse): St Bernadette’s choir from Gaborone West, Gaborone.
Youth category (singing “O Signore” by Verdi): Holy Family choir from Mafikeng, Kimberley.
Development section category (singing “Morena Re Gaugele” by S Matlakala): St John the Evangelist choir from Pampierstad, Kimberley.
Development section category (singing “Panis Angelicus” by Franck): Sts Peter & Paul choir from Seshego, Polokwane.
Development section category (singing “Mvana kaNkulunkulu” by Q Sibisi): Holy Rosary choir from Glen Cowie, Witbank.
Standard category (singing “Konyana Ya Modimo” by M Masenya): Our Lady of Fatima choir from Galeshewe, Kimberley.
Standard category (singing “Ruri” by M Moerane): Our Lady of Fatima choir from Galeshewe, Kimberley.
Standard category (singing “Gloria from Mass in C” by Mozart): Regina Pacis choir from Seshego, Polokwane.
Large category (singing “Ucwebile” by M Masenya): Moya choir from Tembisa, Pretoria.
Large category (singing “Bawo Baxolele” by CT Ngqobe): St Martin de Porres choir from Sunnyside, Pretoria.
Large category (singing “Light as Air at Early Morning” by Gounod): St Martin de Porres choir from Sunnyside, Pretoria.