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Classical 101

Columbus Youth Choirs and Director Win Top Honors in International Competition

Una Voce women's choir.
Columbus Children's Choir
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Columbus Children's Choir
Una Voce women's choir.

Two Columbus youth choirs and their director won multiple honors in an international choir competition recently amid a slew of pandemic workarounds.

The Una Voce women鈥檚 choir won the Grand Prix in the . Jeanne Wohlgamuth, the ensemble鈥檚 director and also artistic director of its parent organization, the , was given the prize for Best Conductor in the competition.

Wohlgamuth also led Una Voce, an ensemble of 7th through 12th graders, to win the top prize in the competition鈥檚 Equal Voice Choirs division, and the Columbus Children鈥檚 Choir鈥檚 New World Singers, a mixed ensemble of 6th through 12th graders, to win the top prize in the Children and Youth Choirs division.

Watch the prize-winning performances by Una Voce and the New World Singers here:

The Una Voce women鈥檚 choir performs Somewhere Over the Rainbow, arr. Russ Robinson

The Una Voce women鈥檚 choir performs Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child, arr. Rosephanye Powell

The New World Singers perform Javier Busto鈥檚 Salve Regina

Dr. T.J. Harper, president of the competition鈥檚 jury and director of choral activities at Loyola Merrymount University in Los Angeles, praised Una Voce鈥檚 Gran Prix-winning performance for its technical assurance and musical sophistication.

What was so remarkable about this choir was that we were able to hear a very clear and sophisticated sense of choral tone that the conductor has for the choir,鈥 Harper said. 鈥淭here was a very high level of ensemble awareness. You could tell the singers were able to listen to each other at a very high level. And there was also the ability of the choir to communicate the emotional content of the music in a very effective way.鈥

Harper also said Wohlgamuth won Best Conductor laurels with her ability to communicate musicality through nonverbal gestures.

鈥淎s a jury, we were all so impressed with (Wohlgamuth鈥檚) ability to lead through her nonverbal communication. Her musical interpretation was very clearly defined in her gesture, and it was then beautifully replicated in the voices. So there was this great communication between the conductor and the singers, which is why this conductor, specifically, was given top honors,鈥 Harper said.

Jeanne Wohlgamuth, artistic director of the Columbus Children's Choir
Courtesy of Columbus Children's Choir
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Columbus Children's Choir
Jeanne Wohlgamuth, artistic director of the Columbus Children's Choir

Una Voce and the New World Singers competed against 34 other choirs from Italy, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Greece, Malaysia, Lithuania, Russia, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia and China. Una Voce and the New World Singers were advanced with eight other ensembles to compete for the Grand Prix.

The competition is normally held in Rimini, Italy, but because of the ongoing pandemic, choirs entered this year鈥檚 competition by submitting performances on video. The competition jury judged the video performances, then presented them in November.

Also in response to the pandemic, in 2020 Wohlgamuth transformed Una Voce from a mixed chorus into two separate men鈥檚 and women鈥檚 ensembles, so the singers could practice more safely in person in smaller groups.

鈥淔rom all the research that I did, the safest way to have in-person rehearsals was to break the choir into different ensembles of no more than 15 to 18 people. That way we were able to socially distance with masks and the windows open and all the safety precautions and still rehearse in person,鈥 Wohlgamuth said.

The pandemic has created unique obstacles for choirs, but Wohlgamuth says being able to participate in this year鈥檚 competition online and avoid the expense of traveling to Italy meant her choirs could compete.

鈥淭hese international competitions that I would like to take my singers to, we can鈥檛 financially afford,鈥 Wohlgamuth said. 鈥淢any of these competitions have gone online for the past two years, and it鈥檚 presented some really exciting opportunities for us.鈥

Classical 101 Midday Host Jennifer Hambrick is a member of the Columbus Children鈥檚 Choir鈥檚 board of trustees.

Jennifer Hambrick unites her extensive backgrounds in the arts and media and her deep roots in Columbus to bring inspiring music to central Ohio as Classical 101鈥檚 midday host. Jennifer performed with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Civic Orchestra of Chicago before earning a Ph.D. in musicology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.