Paros Wins 2 Silvers at World Choir Games

2014-10-19

The Paros Chamber Choir led by Conductor Raffi Mikaelian participated in the 8th World Choir Games held on July 9-19 in Riga, the 2014 Cultural Capital of Europe. The World Choir Games also known as the Choir Olympics are held biennially. This year 27,000 participants from about 500 Choirs representing 70 countries gathered in the capital of Latvia. 

Paros, the only representative of Armenia, participated in two contest categories of the Champions’ Competition - "Mixed Chamber Choirs" and "Musica Sacra a Capella". 

Paros was deemed eligible for participation in the Champions' Competition since the Choir already had won two bronze diplomas in an international contest in Slovakia, in 2011. 

The participation in the Champions’ Competition in Riga was a huge success: Paros won silver medals in both categories. The Armenian Choir was inspired by the presence of many VIP guests including Roger Strauch, Chairman of the Paros Foundation (USA), the supporter of the Choir; Marina Kitaigorodski, Project Coordinator of the Abilis Foundation (Finland); and Beverley McGeown, Musical Director of the Open Arts Community Choir. All of these guests had traveled to Riga with the purpose to encourage and support the Paros Chamber Choir.

Before the trip to Latvia, Paros had already had a small victory. The Choir participated in the Facebook ChoirSelfie contest by shooting a video of Paros singing "My Song", the Official Song of the World Choir Games and won the second place. For this, the Choir was awarded with two prizes: a visit to the Laima Chocolate Museum and a meeting and photo shoot with the world famous King's Singers group.

The performances were not limited to the two contests. Paros gave a charity concert in a residence for senior people and performed at an open air concert. One of the most memorable days in Riga was the Choir’s visit to the largest Armenian Church in the Baltic countries - the St. Grigor Lusavorich Church. Paros performed a few sacred pieces and was warmly welcomed by the members of the Armenian community. The Choir members received a blessing from Priest Khosrov Stepanyan, Pastor of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Baltic countries.

Paros Chamber Choir extends its deepest gratitude to all of their supporters: VivaCell-MTS, the General Partner; Prime Minister of Armenia Hovik Abrahamyan; the Armenian Ministry of Culture; Paros Foundation and the Kulhanjian Strauch Family (USA); Abilis Foundation (Finland); Gratsia International Rehabilitation Center of the Armenian Red Cross; and Tigran Hekekyan, Artistic director and principal conductor, Little Singers of Armenia Choir. The entire one-week trip of Paros to Riga was filmed by the crew of the Semi-Open Windows led by talk show host Hrach Muradyan and was aired by ATV.

Enjoy watching the photos from the World Choir Games 2014 HERE and the special edition of Semi-Open Windows by ATV (with English subtitles) HERE.