THE Tintagel Male Voice Choir has won a prestigious title after performing amongst 60 choirs at the world’s largest male choral event.
Singers from nine to 90 years old performed in churches and gardens, theatres, castles and major tourist attractions — with organisers estimating that the influx of choirs, their entourages and festival visitors have brought more than £1-million into the local economy.
Among the global visitors from this eighth biennial festival were choirs from Australia and America, Russia and across Europe, as well as Wales, Scotland, England and Cornwall itself.
Festival director, Rob Elliott, said: “It’s been such a pleasure to bring singers from all over the globe together for such a good humoured and harmonious event. This festival just goes from strength to strength and the more people who know about it, the better it gets.
“We’ve sold more tickets than ever before and there has been something for everyone, wherever in Cornwall they were. People who catch the choirs singing ‘out and about’ are just bowled over by the quality and the fun of it.”
This year’s festival emphasised the future for male choral singing in the form of brilliant young choirs from Cornwall and around the world. The festival was launched by St Petersburg Boys Choir, singing their hearts out on and around St Michael’s Mount, to the delight of the many day-trippers there.
There were home grown winners for the popular international youth choir competition at the Hall for Cornwall, as the Truro School Barbershop boys narrowly pipped last year’s winners, the Bromley Boy Singers.
Among the keenly fought adult competitions, it was the South Wales Gay Men’s Chorus who emerged victorious as the festival’s overall winners, their rendition of Somewhere Over the Rainbow bringing tears to the eyes of many in the audience.
Cornish winners came from bottom to top of the county, with Mousehole Male Voice Choir taking the title for Overall Best Cornish Choir, while Tintagel Male Voice Choir were the Best Cornish Choir for 40 Voices and Under.
Rob added: “It’s been a fantastic festival and we’ve all enjoyed it so much. Now we have to start again, on organising the event for 2019.”