Eurovision Choir (formerly Eurovision Choir of the Year) is

choral A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

competition organised by the

European Broadcasting Union The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the C ...

(EBU) and the and modeled after the latter's World Choir Games. Participation is open to member broadcasters of the EBU. The inaugural competition took place in 2017 in

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the B ...

, Latvia and was won by Slovenia. The second edition took place in

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has a ...

, Sweden in 2019 and was won by Denmark. Planning for a third edition was canceled in June 2021 by Interkultur; a host broadcaster for the event had not been selected before the announcement, nor had any countries announced their intent to take part. In October 2022, it was announced by the EBU that Eurovision Choir would return in 2023, hosted by

Latvijas Televīzija Latvijas Televīzija (''Latvian Television'', LTV) is the state-owned public service television broadcaster in Latvia. LTV operates two channels, LTV1 in Latvian and LTV7 (previously called LTV2) in Latvian with selected programming in Russian ...

for the second time in the contest's history.

Origins

Eurovision Choir launched by the

(EBU) in 2017, and is the most recent new event to be launched since the '' Magic Circus Show'' (2010). The event consists of non-professional choirs who are members of the EBU, with the inaugural contest having taken place on 22 July 2017, hosted by the Latvian broadcaster

(LTV), and coincided with the closing ceremony of the European Choir Games 2017. The event was officially confirmed on 30 November 2016 depending on a reasonable amount of interest from active members of the European Broadcasting Union. On 21 July 2017, it was announced that the Eurovision Choir of the Year would be a biennial contest unless viewing figures were higher than expected. The concept of Eurovision Choir was first discussed in 2014 as a contest organised by the Latvian national broadcaster LTV and the network

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, pl ...

, following the positive reception of "Born in Riga", a concert organised by LTV. LTV approached multiple broadcasters including the EBU and Interkultur regarding the organisation of a new contest reaching a wider audience.

Format

Participating EBU-member broadcasters select a non-professional choir or ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without Musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differ ...

'' ensemble to represent their home country to compete for the title of the Eurovision Choir of the Year, with prizes including a recording contract for the winning choir. Each choir performs an unaccompanied set of approximately six minutes in any genre and is adjudicated by a panel of choral music professionals who decide the winner. In 2019, three finalists were chosen to present a second set by which the final ranking was decided.

Participation

Listed are all the countries that have ever taken part in the competition alongside the year in which they made their debut:

Hosting

Unlike other Eurovision contests, where the host country is or is chosen by the previous year's winning country, Eurovision Choir has been held as a component of Interkultur's Grand Prix of Nations & European Choir Games, with the contest being held in the country hosting said events. Most of the expense of the contest is covered by commercial sponsors and contributions from the other participating nations. The table below shows a list of cities and venues that have hosted Eurovision Choir, one or more times. Future venues are shown in ''italics''.

Winning entries

References

External links

* {{European Broadcasting Union Eurovision Choir of the Year Choral festivals Singing competitions Choir of the Year European music Recurring events established in 2017 2017 establishments in Europe Awards established in 2017