Kārlis Ernests Klestrovs, representative of the co-management of high school students, says that the competition “Choir Wars” has gained recognition on the scale of Liepāja in recent years, reaching a large group of viewers and supporters both in person and on Facebook live.
This year, nine of the 11 classes of Liepāja State 1st Gymnasium High School took part in the competition, singing “Chorus Wars” with cinema and theater music songs, such as “Lilioma’s song,” “Adata,” “My daily song,” “Voice of the Cuckoo,” “Uz forward, Kurzeme,” “Blue Bird,” “Ballad from the show “Sveiks,” “Oh, beautiful youth,” “Road Song” and “Skauģu Diesmiņa.”
The responsible work of the jury was performed by director, producer, poet and singer Maija Kalniņa, Liepāja theater actors Hugo Puriņš and Anete Berķe, ethnomusicologist, project manager, accordionist, music teacher, Latvian Radio presenter Āriks Zeps.
“You were great, fantastic, each with something of their own,”
already after watching all the performances, said M. Kalniņa, admitting that it was a pleasure to listen to the contestants.
The first prize was won by the 11th class, which performed the song “Ballade” from the show “Šveiks”.
Jury representative H. Puriņš expressed that “it can be shown for money”, appraising their prepared performance. The only thing where you could “touch” is that you wanted to hear the boys’ voices more.
A. Berke admitted that he had a “lump in his throat” while listening to and seeing the emotional performance. “You could see the work you put in, the community, and it seemed that you really understood what you were singing about, what the message of the song was.”
The second place was taken by the 12th class, which performed the song “Adata” from the show “The Needle”, while the third was class 11c with the song “Cuckoo Voice” from the movie “Breathe Deeply”.
