A Cappella Choir Wins International Choral Competition

by Ashley Smith

The Samford University A Cappella Choir swept the top awards at the CantaRode International Choir Festival in the Netherlands in May. With a score of 95 points out of 100, they won first place among 13 choirs. They also won two other significant awards: the Audience Award and Best Conductor for professor Philip Copeland, who has led the A Cappella Choir since 2010.

Samford competed against 12 other chamber choirs from 10 different countries including Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Malaysia, Slovakia, Germany, Hungary and Estonia.

“This was a validating moment to realize that high standards are still valued, and that hard work pays off,” Copeland said. “But there is a step beyond the hard work, where passion, creativity, nuance and artistry win the day.”

This competition win is especially significant because of the high quality of the choirs that were involved, including the Sophia Chamber Choir from Ukraine and the University of Houston Concert Chorale. “I was honored that Samford was on the same stage as the Ukrainians and the University of Houston. To best them in competition was an unexpected and remarkable accomplishment for our size school,” Copeland said.

The judges for the competition were highly accomplished conductors from five different countries. A look at the judge’s scores shows that Samford was ahead in points during both rounds of the competition. Conductors had an opportunity to discuss their performances with the judges on the last day of the competition. “The judges were overwhelmingly positive in their feedback to us. It was a real moment. I realized that our choir had arrived at a new level of performance and musicianship,” Copeland said.

“As ambassadors for Samford, the A Cappella Choir exemplifies what it means for our students to achieve at the highest level of musical artistry. One of the concert hosts, Dirk Vande Woestyne, commented that the ensemble ‘performed at a quality level unknown to us,’ resulting in ‘a concert about which we will talk and refer for a long time to come,'" said Joel Davis, interim chair of the Division of Music.

The competition was the final stop of a 12-day international tour to Belgium and the Netherlands, its first international tour since 2018. The group toured and performed in Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp, Belgium.

This competition was the third international win in a row for the A Cappella Choir. In 2018, they won the Laurea Mundi Competition in Budapest, Hungary, and the Šiauliai Cantat in Lithuania in 2016. “International tours and competitions have been a hallmark of my time at Samford,” Copeland said. “The competitive element helps us become a better musical ensemble, but that isn’t my primary motivation in these trips. Our hope is that Samford students gain a new perspective about the world and their place in it. These gatherings teach us all that we are more alike than we are different, a perspective that is sorely needed in the world today.” ◗