| Let the Peoples Sing | |
| Year: | 2024 |
| Semi: | 19 January 2024 |
| Final: | 6 October 2024 |
| Venue: | London, United Kingdom |
| Presenters: | Ian Skelly Suzi Digby |
| Host: | British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) |
| Winchoir: | Copenhagen Girls' Choir |
| Entries: | 8 |
| Finalists: | 8 |
| Vote: | Jury voting by a panel of eight judges to decide the winning choir |
Let the Peoples Sing 2024 was the 47th edition of the international choral competition Let the Peoples Sing. It was organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) as host broadcaster. For the first time in the contest, the finalists competed live from their own countries, with the performances assessed by an eight-member jury voting from the BBC in London. This was the first time since 2003 that the city of London hosted the contest, having done so for the inaugural contest in 1961 until 1982, and once again in 2001 and 2003. The final was presented by Ian Skelly and Suzi Digby.[1]
Eight choirs from seven countries participated, with Finland being the only country who competed in both adult's and children/youth's categories. The winner was Copenhagen Girls' Choir from Denmark. The adult category was won by Hägersten A Cappella from Sweden and the inaugural Youth Jury prize was won by from Switzerland.
For the first time since the contest's inception, the finalists competed live from their own countries. However, their performances were assessed by an eight-member jury voting from the British Broadcasting Corporation in London.[2]
Competing countries who are members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) radio organizations were eligible to compete in the contest, who can enter choir groups in two categories, adult and children/youth.
The competition was organized in two rounds: semi-finals and finals. The EBU jury for the semi-finals took place remotely and based their result on audio listening only, while the EBU international jury convened face-to-face at the BBC in London to listen live on air to the eight finalists and decide on the winner.
In the semi-final, each choral group submitted a recording of 10–20 minutes, consisting of at least three contrasting pieces of music, at least two pieces must be sung a cappella. The recording must include pieces of music from at least two different stylistic periods or musical genres/styles and must be performed in one take and cannot be edited.
The final was held in the form of a public concert organised and broadcast live by the EBU radio organizations that entered choirs selected as finalists. Each choral group performed an 8-10 minute programme of music, which were different from that of the semi-finals and which was performed completely acoustically. There were no restrictions as to periods and styles.
The winning choir was presented the Silver Rose Bowl. For the first time in the contest's history, the winning children/youth choir was also awarded the Youth Jury prize by the representatives from the European Choral Association Youth Committee.[3]
On 30 June 2024, the EBU announced the jury for the final:[4] [5]
Jonathan Manners – BBC Singers producer (co-chair)
– Yle journalist (co-chair) Bob Chilcott – conductor and composer (guest juror)
Natalia Popudribko – Radio Kultura head of the Art Fund Department of Chief Editorial Office for Music Programmes
Albert Torrens – programme editorThe official list of participants was published on 4 February 2024 and included seven countries,[6] with Finland being the only country who competed in both categories.[7] Copenhagen Girls Choir from Denmark won the competition and received the Silver Rose Bowl, with Hägersten A Cappella from Sweden winning the adult category and from Switzerland winning the Youth Jury prize.[8] BarbAros, the 2019 winner, performed as an interval act.[9]
| Draw[10] | Country | Choir | Song(s)[11] [12] [13] [14] | Conductor[15] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Children's/youth category | |||||
| 1 | BNR Children's Choir |
| Hristo Nedyalkov | ||
| 2 |
| Christian Klucker | |||
| 3 | Copenhagen Girls Choir |
| Anne-Terese Sales | ||
| 4 | Chorus Iucundus |
| |||
| Adult category | |||||
| 5 | Encore |
| " – Tõnu Kõrvits
| Karin Tuul | |
| 6 |
| Kaija Viitasalo | |||
| 7 | Juventus |
| Valdis Tomsons | ||
| 8 | Hägersten A Cappella |
| Kerstin Börjeson | ||
| Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| BNR | Hristo Botev Radio | |||
| DR | DR P2 | Esben Tange | ||
| ERR | Klassikaraadio | and Ivo Heinloo | ||
| Yle | Noora Hirn and Riikka Holopainen | |||
| LR | Latvijas Radio P3 | Inta Pīrāga | ||
| SR | Sveriges Radio P2 | Jack Lantz | ||
| RTR | ||||
| SRF | Radio SRF 2 Kultur | Patricia Moreno | ||
| Broadcaster | Channel(s) | Commentator(s) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HR | hr2-kultur | Susanne Herzog | ||
| WDR | WDR 3 | |||
| RÚV | Rás 1 | Ása Briem | ||
| RTÉ | RTÉ lyric fm | |||
| NRK | NRK Klassisk | |||
| Suspilne | ||||