THE internationally-acclaimed Kearsney College choir is currently taking stages in Europe by storm, playing to full to capacity venues across Germany and Spain.

Last week they performed in the famous Elbe Philharmonic Hall in Hamburg, where tickets to the 2100-seat venue were sold out months ahead. The boys’ superb voices and highly energetic performance style earned them standing ovations, thunderous applause and encores from audiences.

Professor Dr Horst Köhler, former president of Germany and former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), was the choir’s patron in his country. The boys also wowed audiences in Lüneburg at the Leuphana University’s 1000-seater auditorium, as well as in Bremen, Hagen and Hannover, where they performed in some beautiful and famous concert venues.

This week the choir is participating in the Golden Voices of Barcelona competition in Spain, where they’re competing in two categories – Youth Choirs of Equal Voices and Folklore.

The festival includes performances in churches, concert halls and marketplaces of Barcelona and the seaside resort Lloret-de-Mar. One of the tour highlights is the opportunity to perform in the famous Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. It remains the largest unfinished Catholic church in the world, with construction having started in 1882.

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The choir’s tour repertoire includes songs of freedom and the struggle, framed in a positive way to help remember South Africa’s past, yet also looking forward to a harmonious future; a new work titled A New Tomorrow created by Kearsney director of music Bernard Krüger, using quotations by Nelson Mandela and Steve Biko; and Johnny Clegg’s Asimbonga and O Siyeza (the Crossing).

The choir performed ABBA’s Does your mother know? as part of the German programme, where audiences love the music of ABBA.

They also focused on the war in Ukrain, including the number 99 Red Balloons, sung in Zulu, German and English, as well as a Ukrainian rap song Stefania, a powerful anti-war song.

Sethu Magubane, Kearsney’s 2024 head of choir, said he and the 54 touring boys had lots of fun learning to rap in Ukrainian. He toured with the College’s choir to Austria and Czechia in 2022 and believes this song will be a sure-fire crowd pleaser.

The Kearsney College choir boasts a long list of accolades, including 15 gold and seven silver medals at the World Choir Games (the Olympics for Choirs). It has become synonymous with vibrant, energetic performances and slick, professional productions.

With its signature blend of classical, pop and indigenous music, the choir continues to grow a large international following of appreciative supporters.

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