''Battle of the Choirs'' was an Australian

reality Reality is the sum or aggregate of all that is real or existent within a system, as opposed to that which is only imaginary. The term is also used to refer to the ontological status of things, indicating their existence. In physical terms, r ...

talent competition A talent show is an event in which participants perform the arts of singing, dancing, lip-syncing, acting, martial arts, playing an instrument, poetry, comedy or other activities to showcase skills. Many talent shows are performances rather ...

that premiered on the

Seven Network The Seven Network (commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is a major Australian commercial free-to-air television network. It is owned by Seven West Media Limited, and is one of five main free-to-air television networks in Australia ...

on 15 June 2008. The show was hosted by

David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held c ...

, with the judging panel consisting of

Jonathon Welch Jonathon Charles Welch (born 5 October 1958) is an Australian choral conductor, opera singer and voice teacher. As a singer, Welch has been a tenor for the Victoria State Opera, Lyric Opera of Queensland and Opera Australia. During 2006 Welc ...

Iva Davies Ivor Arthur Davies, AM (born 22 May 1955), known professionally as Iva Davies, is an Australian singer, songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Davies' music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in t ...

Charli Delaney Sharlene Marie Zeta Robinson (born 8 March 1981), known professionally as Charli Robinson previously as Charli Delaney, is an Australian television and radio presenter, most famously known as an original member of children's musical group Hi-5 ...

, and George Torbay. It was won by the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir. The format of the show is based on an idea by

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singer and

chorister 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 ...

Caroline af Ugglas Caroline Thérese af Ugglas Liljedahl (born 7 April 1972) is a Swedish singer, artist and chorister. Af Ugglas created the format for a televised choir contest, which was picked up by NBC in the United States as the show ''Clash of the Choirs' ...

which has been previously adapted by many countries, most notably as ''

Clash of the Choirs ''Clash of the Choirs'' is a reality talent contest miniseries that debuted on NBC in the United States on December 17, 2007. There were four episodes scheduled in the “quick competition”. Maria Menounos is the host of the program, which wa ...

'' in the

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. The series involves 16 community choirs of up to 40 members from around Australia competing against each other in a knockout competition that sees them performing songs from many different musical genres. The winning choral group will receive $100,000 in prize money and a recording deal with

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Structure

The show features 16 choirs of up to 40 members participating in the competition, with 4 choirs competing per episode for the initial Round of 16. Each of those choirs has a Top Tune and a Battle Tune which they have prepared before the competition, and part of a Surprise Medley which is revealed to them on the day. During the show, each of the choirs presents their Top Tune to the judges, and then the Surprise Medley occurs, in which all of the choirs sing part (45 seconds) of a medley. The judges then deliberate, and send one group to the next stage of the competition, and immediately eliminate another group. After that, the two choirs remaining are left to sing their Battle Tunes, one straight after the other, and the judges decide who gets promoted to the next leg of the competition and who gets eliminated. The stages of the competition are (in order): Round of 16 (16 choirs, 4 episodes), Quarter finals (8 choirs, 2 episodes), semi final (4 choirs, 1 episode), grand final (3 choirs, 1 episode).

Final results

The winner of was the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir. Melbourne community choir Vox Synergy battled the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir for the top prize. Box Synergy sang of the

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan OC OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is '' Surfacing'', for which she won two Grammy Awards (ou ...

song "

Angel In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God. Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles inclu ...

, while the University of Newcastle Chamber Choir won with their arrangement of

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's "Bicycle Race", and Sting's 'Straight to My Heart'. Third finalis
Harambee
was eliminated after the Surprise Medley.

Reception

Viewership

References

External links