The winners of the 1996 Syllabus

All first place finishers gave a concert Friday June 5, 1996 and were judged on their performances for the honor of being named to the Choir of the World at Kathaumixw Award. This award was given Saturday night July 6,1996 at the Closing Gala.

101-Childrens Choirs

Second Place

• Bloemfontein Childrens Choir, South Africa

• Conductor-Huibrie Verster

First Place

• Florida's Singing Sons Boychoir, USA

• Conductor-Jeffri Bantz

102-Youth Choirs

Second Place

• Kiimingin Kiurut, Finland

• Conductor-Liisa Raisanen

First Place

• Canticum Novum, Hungary

• Conductor-Lovrek Karoly

103-Mixed Choirs

Second Place

• Da Camera Singers, Canada

• Conductor-Melvin Unger

First Place

• University of Ottawa, Canada

• Conductor-Lawrence Ewashko

104-Equal Voice Choirs

Second Place

• Mama Mulberry Choir, Japan

• Conductor-Taeko Kuwabara

First Place

• Spevacky Zbor Slovenskuch Ucitelov, Slovakia

• Conductor-Peter Hradil

201-Chamber Choir

Second Place

• Sweet Debut, Canada

• Conductor-Michelle Chyzyk

First Place

• Kiimingin Kiurut, Finland

• Conductor-Conductor-Liisa Raisanen

202-Contempory Music

Second Place

• Kiimingin Kiurut, Finland

• Conductor-Liisa Raisanen

First Place

• Piedmont Children's Choir, USA

• Conductor-Robert Geary

203-Folk Music

Second Place

• Mama Mulberry Choir, Japan

  Conductor-Taeko Kuwabara

  First Place

• Kiimingin Kiurut, Finland

  Conductor-Liisa Raisanen

  First Place

• Raduga Music School, Russia

• Conductor-Zinaida Kuleshova

301-Vocal Solo (under 16)

Second Place

• Molly Haight, USA

First Place

• Avalon Wittmaier

302-Vocal Solo (under 25)

Second Place

• Megan Latham, Canada

First Place

• Magdelena Freind, Poland

303-Vocal Solo (over 25)

Second Place

• Pamela Wadden, Canada

First Place

• Mariske Fouce, South Africa

The Choir of the World at Kathaumixw Award

was presented to

Kiimingin Kiurut, Finland

Conductor-Liisa Raisanen

Kiimingin KiurutThe Finnish girls choir, the Kiiminki Kiurut (the Kiiminki Skylarks), comes from a Scandanavian country of thousands of lakes, snow, distinct culture and excellent choirs. The choir was formed in 1977 to provide an opportunity for young people in a small town of 8000 inhabitants near the Polar Circle to study and perform choral music. The Skylarks have been able to achieve world class results due to their mixture of skill, enthusiasm and hard work.

Since 1992 the choir has toured almost every year and have performed and competed in Sweden, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Great Britian and Australia. Adjucators comment on the choir's apparent enjoyment of singing and have applauded their innovative programming and performance style. They have been chosen "Youth Choir of the Year" by the Finnish Broadcasting Corporation in 1990 and 1992 when Finland was celebrating it's 75th anniversary of independance. The Ministry of Foreign affairs chose the Skylarks to represent Finland on it's tour to Australia. International contacts have played an important role among the activities of the choir. The Manchester Boys Choir and a Japanese Children's Choir, Shizuaoka, are two such contacts.

Since the early years of her childhood Liisa Raisanen's life has been influenced by music. After taking the primary school teacher's degree she continued her carrer as a musician by achieving the organist's degree at Oulu Music Institute and by graduating in Music from the Helsinki University Teacher's Departement. In 1977 she founded the Kiiminki Skylarks and has trained and conducted both children's and youth choirs in Kiiminki and Oulu. She has become known as one of the most outstanding choral directors in Finland, receiving several scholarships, a medal from the Churchill Foundation and the award of Director Cantus from Finland's President Marti Ahtisaari in 1994.