The Student Choir (PSM) team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) competing in the 2019 Karangturi International Choir Competition (KICC) in Semarang.

ITS Campus, ITS News — The Student Choir (PSM) team of Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) again showed its glory through the 2019 Karangturi International Choir Competition (KICC). In this competition, PSM succeeded to win two gold medals for the Mixed Choir and Folklore categories.

KICC is a choir competition organized by the Karangturi National School. Placidus Kristadi Stefanugroho as chairman of the ITS PSM Committee said that the event also became the regeneration forum of ITS PSM management. “Maybe for most people, this event is just a regular competition, but for us, this is a place to get acquainted and learn the dynamics of the race,” said the man who is often called Stefan.

ITS PSM who consists of 57 singers participated in two of the seven contested categories. From these two categories, ITS won fourth place in the Mixed Choir category and fifth in the Folklore category. “We believe that both of these gold medals indicate that the ITS PSM team has a pretty good performance,” he said enthusiastically.

Competing against 58 other teams, the ITS PSM performed three songs for each category. In the Mixed Choir category, ITS PSM sang Scalvada Il Sol with Luca Marenzio as the composer, Swans with Eriks Esenvalds as the composer, and Birds of Paradise with Budi Susanto Yohanes and Amelio Pahlevi as composers. Whereas in the Folklore category, ITS PSM performed the Bungong Jeumpa song which composed by Amelio Pahlevi and the Piso Surit song which composed by Budi Susanto Yohanes. “Lastly, Luk Luk Lumbu song which composed by Budi Susanto Yohanes,” he explained.

Like the other competitions, ITS PSM also made a thorough preparation for the contest held in Semarang City. Before competing, an audition was conducted to recruit students who would join the KICC team. Not only that, those who recruited were then forged for 5 months until early November by Wasis Setiawan as ITS Music Developer. “We held routine exercises, three to six times per week,” he said.

According to Stefan, the biggest challenge he and his team experienced was to reach the point of solidarity and synergy between the singers. Some obstacles such as the difficulty of arranging the training schedule between singers were also felt by them. “Grateful that we can still control it,” he explained.

Stefan added that this competition was one way to improve the relationship between ITS PSM members. He hopes to create positive things by uniting the vision and mission of each individual who is incorporated through the same passion. “With this competition, it is hoped that it can add to the enthusiasm of the ITS PSM team to continue the process,” he concluded. (chi/hen/gayatri)