Half a Century Harmonic Progression of Festival Paduan Suara of ITB
By Fivien Nur Savitri, ST, MT
Editor Fivien Nur Savitri, ST, MT
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – Choir has been a familiar form of art especially to the people of Indonesia. Choir has generally been introduced since elementary education until higher education. Undeniably, Indonesia’s achievement in choir has brought Indonesia to International scene. One of those achievements came from ITB when Student Choir of ITB (PSM ITB) successfully brought home 2 gold medals and 5 special awards in the 5th Florence International Choir Festival in Florence, Italy.
Half a Century Flow of Melody 
In order to prepare the national choir teams for their participation in International competition, PSM ITB held Festival Paduan Suara ITB or ITB Choir Festival (FPS). This biennial festival will be hold for the 25th time on 15-20 September 2017 and bring the theme “Welcoming Half a Century Progress of FPS in Composing Indonesian Choir”
The 25th FPS ITB will open 7 categories, namely: Elementary, Middle, and High School Entries Choir, Indonesian Folk Song Choir, Adult Choir, Mixed Adults Choir, and a brand new category the Pop and Jazz Music Choir. This upgrade from PSM ITB appreciates the progression of public music taste toward popular music. Several professional musicians such as Dorcas Soenarjo, Daud Kosasih, and Budi Susanto Yohanes support this festival as the board of artistic directors.
FPS as a Pioneer
A pioneer in facilitating choir competition, FPS ITB was initially held in 1968. As an initiation step, FPS opened choir competition only for junior and senior high school students in Bandung. Positive welcome ensures this FPS Agenda to regularly be held biennially. In 1970, FPS opened public category. FPS has succeeded in fulfilling the need and development of choir, proven by the opening of child category in 1994 and women and men categories in 2000. Going to higher levels, FPS ITB became the first National choir festival in Indonesia in 2002. In 2010, FPS held ITB International Choir Competition (IICC), an international choir competition in 2015 that presented an A cappella group from The Netherlands on The Junction Concert session.
The 25th FPS ITB
Aside from choir festival, FPS ITB also presents workshop with professional speaker. It is expected that voice coaches and singers can improve their musicality in this choral workshop.
To participate in ITB 2017 Choir Festival, the team only has to register to the website at fps.psm-itb.com. After the registration is closed, selection will be made to decide which choir team passes to the next phase. Registration is open until 30 April 2017
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