Country representing: Costa Rica
Number of performers in the whole group: 30
Competitions Participating In: Mixed Choirs, Open Choirs, Adult Folk Song Choirs
Biography:
The Coro de Cámara UCR is a choral group based in Costa Rica.
The UCR Coral project was born in 2011 within the University of Costa Rica as a project to educate, share and celebrate choral music among the Costa Rican public, opening its doors to talented and invested people who didn’t have previous musical experience.
Notable Achievements
Some highlights across their 13 years of uninterrupted work include international classical works Magnificat in D major BWV243 (J. S. Bach); Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina (C. Orff); and The Messiah (G.F. Händel); Aida, (G. Verdi); Ninth Symphony, (L. v. Beethoven); Polovtsian Dances (A. Borodin). Additionally the choir has performed great works of Latin American oratorio such as Misa Criolla (A. Ramírez) and Las últimas siete palabras de Cristo (A. Monestel), as well as a number of global premieres of Costa Rican composer Marvin Camacho, such as Salmos Cotidianos (2012), Stabat Mater (2013), Cantata Negra (2018), Sinfonía N°4 de las Hojas (2023) and Te Deum y Poema (2023).
Coro de Cámara UCR was formalised in 2022 by gathering the most promising voices from UCR Coral together for the performance and recording of M. Camacho’s Cantata Negra, work which was then toured in Spain in the cities of Madrid (Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando) and Granada (Universidad de Granada). In 2023 their recording of Cantata Negra was nominated for the Latin Grammy awards, and received a gold medal in the Global Music Awards. Throughout 2023 the chamber choir worked with Mexican composers A. Ruiz, A. Ramírez, F. Cano and L. Armijo to premiere their works in Costa Rica and traveled to Mexico to continue performing in prestigious venues such as the Palacio de Bellas Artes, Castillo de Chapultepec and Sala Xochipili (UNAM).
In 2024 the choir has focused on baroque works such as Gloria RV589 (A. Vivaldi), Hertz und Mund und Tat und Leben BWV147 and Weihnachtsoratorium BWV248 (J.S. Bach) as well as international contemporary music and Costa Rican Afro-Caribbean folklore.
UCR Coral continues to be conducted by founder Mr. Didier Mora.
