Wednesday, July 24, 2013

...the Grand Champion Performers of the World

 

Pinoy singers win top prizes at 'Talent Olympics'

July 23, 2013
 
 
Two Filipina singers took home the top honors in the recently concluded World Championships of Performing Arts (WCOPA), a global singing competition also known as “The Talent Olympics.”
 
See http://www.wcopa.com/winners

Aldeza Ianna Dela Torre and Beverly Caimen were hailed as the Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World and the Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World respectively at the event held from July 12 to 22 at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel in Los Angeles, California.

 
Aldeza Ianna dela Torre and Beverly Caiman

And they were not the only Filipino performers taking home gold medals from the event. The singing group Gollayan Sisters clinched the Senior Grand Champion Vocal of the World title while Filipino model Reynaldo Gorospe was awarded the Male Model of the World.



Recording artist Jed Madela, who became the first Filipino to win the top prize at the WCOPA in 2005, was also inducted into the Hall of Fame after garnering multiple awards in the competition in previous years.



Madela said on Twitter that 2013 marks the first time Filipino singers bagged the top two awards in the contest.

In an interview with GMA News Online, the Philippine team’s manager Charie Vega said the entire contingent went through a grueling audition process and training prior to the competition.

According to Vega, she and another talent scout screened more than 100 singers from December 2012 to choose who to send to California for the WCOPA.

“Our criteria for selecting contestants obviously included the person’s voice quality. But more than that, he or she also has to have a powerful stage presence to make him or her stand out among the crowd. After all, the WCOPA is not just some local contest but a global competition,” she said.

More than vocal prowess, Vega believes it is the Filipino singers’ “quiet confidence” that impressed the WCOPA judges.

“The singers are really very talented but they can also be very shy. But what you notice about them is when they get on stage, they suddenly gain confidence. Unassuming lang sila but when they sing, they sing with all they’ve got,” she said.

Following WCOPA rules, all performers were only given a minute to sing in front of the judges.

According to a post on Caimen’s Facebook fan page, the petite singer from Batangas “owned the stage with a riveting version of ‘One Moment in Time.’”

The post, which was originally written by one Gerry Mercado, said Caimen “convinc[ed] everyone in the room that she needed just that, a moment in time. She hit the high notes and people applauded.”

The Philippine team’s manager said the singers made such an impact on the audience that some talent agencies in the United States have offered to sign them up as contract artists immediately.

She expressed hope, however, that Philippine recording studios will be equally as enthusiastic about taking the singers under their wing when they return to the Philippines.

Hall of Famer Madela echoed the same sentiment for his co-winners when he tweeted, “Sana pagbalik ng mga Pinoy na nanalo sa WCOPA, bigyan naman ng pansin ng kapwa Pinoy dyan sa atin.”

After leaving the WCOPA judges breathless with their talent, the award-winning performers now have to face the challenge of winning over the hearts of their fellow Filipinos. — BM, GMA News
 
 

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