What are the world's greatest choirs?

Answer 1

It would be impossible to pick out one specific choir as the best in the world, because it is a highly subjective matter. It all boils down to the personal tastes in music of every individual.

Russia is one of many countries famous for it's choirs. There are also several huge choirs worldwide known for singing in Hollywood movies. If you're not looking for any specific choirs, I suggest you participate in a discussion on the topic.

Answer 2

The question is difficult to answer, since the best professional choirs generally do not participate in international choir competitions, and they often focus on different repertoires. It also is a very subjective matter, seeing how different people simply like different things.

A few examples of prominent professional choirs from Europe:

- The Russian Red Army Choir / Alexandrov Ensemble

- The Swedish Radio Choir

- The Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir

- The Netherlands Chamber Choir

- Kammerchor Stuttgart

- Accentus (Paris-based)

Among non-professional choirs, there are so called "grand prix" competitions where two choirs have managed to win the finals twice:

(1) The "Philippine Madrigal Singers " from the Philippines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_Madrigal_Singers). They are the first and only choir in the world to have won the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing twice (1997 and 2007).

and

(2) the " Akademski Pevski Zbor Tone Tomšič " from Slovenia. They won European Grand Prix for Choral Singing in 2002 and 2008.As always, comparing musical performances is highly subjective, but hopefully this provides some insight.