BABALON | for choir (c.5')
 
Music and text | Gerson de Sousa Batista
 
Cover painting | Vilma de Sousa Batista
 
I created Babalon as a tribute to life, nature and birth, mainly inspired my dear lovely mother, Maria Luisa Sousa.
 
Babalon was awarded with the 1st Prize at the Singapore International Composition Competition 2020, and was premiered by the Raffles Singers Singapore in January 2021, in the Victoria Concert Hall (Singapore), conducted by Toh Ban Sheng.
 
"After careful judging by our esteemed panel of jury, Raffles Singers is pleased to announce the winners of the SICCC 2020.
 
1st Place: Babalon by Gerson Batista (Portugal)
2nd Place: Ave Maria by Tamás Barnabás Bánó (Hungary)
3rd Place: Reflections on Dies Irae by Jonathan Domingo (Philippines)
 
Artistic Comments from Dr Zechariah Goh (Singapore):
On behalf of the panel of esteemed judges Lorenzo Donati (Italy), Vytautas Miskinis (Lithuania), Eudenice Palaruan (Philippines), and Dr. Z. Randall Stroope (USA). I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to the 62 entries from the inaugural Singapore International Choral Composition Competition (SICCC)!
We are very pleased to read through all these carefully crafted choral creations by so many talented composers from all around the globe. The three winning works show very good understanding of choral writing, imaginations and originality. We are also deeply moved by the composers' sensitivity to text setting. We look forward to hearing these pieces in the near future.
Congratulations to all of you!”