Shenzhen Senior High School Lily Girls Choir
Regarded as a choir of national excellence in China and the cultural name card of Shenzhen, Shenzhen Senior High School Lily Girls Choir has actively appeared on domestic and international stages in the recent years. The choir has received numerous honors and awards domestic and abroad, including the championship of the teenager group at the World Choir Games 2019, grand champion at the 5^th International Johannes-Brahms Choir Festival & Competition in Germany, and the first prize for Children’s Choir competition and the “Biggest Fans” award in the 36^th Tolosa International Choral Festival in Spain.

Founded in 1997, Lily Girls Choir is generously supported by Shenzhen Senior High School. As its name "Lily" suggests, this choir is an excellent troupe characterized by harmony, friendship, cooperation and sincerity. Under the leadership of Xizhen Wang, an expert in children’s chorus, Lily Girls Choir has developed into an outstanding students’ choir who plays a leading and exemplary role in China. In 2010, Manxue Hu took over as the choir’s conductor. In 2015, the choir transformed from a children’s choir to a girls’ of more than 105 choir members.

The choir has been praised as “clear, bright, penetrating, warm, colorful”, and “touches the hearts of the audience”. They dedicate themselves to exploring and promoting the culture of Chinese multiethnic music and build up their repertoire based on the traditional music classics as well as the new prominent works. They perform both traditional and internationally well-known pieces, as well as the premieres of specially commissioned works from internationally recognized composers.

Shenzhen Senior High School Lily Girls Choir performs more than 20 concerts each year and has been invited to appear on stages of famous domestic and foreign choral festivals, as well as other major occasions. So far, they have toured more than 20 countries and regions and successfully collaborated with many well-known conductors and orchestras.
 

 

Conductor: Manxue Hu
Teaching for 30 years, Manxue Hu has dedicated herself to the promotion of teenagers’ music and was awarded the honorary titles of “Ten Recipients of the Excellence in Teaching Service” and “Outstanding Woman Representative” awarded by Shenzhen municipal government.

Manxue had engaged in piano teaching at Jiangxi Normal University from 1990 to 1997 and had successfully held piano recitals. In 1997, she was transferred to Shenzhen Senior High School and became one of the founders of Shenzhen Senior High School Lily Girls Choir, taking charge of piano accompaniment and chorus choreography. In 2005, she studied choral conducting at the Central Conservatory of Music under the tutelage of such well-known conductors as Hongnian Yang and Lin Chen. She took over as the conductor of Shenzhen Senior High School Lily Girls Choir in 2010 and led the choir to visit North Korea and Serbia for arts communication together with government delegations. In 2016, she led the choir to perform at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse for the cultural performance of China-EU Education Ministers Conference. She had served on the jury of the 4^th International Choir Assemblies EURASIA CANTAT in Russia.

In 2011 and 2016, she led Lily Girls Choir to successfully tour National Center for the Performing Arts, Shenzhen Concert Hall, and Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. She has also been invited to hold numerous concerts and workshops at influential choral festivals home and abroad. In July of 2012, she was one of the representatives of China to give a speech on World Choral Education Conference organized by International Federation of Choral Music. Under the leadership of Hu, Lily Girls Choir won the championship of the teenage group and the second prize of a cappella folksong group in the World Choir Games 2019. In 2014, she led the choir to participate in the 8^th World Choral Games in Latvia and gained the golden prizes of the Music Contemporary category and the Female Chamber Choir category. She won the Excellent Conductor Prizes respectively of the 1^st Shenzhen Choir Festival and the 4^th National Elementary and Middle School Arts Fair.
 
Program:
The Swallow Returns in Spring
In This Sweet Summertime
Autumn
The Joy of Snowflakes
Yo-Hai-Yo
A-Ka-La
The Swan Goose
A Dancing Rainbow Dress
Seeing Off the Red Army Ten Times
Night at the Naval Port
Light of Million Hopes
I Love You, China
Lu Zhai
An Xiang • Shu Ying
Wandering Bird
The Brightest Star in the Night Sky
Sound the Trumpet
Papagena and Papageno, from Die Zauberflöte
Gloria
Six Sunsets
Echoes of the Lost World
 
(Please check program updates at the concert.)