Founded in March 1987, the Inner Mongolia Youth Choir is an excellent choir and well-known in both home and abroad for its performances of cappella with Mongolian style. The choir has performed in Sydney Opera House, Shanghai Opera House, Beijing Concert Hall and Hong Kong Culture Hall, and their songs were highly acclaimed. President Jiang Zemin, commented once after watching their performance like "Your singing is fascinating".
In 1991, the choir participated in the 3rd Beijing Chorus Festival of China and won the 1st class honor and the Conductor Award with its rich cultural flavor and excellent performing techniques. In 1992 and 1993, the choir participated in the China International Chorus Festival held in Beijing and received high acclaim.
In 1993, when the choir performed in Hong Kong and Taiwan, they were warmly welcome and highly acclaimed. It was the first adult choir from the mainland China that ever performed in Taiwan. Musical experts and critics eulogized the art of the choir as "consummates performances from remote prairies", "a wonderful flower in China's choral garden", "they have been combining western choral art with their wonderful Mongolian unique and style and succeed in elevating the choral art to a new height and creating a unique and distinctive style of prairie chorus."
In 1996, as the only representative from the People's Republic of China, the choir participated in the 4th International Symposium of Choral Music held in Sydney Australia, and was highly praised. In the same year, the choir's first choral collection in CD format was released in Beijing.
In 1997, the choir toured to Spain to participate in the 29th Tolosa Choral Contest as the only representative from Asia, and won the third prize in folklore contest category.
In 1998, the choir participated in the "98 Sweden Midwinter Festival" held in Stockholm. In the same year, the choir also took part in the "Youth Song -- 80th Anniversary of May 4th Movement" held by CCTV. In August, Yalungerile, the choir conductor, and Mr. Enkebayar, the choir composer, also participated in the "5th International Choir Festival" held in Holland. In December, the choir performed in the Gala concert for the 2000 Chinese Spring Festival held by CCTV.
In 2000, the choir participated in the "2000 O1ympic Choral Contest" held in Austria and won three golden medals. Then they traveled to Holland and gave concerts for the 2000 Brumsum Folk Art Festival.
In 2001, assigned by the State Council, the choir toured to Germany and performed in the Asian-Atlantic Cultural Week.
(China.org.cn September 22, 2005)
