Please join us in welcoming the award winning, Men In Blaque, 18 voice male vocal ensemble from the University of Irvine, California, to our beautiful country, South Africa. The first performance on their tour will be with the Cape Town Youth Choir at Centre For The Book on 21 July 2016 at 19:30. CTYC will open the concert with a 40 minute performance a 10 minute intermission will follw and MIB will close the concert with a 40 minute perfromance. A little more about Men In Blaque: The Men in Blaque, formed in 1997 at the University of California, Irvine, present the traditions in singing 15th - 20th century choral music in original voicing. Over 350 selections are in the repertoire of this eclectic repertory ensemble. Following the lead of Chanticleer and the King's Singers, Men in Blaque perform music from many eras and genres. The singers include computer specialists; dancers; clergy as well as students majoring in music, biology, physics, history, computer science and business. The wide range of repertoire and performance programming includes scripted narrative, choreographic staging and concert positioning to help enhance and project the style of the music. At the invitation of the artistic director of the XX Semana Coral Internacional de Alava and Caja de Burgos International Days on Choral Music, found the men in Spain during the memorable and historical date of September 11, 2001. The concert that took place at the church in Izzara, in the foothills of northern Spain, was captured on a live digital recording. The Men in Blaque were honored to share a workshop with the internationally acclaimed ensemble Chanticleer in February, 2005 at UC Irvine. 2006 saw the Men in Blaque invited to compete in the World Choir Games in Xiamen, China. Our two silver medal performances and gold certificate for the highest score in the preliminary rounds from 240 choirs afforded much excitement in the UC Irvine community. At the World Choir Games of 2010, a Championship Trophy, three Gold Medals and Category Winners in Shaoxing, China made the Men in Blaque celebrated winners. The Men participated in the Yeosu International Choral Competition in South Korea in 2013. In July 2014 the men won championship Trophies in Bratislava, Slovakia. Men in Blaque have recorded five CD’s, the most recent being released in 2015. They have also commissioned 15 new works to date. Vytautus Miskinis, Javier Busto and Imant Raminsh are among noted composers writing for the award-winning ensemble. A little more about the Cape Town Youth Choir: Under the baton of Leon Starker (Adv Dip Choral Conducting, M.Mus Choral Conducting), the Cape Town Youth Choir brings together passionate singers between the ages 16 and 30 from all walks of life to create moving musical experiences of the highest international standard. Since 1997, CTYC has proven itself both in South Africa and on the international stage. With tours spanning Europe, China, Malaysia, and the United States, CTYC has proudly represented South Africa at several international choral competitions including the Choir Olympics, World Choir Games, and the Grand Prix of Choral Music bringing home both gold medals and championship titles on numerous occasions.