Two world-renowned choral ensembles will entertain local music fans this Friday and Sunday night.

    The New Art Vocal Ensemble from Hungary, led by its founder Katalin Kiss, has performed hundreds of concerts on world tours and won 26 prizes at singing competitions. The troupe has won five Grand Prix prizes from international competitions — Ankara, Turkey 1996, Tours, France 1997, Zwickau, Germany 1998, Maribor, Slovenia 1998 and Budapest, Hungary 1999. In 2008, they won the Champion of the World Choir Games title in Graz, Austria at the 5th World Choir Games.

    Kiss, a professor at the prestigious Kodaly Institute of Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, founded the ensemble in 1990. The choir, representing the highest level of modern choral singing, will present modern classics from Hungarian music traditions as well as folk songs from around the world. Audiences will hear American folk song “Shenandoah,” Australian song “Waltzing Matilda” as well as Chinese folk songs “Fengyang Flower Drum” and “Little Flowing River.”

    Then, on Sunday evening, the Princeton Singers from the United States will give another concert. Founded as a small, professional, independent ensemble in 1983 by John Bertalot, then choirmaster and organist at Trinity Church in Princeton, New Jersey, the Singers soon earned a reputation for “excellent tuning, impeccable control, and subtlely nuanced phrasing.”

    Present artistic director composer-conductor Steven Sametz has expanded the group’s repertoire. They sing new choral compositions as well as adaptations of folk music. Audiences will hear original works by Sametz as well as familiar songs such as “Kangding Love Song.” The concert will also feature solo performances such as “Shall We Gather at the River” sung by bass singer William Walker and “Child of Roses” by mezzo-soprano Sage Lutton.

    Part of the Fourth Shenzhen Choral Festival, the concerts are subsidized by the local government and tickets are discounted at 50-180 yuan (US$7.5-27) per seat.

    Time: 8 p.m., Sept. 23 (New Art Vocal Ensemble), 25 (Princeton Singers)

    Tickets: 50-180 yuan

    Booking: 400-610-3721

    Venue: Shenzhen Concert Hall, intersection of Hongli Road and Yitian Road, Futian District (福田区红荔路和益田路交汇处深圳音乐厅)

    Metro: Longhua or Longgang Line, Children’s Palace Station (少年宫站), Exit D

    (Debra Li)