About Us

The Old Mutual National Choir Festival has been developing musical talent in this country for the past thirty three years and is known as the country’s oldest, biggest and most prestigious choral music competition.

Founded by Professor Khabi Mngoma in 1978, the competition encourages and promotes choral excellence while providing great enjoyment to participants and audiences alike. The festival aims to take the standard of choral music in Southern Africa to new levels as well as enriches people’s lives, both as individuals and choristers, through their interaction with one another and their involvement in the festival.

Old Mutual has financially backed this project since 1988, having partnered with other corporates, such as Ford, Samcor, Caltex and Telkom over the years. The name, National Choir Festival (NCF), is widely recognised as a brand on its own in the choral music fraternity and even goes beyond the borders of South Africa.

The Festival promotes musical excellence

As is commonly known, music has no boundaries. Products of this project have represented South Africa on the international stage in the form of choral groups and individuals. The likes of Afro Tenors, Gauteng Choristers and Sibongile Mngoma have performed at National Choir Festival events. The festival encourages and promotes choral music excellence while providing great enjoyment to participants and audiences alike.

The programme has been developed with the underlying principles of: passion, music excellence, diverse tradition, social cohesion, mass participation, prestige, uniqueness, integrity, and honesty, national and international exposure.

The National Choir Festival has the element of mass participation as it is a year long national project and rotates within all the nine provinces. The number of participating choirs in this competition has grown and continues to grow tremendously on a year-to-year basis.