Sing Your Heart Out

The success story of the ladies in the Shantell Vocal Ensemble

Brought together with the sole purpose of sharing singing as a passion, Shantell’s Vocal Ensemble of 14 women was formed in 2004 by Founder and Artistic Director Avip Priatna, Chairwoman Yolanita Djuana, and Founder and “penasehat”

Allan Sundjojo. Starting off as a group of Avip’s students who came to him for singing lessons, the ladies were persistent in creating a group of their own to showcase their skills and capabilities to a larger audience.

Shantell hosts an annual show every year in Indonesia; however, their

international achievements include Thailand in 2007, Prague in 2011, the UK in 2014, and Poland in 2017. Shantell Vocal Ensemble secured gold medals in all these countries and was a top achiever in different categories in the competitions. Other than national and international shows, the choir is also activein charity concerts and regularly sings at church choir events.

“The standard genre within a female choir is classic; therefore, Shantell Vocal Ensemble has been trained to be able to excel in all genres within the classical umbrella,” says Avip.

Each woman within the choir comes from a different professional background and are of different ages, so it can be a

challenge to bring everyone together towards the same perspective or idea at times. Some of the ladies are housewives as well as retirees and are required to practice once a week.

“The women of Shantell’s Vocal Ensemble are so dedicated to singing that none of them minds practicing at 8pm once a week, although sometimes I do think it is late for them to be out at that hour of the night,”avip notes.

Shantell Vocal Ensemble takes pride in its ability to host charity concerts to raise funds for the less fortunate. To date, the choir has hosted five charity concerts, some of which include “Time of Singing” in 2010, “Celebrate the Music” in 2012, “Christmas Jazz” in 2013, “Decade

“Commitment, discipline, and hard work have been the most important pillars in our achievements—people need to understand that nothing Comes easy if we want to succeed, and we are living proof of that.”

of Togetherness” in 2014—to celebrate the group’s 10 years of togetherness—and a collaboration with Anne Avantie and

Ray of Light in 2019: an initiative to raise clean water for Sumba island.

This year, the choir celebrates its 15th year with more than 30 people, out of which 28 are active within the team.

Based on this, Avip hopes that people in the country, especially the younger ones, are inspired by Shantell’s Vocal Ensemble despite their differences in bringing the name to a global audience.

“Commitment, discipline, and hard work have been the most important pillars in our achievements—people need to understand that nothing comes easy if we want to succeed, and we are living proof of that,” says Avip.

He also then goes on to say that the millennials in today’s generation are looking to achieve success using shortcuts, which, in reality, will not work—and if it does, it’s only temporary. In Shantell’s journey, the learning process and experience are the two paths that led the group towards achieving national and international exposure on such a grand scale.

To conclude our conversation, Avip closes by saying: “I hope that the spirit of loving something that these ladies are so into is what inspires all the people and the hearts that Shantell Vocal Ensemble reaches out to.”

in shantell’s journey, the learning process and experience are the two paths that led the group towards achieving national and international exposure on such a grand scale.