Paris - Finland's Tapiola Choir won the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts in the performing arts category at the Fourth World Symposium on Choral Music held in Sydney, Australia.

An international jury presided by Swiss choral conductor Willi Gohl picked the Finnish youth choir from among a world-wide group of 26 amateur and professional choirs performing at the symposium from 8 to 14 August. "Besides possessing great virtuosity, the Tapiola Choir does very inspiring work in music education and is to be commended for its commitment to traditional and contemporary music," Mr Gohl said.

The winner of the approximately US$20,000 prize was announced at a ceremony at Sydney Town Hall on 14 August presided by Australian opera singer Dame Joan Sutherland.

Other members of the jury in Sydney included choir conductors Robert Boughen of Australia, Dale Warland of the United States, Yozo Sato and Mitsuzaku Suwaki of Japan, and Eskil Hemberg of Sweden, who is director of the Stockholm Royal Opera House.

Each of the 50 boys and girls in the Tapiola Choir sings and plays at least one musical instrument. Many composers have written works specifically for it, and the choir has made many recordings and toured the world. A number of its members have gone on to musical careers after leaving it.

Created in 1991, the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Arts is awarded every two years to five winners in the fields of performing arts and visual arts (painting, sculpture and graphics) to reward outstanding creative achievements and encourage their artistic development. It is financed by a fund set up by Kaii Higashiyama, a Japanese artist, which is managed by the National Federation of UNESCO Associations in Japan.

Previous winners of the UNESCO Prize for the Promotion of the Performing Arts have been the Volos Greek theatre group in 1992 and the Handspan Theatre from Australia in 1994.