ABS CBN’s “Little Big Star” winner Rhap Salazar won the coveted titles Junior Grand Champion Solo Vocalist of the World, and the Junior Grand Champion Performer of the World. On the other hand, the vocal quartet The Young Voices of Negros won the title Junior Grand Champion Group Vocalists of the World.

12-year-old Rhap sang a one-minute version of Celine Dion’s “All By Myself” at the final show.

“Hours before the finals, Rhap’s voice was getting tired due to extensive rehearsals for two straight days. He did everything to conserve his voice. Despite the odds, he gave a stellar performance worthy of the top prizes in the junior division. The American judges were simply blown away by his soaring vocals,” said WCOPA Philippine National Director Carlo Orosa.

On the other hand, The Young Voices of Negros (Katrina, Kristina, Aissa and Kristopherson Madrigal) performed a highly polished rendition of “And I Am Telling You,” from the musical “Dreamgirls,” in four-part harmony.

WCOPA’s newest junior champions Rhap and The Young Voices of Negros will be featured on ABC’s “Good Morning America” through the “My Life in Three Words” segment.

Team Philippines’ junior vocalist Mayumi Morales also made it to the finals of the Junior Vocalist category.

In the senior vocalists category, our very own Martha Joy (Canadian Idol finalist) and CJ Concepcion also made it to the grand finals but they were bested by a Filipina representing Saudi Arabia.

Kimverle Molina, pure Filipina, won the title Senior Grand Champion Vocalist of the World. The big winner in the Senior category was Joe Jo Robinson of Australia for bagging the title Senior Grand Champion Intrumentalist of the World and the Senior Grand Champion Performer of the World.

Other members of Team Philippines Maila Mitra, Evette Pabalan, Oreo Vamenta, Divo Bayer, and Guy Lockwood made it to the semi-finals.

Watch the videos of Rhap Salazar via the link below singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”, “Reach,” “And I Am Telling You,” “I’ll Be There” and his grand final winning song “All By Myself”:

VIDEO LINK: Rhap Salazar Kills the Competition

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Rhap Salazar and Young Voices of Negros are WCOPA 2009 Big Winners originally appeared on Starmometer on July 19, 2009.