Living international understanding at Sing’n’Joy Princeton

At yesterday’s first Friendship Concert of “Sing’n’Joy Princeton 2017” the INTERKULTUR slogan became amazingly real: SINGING TOGETHER BRINGS NATIONS TOGETHER.

The Trinity Church in Princeton was filled to capacity, when the American Boychoir, Fengpeng Male Choir of Beijing No. 5 High School from China, Hollis Brookline High School Honors Choir (USA), Paduan Suara Mahasiswa Universitas Hassanudin from Indonesia and the Charter Arts Touring Choir from the United States went on stage to present parts of their repertoires in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere – far away from the competitive stress.

But the magic actually started right after the official concert program: The singers immediately started to chat with each other and complimented each other on their performances. Many photos were taken together and the groups even sang together after the official concert.

The Hollis Brookline High School Honors Choir and the Charter Arts Touring Choir from the United States were happy to disover that their repertoires are quite similar – so they took the unique chance to give an impromptu and inofficial performance of Rheinberger’s “Abendlied” after the official part of the concert. At the same time the American Boychoir made new friendships with the Indonesian group whose performances had mutually impressed them. It was the first time that the American Boychoir was part of an INTERKULTUR festival, but after this Frienship Concert experienced they confirmed to be ready for the next time!

At the end of the evening the two American choirs gave another joint performance: “Benedictus” – and they sang it together with the group from Indonesia. It was an amazing moment, since most of its members are Muslims who now sang along this very Christian song. Jury member Aida Swenson from Indonesia further explains: “In Indonesia the Muslim singers are not even allowed to visit a Christian church and it makes me proud that our little choir festival has created such a real moment of mutual cultural and religious understanding today – what an important sign in these our special times!”

And indeed Sing’n’Joy Princeton has already proven the important value of international exchange and the benefits of listening to and learning from foreign cultures.

The festival will still last until tomorrow evening. Follow the official Facebook page for more updates and the official web page for the program details.