After a colorful and sounding choir parade yesterday afternoon the ceremonial part of the first day continued: the Opening Concert. The venue, the Tenta Sports Hall, was was full up to the last seat with international singers and interested citizens of Kalamata.

The concert was opened by the dancing group Lykeion Ton Hellinidon Kalamatas, which attuned dancing to a great evening with traditional Greek music.

Following the welcoming speech of the Mayor of the City of Kalamata, Nikas Panagiotis, three choirs of the host country Greece presented their musicianship. Also the Executive Artistic Director of the 1st Kalamata International Choir Competition & Festival, Christian Ljunggren from Sweden, welcomed the singers from all over the world and expressed his happiness about the fact, that INTERKULTUR is finally able to also host an event in Greece.

The concert continued with impressive performances of choirs from Brazil, China, Russia and Austria which already demonstrated what to expect in Kalamata in the following days.

The Singing Together, conducted by Christian Ljunggren, was certainly one of the evening’s highlights.  Not only the stage choir, but the whole audience joined in singing two pieces of the Greek composer and national hero Mikis Theodorakis. The atmosphere was so amazing, that one could even see a few tears of joy here and there.

Some pictures of the evening give you a small impression about the opening celebrations yesterday.