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New competition category for World Choir Games 2021

Milestone of Flanders' choral identity enters the choral competition

World Choir Games 2021

The individual competition categories of the World Choir Games have always represented not only the whole range of choir styles worldwide, but they are also an expression of the history and development of choral music in the respective host country. For 2021, the Artistic Committee of INTERKULTUR has therefore decided to take into account the special characteristics of Flanders' choral traditions and to enrich the Champions Competition of the upcoming World Choir Games with a new category: Category 28 is dedicated to the Franco-Flemish Vocal Polyphony/Renaissance Music, which has a special place in the overall European musical evolution.

Since the majority of composers and musicians of this genre were native to the northern French and Dutch-speaking areas, the term "Franco-Flemish music" developed. The term encompasses the works of several generations of composers from the 15th and 16th century and is therefore also called Renaissance music, analogous to the period of the fine arts.  Characteristic for this type of music is the fusion of French, Italian and English compositional techniques. The French-Flemish composers such as Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina and Orlando di Lasso also benefited from the invention of the notation printing in 1498, which enabled the music to be published in the cultural centres of the time, such as cantorias and court chapels. The composers thus influenced the development of music throughout Europe beyond national and linguistic borders and are considered to have influenced the style and standards of polyphonic music in the Renaissance.

Watch here an excellent example of Franco-Flemish vocal polyphony with Kamerkoor El Grillo and World Choir Games jury member Inge Bollaert:

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Further information about the categories of the 2021 World Choir Games and the event itself can be found here. Für alle Neuigkeiten rund um die WCG 2021 folgt der Veranstaltung auch auf Facebook!

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