Opening Concert 2019 © INTERKULTUR

Kalimera Kalamata!

3rd Kalamata International Choir Competition has been opened

Int. Choir Competition & Festival Kalamata

38 choirs from 15 countries with roughly 1200 singers have arrived in Greece in these days in order to join the 3rd Kalamata International Choir Competition & Festival, which is running from October 9-13 in the beautiful city on the Peloponnese Peninsula.

In the evening of October 9 the event was officially opened with a concert featuring local and international choirs from Sweden, Indonesia, Slovenia and the host country Greece. They presented choral music and singing traditions from their respective homes and thus took the audience on a musical journey throughout the world.

A special highlight of the Opening Ceremony was a Singing Together of all participants: They performed the theme song of the event, “Sto perijiali to krifo”, written by Mikis Theodorakis and arranged by the late INTERKULTUR Honorary President, Christian Ljunggren, whose commitment led to the founding of this competition and festival in 2015. Kalamata Mayor Athanasios P. Vasilopoulos once again expressed his special apprecitaion in his welcome speech.

INTERKULTUR Artistic Director Romāns Vanags (Latvia) also addressed his welcome to the participants and stressed the special value of this event: “I believe that choral music is the best way to build bridges between people through music and you show it so well with your participation in our Kalamata festival.” He was sure that the event would take place again in two years and spoke in high terms of the local partners in Kalamata: “With every festival held successfully here in Kalamata, I can assure you that this city becomes the capital of choral music in Greece!”

For those interested in watching the full Opening Concert again: a recording is available here.

Today the first competitions will start for the participating choirs. The final Grand Prize Competition among the best ones takes place on Saturday, October 12. Keep following the event on Facebook and don’t miss any update!

Opening Concert 2019 © INTERKULTUR Opening Concert 2019 © INTERKULTUR
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