Internationales Chorfest opens in Magdeburg
Established German choral event comes with international choir competition for the first time
The Saxon state capital Magdeburg is in for musical times: With the Internationales Chorfest Magdeburg, the city will be entirely under the sign of international choral music in the coming months. 32 choirs from six nations have announced their participation and will entertain the entire city with their music and songs in Friendship and Gala concerts, in competition performances and in the "Long Night of the Choirs" on Saturday evening.
"Singing without borders" is the motto of this year's Chorfest Magdeburg, impressively symbolized by performances of international choirs during the Opening Concert on Wednesday evening: Multivokal from the host city Magdeburg, the University of Louisville Cardinal Singers from the USA and the Poznań Chór Polihymnia from Poland gave the audience a first impression of the musical diversity of the participating choirs at the International Chorfest Magdeburg. Their performances were accompanied by sand artist Viktoria Veil, who translated each of the choir sounds into impressive visual arrangements made of sand.
In her opening speech, Magdeburg's Lord Mayor Simon Borris recalled the emotional and unifying power of music as a universal cultural asset of humanity and a special passion that unites especially all participants in these days in Magdeburg:
"Music is a universal language. Music can be relaxing, can comfort or motivate.
It can create strong feelings and connect people across borders, languages, cultures and generations.
Making music together is recreational fun and a very special passion - that you all share!"
This sense of community was especially expressed once again at the end of the concert when the Magdeburg choir Multivokal joined the audience in the almost full St. John's Church to sing the song "Sine musica nulla vita!" ("No life without music!") together. This piece was written especially for this event by Alexander Kaverinski, a composition student at the Magdeburg Conservatory.
The International Chorfest Magdeburg with numerous concerts runs until October 9. Some of the participating choirs will compete in different categories during the coming days and will be adjudicated by an international jury consisting of Bernard Krüger (South Africa), Marit Tøndel Bodsberg Weyde (Norway) and Martin Wagner (Germany).
The Award Ceremony will take place on Saturday, October 8 at 18:00 h in the Johanniskirche, afterwards the participating choirs will invite the public to the "Long Night of the Choirs" at the same venue. The festive final concert with performances of Karl Jenkins' "The Armed Man - A Mass for Peace" and the world premiere of "...im Zündholz der Olivenbäume" by Marius Felix Lange will take place on Sunday, October 9 at 17:00 h in the Magdeburg Opernhaus.
More photos, videos and regular impressions from Magdeburg can be found on Facebook and Instagram in the coming days.
