The world at home in Shunde

Sing'n'Joy China 2015 – Choir Festival Shunde-Foshan: it was the last INTERKULTUR festival in 2015, which was successful through the variety of further education projects. All in all 10 choirs from 5 different nations took part on workshops and individual coachings of the Sing'n'Joy Festival. Especially the 4 international choirs were warmly welcomed in China: The Junction (Netherlands), University of San Carlos Choristers (Philippines), Manado State University Choir (Indonesia) and Young Choral Academy Techer’s Ensemble (Malaysia). It's very gratifying, that the pedagogical offers were accepted and implemented very well by the participants.

The colorful program of further educations started after the official opening of the Sing'n'Joy China 2015 on November 4, 2015 by INTERKULTUR and the Chinese partners of the Culture & Art Development Center of Shunde District. Beginning with a workshop on November 5, the participants could draw inspiration on the topic of vocal techniques and rhythms in the field of Jazz & Pop. On the same day also two "Cultural Exchange Concerts" took place. The atmosphere was brilliant, that the Chinese students in the audience and the international choirs began to sing in a karaoke session, a very popular hobby in China.

On November 6 Paul Phoenix gave extensive insights in his past as King’s Singer in the daily life of a professional singer. During individual coachings he responded to the singers with professional competence and a lot of empathy. The same evening 7 choirs, including 4 international and 3 Chinese choirs, sang during the Gala Concert in the Beijiao Culture Center. The choirs presented a colorful concert program from Indonesian Folklore and Sacred Choral Music to professional Vocal-Pop Music to the audience.

The artistic highlight of the festival was the Sing'n'Joy Concert on November 7 in the Grand Theatre of the Shunde Performing Arts Center: the international choirs as well as 3 Chinese children’s choirs impressed their audience with artistic high-quality choral music from different parts of the world. In the karaoke-loving country also the audience was animated to Singing along: After Johan Rooze’s speech of thank to the partners and all choirs, the rhythmically animated canon "Thank You" was sung by the audience and the Festival Stage Choir.

The atmosphere sparked once again when all choirs entered the stage and sung three international pieces under the direction of the choral experts Paul Phoenix, Katalin Kiss and Johan Rooze. The performance of the Chinese traditional "Jasmine Flower" (Molihua), where three Chinese children’s choir took the soloist part, was really touchy.

The Sing'n'Joy Concert was recorded by the Chinese TV station and will broadcasted in the full length during the month.

Some impressions of Sing'n'Joy China 2015 – Choir Festival Shunde-Foshan can be found at the flickr album or on Facebook.