Message from the President (January 2021)

Dear friends,

Happy New Year! I am so excited that we have entered 2021 with a lot of hope and love. I wish all my dear friends and families happiness and health! I wish the IFCM a prosperous new year!

At the end of October 2020, after an open call, two rounds of interviews, and more than 20 candidates, we selected two promising new staff members: João Silva, Communications Manager, and Isabelle Métrope, ICB Editor Manager. Isabelle started working already from December 2020, and she is the editor of this issue of the ICB, and João will officially start in his position from this month! I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate João and Isabelle, and I hope that they will use their knowledge, experience, and new ideas to support the IFCM in this new age.  Meanwhile, I would like to express my appreciation to the former Communications Manager, Sámuel Köszegi, and the former editor of the ICB, Andrea Angelini, for their work in the past years.

In December 2020, the IFCM successfully convened the 2020 General Assembly, and my feeling of joy and gratitude that was triggered by this special meeting continues to this day. This meeting had historic significance as it was the first online General Assembly of the IFCM. A large number of IFCM members from different continents attended this meeting, and I was delighted to see so many familiar faces on the screen. During the online GA, we reviewed the work of the past three years, announced the new IFCM Board, and looked forward to the future of our federation together. I feel greatly honoured and grateful that I could be re-elected as President of the IFCM. I thank you all for your support and trust.

After the IFCM 2020 GA, the new ExCom was selected and the first meeting of the new ExCom members and the representatives of the IFCM founding members was organized in a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere. The new ExCom was created with due consideration for geographical diversity and balance between administrative capability and artistic contribution. The members of the new ExCom are the representatives of the regions North America, Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asian-Pacific.

Here, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the members of the Board whose term of office has expired. Over the past three years, we have stayed together and dedicated a great deal of effort to the IFCM. I hope that they will not feel disappointed, because they will definitely continue to play an important role in the IFCM by being involved in various projects. Meanwhile, welcome to all new board members to the IFCM family. I am very happy to work with them and I am confident that we will take the Federation into a new phase with new developments.

In the next three years, we will establish more connections to our members and initiate more projects for the worldwide promotion of choral music and choral education. Firstly, we will continue our efforts to develop and recruit more members for the IFCM. IFCM’s worldwide members will be linked to their geographical areas of choral music and will cover culture, education and the arts. The IFCM will provide more benefits to our members and involve them in various international choral projects and events.

Secondly, we will be dedicated to the promotion and development of choral music education in the Asian-Pacific region, Mid-Asian countries, the Arab region, Africa and Latin America. Through educational projects both physical and online, such as Conductors Without Borders, which has achieved success in many countries and regions where there are no or few opportunities for choral conducting training, more people will benefit from choral music education.

In addition, the IFCM will work with conductors, composers, organizers, especially young musicians from around the world, to create a larger and better platform for innovation and creativity in choral music.

Finally, we will exert ourselves in order to ensure that the financial situation of the federation is stable and sustainable. Healthy financial conditions will support the long-term development of the Federation with more resources to accomplish our goals!

Best wishes,

Emily Kuo Vong

President – International Federation for Choral Music

Edited by Irene Auerbach, UK