Patagonia is not so Far Away, the Symposium is Getting Closer and Closer
3 – 10 August 2011, Puerto Madryn, Argentina
Alejandro Daniel Garavano
IFCM Board Member
Updated news
New and important advancements have taken place in the organization of the 9th World Symposium on Choral Music to be held in Puerto Madryn, Patagonia, Argentina, from 3 to 10 August 2011, some of which were explained by the Symposium’s Executive Director, Daniel Garavano, in the General Assembly of the IFCM held in late October in Örebro.
Thanks to cooperative agreements celebrated with the founding members of the IFCM including Europa Cantat, A Coeur Joie and Japan Chorus League, it was possible to send information to every region of the world. Tim Sharp and Daniel Garavano recorded a video, which was uploaded to the ACDA website, to encourage choirs and conductors to come to Patagonia for the coming Symposium.
As had been established, November 1 was the registration deadline for choirs interested in being considered for the Symposium. A hundred and nineteen choirs from forty countries of the five continents registered at www.wscm9.com. The registered choirs were from Australia and New Zealand to Estonia and Canada, from South Africa through Spain to Finland and from China and Philippines through Hungary, to Cuba and Venezuela. Argentina and the United States were the two countries with the biggest number of registered choirs.
November 15 was the deadline for the reception of Conference and Round Table proposals, with the presentation of eighty-five projects coming from more than thirty countries, with topics for conferences, workshops and round tables. The 9th World Symposium on Choral Music Artistic Committee met in Puerto Madryn from 18 to 23 November 2009 to analyze and discuss the presented material. Theodora Pavlovitch, Lyn Williams, Philip Brunelle, Nestor Andrenacci and Daniel Garavano, members of the Artistic Committee, worked through a huge amount of material, previously organized by Diego Lenger, general secretary of the Artistic Committee.
By the end of long sessions carried out in a friendly and relaxed atmosphere, the general programme for the Symposium was determined and, to that end, twenty-five ensembles from twenty-one countries with a total number of seven hundred and sixty-five singers were chosen to constitute a beautiful mosaic of the World Choral Singing. In addition, the Committee appointed four Maestros in charge of the four master classes in choral conducting, two conductors for the Common Singing, and thirty lecturers and other participants in the round tables.
More news: three of the six composers commissioned to create new choral pieces for the Symposium have already finished their work and their beautiful compositions are ready to be sent to the selected choirs.
Once more, the World Symposium on Choral Music will demonstrate the magnitude of the choral movement in the world and the high quality of choirs and maestros who will lend their prestige to the greatest of the IFCM activities.
The Organizing Committee is now working to contact the choirs and lecturers to confirm their participation; all of them will be announced during the second half of February 2010 on the Symposium’s website www.wscm9.com. On the same site, individual participants will also find updated information. Costs for accommodation and food at various price levels will be available together with tourist services offered by Argentina Visión, the event’s official tour operator. The website will offer interesting side trips as well as the essential APPLICATION FORM for participation in the 9th WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON CHORAL MUSIC.
Patagonia is not so far away, the Symposium is getting closer and closer. WE ARE WAITING TO WELCOME YOU!
Email: aledangara@yahoo.com.ar
Translated from the Spanish by Maria de la Mercedes Zavala Tello, Argentina.
Revised by Philip Brunelle, USA