Message from the President (April 2021)

Dear friends,

Time flies fast and we have entered the second quarter of the year 2021.

In the past three months, our new Board and ExCom has had a busy but exciting time, and all members have been involved in different projects with their respective teams.

So far, we have held a meeting for the next World Choral Expo, planned to take place in 2022, which will be the 40th anniversary of our federation. We also held meetings for other projects including the World Choral Day, the SCOC Youth Choir, and the World Youth Choir.

On 3rd February, we were very excited to hold the first committee meeting with our partner, the Qatar National Choral Association (QNCA), regarding the WSCM 2023/24; we see this as a positive symbol of the launch of the next WSCM. The World Symposium on Choral Music (WSCM) is an important brand of IFCM with a global strategy and goals. This international project is always in cooperation with a national organizer in a host country. Since the first WSCM was held in Vienna in 1987, it takes place every three years in a famous and attractive city worldwide. IFCM is very glad that QNCA won the bid among all the competitors and the WSCM 2023/24 will take place in Doha, Qatar. It will be the first time that this prestigious choral event takes place in the Arab world. I believe that, with the excellent committees of the WSCM 2023/24, IFCM will play a professional role in cooperating with the Qatari team. IFCM and QNCA will make a joint effort and take respective advantages to ensure that we will have a colorful program for the WSCM 2023/24 to show the innovation flourish with diverse choral cultures.

As each IFCM choral project gets on very well, I will update the members of our federation on more progress in the future. Meanwhile, we will create more online choral activities and events and share them with you.

I really hope the pandemic will be over soon with the research and development of effective and safe vaccines. Then our lives can go back to normal and we will once again attend various choral festivals, events, and activities. Then we will have the opportunity to re-explore the amazing musical treasures, and the “symphony of different cultures” will re-excite people’s minds all over the world.

Best wishes,
Emily Kuo Vong

Edited by Olivia Scullion, UK