11th World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona: an exceptional and unique cultural event!
By Barbara Anglí, Montserrat Cadevall, Ramon Vilar (Catalan Federation of Choral Entities)
In July 2017, Barcelona and choral music will be synonymous. Using the slogan “Colours of peace”, the Catalan capital will hold the 11th World Symposium of Choral Music: a meeting point for choirs, choral musicians, composers and editors from throughout the world, to globally share and celebrate the diversity and the artistic excellence of our choral community.
The Catalan Federation of Choral Entities (FCEC), now in its 50th year, is in charge of its organisation, and has worked tirelessly to ensure that the whole World Choral Community will turn its eyes towards Barcelona, during the week in which the Symposium will take place.
The WSC11 uses the slogan “Colours of Peace”
The “colours” symbolise the pluralism of international choral life. The essence of the concerts, workshops, conferences and “round tables” that will be presented in the Symposium will be different structures and choral sounds, educational models, preparation and management, compositional and directional techniques.
Choral music plays a fundamental role in order to create a world of “peace”, by encouraging harmony, understanding and respect towards others, uniting strengths and choices with solidarity and a mix of different cultures. We want to contribute to this very noble objective with the help of human musical expression: singing.
Main themes of the Symposium:
- What is the connection between the past and the present in choral creativity?
How can conductors carry on learning, and what can they learn?
Who can create a choir and how can they do this?
What other musical resources are available?
Main headquarters of the Symposium:
The headquarters of the Symposium in Barcelona will be the Auditorium of Barcelona, with adequately diverse spaces for concerts and conferences which will be held in: the main room (Pau Casals Room), with a capacity of more than 2200 people; the Oriol Martorell Room, which can hold 700 people; and the Tete Montoliu Room, which can hold around 500 people. Furthermore, activities will be held in the Catalonian Superior School of Music (ESMUC), which shares facilities with the Auditorium and the Pompeu Fabra University, where it will not only hold activities and concerts, but also have a large dining room for participants who wish to eat in the same area. All of these facilities are found inside the same suburb, a quiet area on the border of the Ensanche of Barcelona. It is located only 10 minutes from the city centre by bus, tram and metro and there is a maximum walking distance of 8 minutes between here and the Auditorium.
The Symposium activities will not only be for people who are registered because we want to link the Symposium to the city of Barcelona and to Catalonia in general, so that residents can also enjoy the best choirs in the world who will participate in the Conference. It is for this reason that concerts will be celebrated in different auditoriums in Barcelona, those which are symbolic for the city like:
- The Paranimf of the University of Barcelona, a beautiful assembly hall situated in the old building of the Central University of Barcelona;
- The magnificent Gothic church of Santa Maria del Pi, situated in the heart of the gothic suburb of the city, a regular headquarters for choral concerts and festivals;
- The Sagrada Familia Basilica, the cathedral which is the work of the famous architect Antoni Gaudi, which is still being built today;
- The world famous modernist room of the Palau of Catalonian Music.
Furthermore, the participating choirs will sing concerts and international festivals in different auditoriums in Catalonia during these dates.
The CHORAL EXHIBITION will be situated in the Foyer of the Auditorium, a large space which provides access to the main concert hall of the Symposium. This will therefore be passed through and visited daily by: the invited choirs, conductors, composers, music sector professionals and general participants of the Conference. We hope to have a CHORAL EXHIBITION full of stands of products aimed at the international choral community. The space also has a large bar with spaces to sit and relax.
During the week of the 11th World Symposium of Choral Music in Barcelona, it is hoped that more than 3000 directors, choristers, composers, editors and other professionals in the choral singing industry will be in Barcelona between the 22 and 29 July 2017.
The programme will be packed with a full timetable and a lot to offer and the activities will start with everyone singing together, followed by conferences and small concerts at midday, more conferences and presentations in the afternoon, finishing with a concert in the auditorium at 5 in the afternoon. Afterwards, each individual will be able to decide between a variety of evening concerts in the city, which will allow them to discover a small bit of this beautiful Mediterranean city.
The Symposium in Barcelona, in numbers
- More than 11 official concerts and many more spread throughout the city
- 36 conferences
- 25 presentations
- Choral Exposition
- Four conducting master classes
- 16 choral debuts of 16 internationally known composers
- and much, much more…
PARTICIPANTS
CHOIRS:
- New Dublin Voices, Ireland
- Cantemus Youth Choir, Moldavia
- Toronto Children’s Chorus, Canada
- KUP taldea, Basque Country
- St. Jacobs Vokalensemble, Sweden
- The Rose Ensemble, Usa
- Dopplers, Denmark
- Salt Lake Vocal Artists, Usa
- Ansan City Choir, Rep. Korea
- Riga Cathedral Girls’ Choir Tiara, Latvia
- Aleron, Philippines
- Cor Vivaldi Cor Vivaldi-Petits Cantors de Catalunya, Catalonia
- Ensemble Vine, Japan
- Tajimi Choir, Japan
- University of Pretoria Camerata, South Africa
- Estudio Coral Meridies, Argentina
- Kammerchor Saarbrücken, Germany
- Sonux Ensemble, Germany
- Westminster Choir College of Rider University, USA
- St. Stanislav Girl’s Choir Ljubljana, Slovenia
- Vocal Art Ensemble, Sweden
- Wishful Singing, the Netherlands
- Elektra Women’s Choir, Canada
- Cor Infantil Amics de la Unió, Catalonia
LECTURERS:
Brady Allred, USA; Elise Bradley, Canada; Maria Busqué, Germany; Jim Daus Hjernøe, Denmark; Mariette Effing, the Netherlands; Vanessa Paloma Elbaz, Morocco; Rita Ferrer & Ivet Farrés, Catalonia; Sylvain Gameti Kwami, Togo; Marita Goga & Simon Halsey, Germany/United Kingdom; Volker Hedtfeld & Andreas Klippert, Germany; Valér Jobbágy, Hungary; Kadri Hunt, Estonia; Adam O’Dell, USA; Miguel Angel Santaella, Venezuela; Elena Sharkova, USA; Vahram Sargsyan, Armenia/Canada; Kari Turunen, Finland; Lyn Williams, Australia; Kari Ala-Pöllänen, Finland; Morag Atchison & Karen Grylls, New Zealand; Michael Barrett, South Africa; Andrew Carwood, United Kingdom; Dominick di Orio/Kimberly Dunn Adams, USA; Ēriks Ešenvalds, Latvia; Allyson & Kevin Ford, USA; Patrick K. Freer, USA; Maud Hamon-Loisance, France; Grant Hutchinson, New Zealand; Eva Lautersztein Pitlik, Israel; Alan C. McClung, USA; Sharon Paul, USA; John Rosser, New Zealand; Paul Smith, United Kingdom; Jean-Sébastien Vallée, Canada; Marjolein Verburg & Anne-Christine Wemekamp, the Netherlands; Lluís Vila Casañas, Catalonia.
MASTERCLASSES
- Elisenda Carrasco (Catalonia): Children’s choirs
- Helmuth Rilling (Germany): Baroque and Romantic
- Rollo Dilworth (USA): North American gospel, folk and African music
- Simon Halsey (United Kingdom): 20th century and contemporary
COMPOSERS
16 choirs will debut 16 works written by world famous composers: John Pamintuan, Javier Busto, Josu Elberdin, Bob Chilcott, Ēriks Ešenvalds, Jaako Mäntyjärvi, Peter Louis Van Dijk, György Orbán, Hideki Chihara, Guido López Gavilán, Jocelyn Hagen, Bernat Vivancos, Xavier Pagès Corella, Josep Ollé Sabaté, Karim Slaoui, Andrea Venturini.
CHORALEXPO in the foyer of the auditorium!
AND MUCH MORE (presentations, meetings, etc.)
Don’t miss out!
Xavier Baulies, in charge of the Artistic Committee of the Symposium said:
“The significance of choral excellence is to experiment with intensity, extension and diversity. The performances of the best choirs will give us a profoundly expressive feeling that makes musical instruments incomparable to the voice in the choral form. The programme will hold conferences, workshops and exhibitions, where innovative and inspirational ideas will be shown and debated, which will be useful for continuing and improving choral music.”
Lluís Gómez, vice-president of the Catalonian Federation of Coral Entities (FCEC) and member of the Administrative Committee of the Symposium said:
“The best of choral music to enjoy!!!”
Raimon Romani, in charge of the Music Team of the FCEC and member of the Artistic Committee of the Symposium said:
“You will see the international level, you will see 24 of the best choirs in the world, you will hear new choral sounds live, you will acquire knowledge and ideas to improve, you will form yourselves as choristers in masterclasses and conferences, there will be a fair of sheet music and books, you will become familiar with new repertoire…”
Josef Vila Casañas, member of the Artistic Committee of the Symposium said:
“There are only a few occasions in life to listen one by one, to choirs of such quality, presenting very interesting programmes.”
Montserrat Cadevall, president of the FCEC and of the organisation of the Symposium said:
“Barcelona is a Mediterranean city, open to the world, which has always been a meeting place of different cultures. In July 2017 it will be the choral music capital and it will be a space where experiences are exchanged and new formulas are discovered that will help us improve all aspects of choral singing and to build a better world in which peace will manifest in all its colours.”
The participants of the Symposium will be able to enjoy an exciting and innovative programme, the best current choral singing, and get to know this beautiful city, which is full of history and culture, an inviting and open city by the sea.
Translated by Rebeka Angstmann, UK
Edited by Lottie Valks, UK