Interreligious Meeting of Participating Choirs – Double Victory for “Maulbronner Kammerchor”

Interreligious Meeting of Participating Choirs – Double Victory for “Maulbronner Kammerchor”  

The joint rendition of “Hallelujah“ from Georg Friedrich Händel’s oratorium “Messiah“ by the choirs participating in the International Choir Competition & Festival in Malta was a musical and harmonious highlight at the end of the Grand Concert. Earlier, the international choirs were welcomed to the Maltese capital, Valetta, with a grand parade. The choral festival, which was held from 29 October - 2 November 2009, formally began with an opening ceremony outside the presidential palace. All the guests were greeted with friendly words of welcome by Dolores Cristina, Minister for Education, culture, youth and sport and Mario de Marco, State Secretary for Tourism. This was the third time that the choirs were meeting up on the Mediterranean island of Malta, where they held competitive and encounter concerts at the island’s churches and concert halls.

The “Maulbronner Kammerchor“ from Germany managed to secure two category victories in a competition of the highest standard. Conducted by Jürgen Budday, they achieved the highest score in the category ‘Musica Profana’ and they also sang their way to victory in the category ‘Sacred Vocal Polyphony a Cappella’. And it wasn’t the only choir to find favour with the jury twice: the “Magnificat Youth Choir“ from Hungary took away gold diplomas in the categories ‘Youth Choirs of Equal Voices’ and  ‘Folklore’. The winner of the category ‘Popular Choral Music’ was “Sola Fide“ from Norway, which also achieved a category victory in ‘Sacred Music – Open Category’. “Stockholms Studentsångarförbund“ won the top spot in the category ‘Sacred Vocal Polyphony a Cappella – Men’s Choirs’, while the special prize for outstanding artistic performance went to “Kammerkoret Collegium Vocale“ from Hamar in Norway, conducted by Thomas Caplin. In total, the international jury awarded 18 gold and 5 silver diplomas.

This INTERKULTUR event in Malta also featured a gesture of mutual understanding and exchange by the participating choirs, who held a meeting of the different religions with people of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths in St. John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta. The singers met up with representatives of various churches and religions and sang and prayed for peace together. Another highlight: On the last day all the choirs were able to participate and dance in high spirits on the various floors and sing on a boat trip around the island.  

"Singing together for peace" will resonate for a long time in Malta and beyond. 

INTERKULTUR has ties to 120,000 choirs made up of 4.8 million choral singers around the world. In the twenty years since it was established, more than 5,000 choirs and some 230,000 singers from 100 nations have taken part in the World Choir Games and INTERKULTUR's regional choir competitions. The World Choir Games (WCG), which are dedicated to the founding Olympic ideal, take place every two years on a different continent. The next WCG will be held in 2010 in Shaoxing, China and in 2012 in Cincinnati, USA.

For more information on the competition visit our Web site: www.interkultur.com

Responsible persons: Stefanie Vera Müller, Roger Schmidt

E-Mail: press@interkultur.com