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World music
(by Kara Krekeler - June 24, 2009)
In November 2010, St. Louis will be humming with the sounds of thousands of singers.
The first American International Choral Festival will be held Nov. 17 through 21, 2010, in venues throughout the metro area.
The festival will be presented by the European choral organization Interkultur and is co-sponsored locally by the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission and the Regional Arts Commission.
While Interkultur hosts similar festivals in Europe and Asia, this will be the first Interkultur has presented in the Americas. The organization also hosts a biannual World Choir Games, which is bid out and travels around the world to different host cities much like the Olympic games, although, unlike the Olympics, it has never traveled to a North or South American country. The first American World Choir Games is scheduled for 2012 in Cincinnatti.
“[The festival] will put St. Louis on the stage for the choral community both nationally and internationally. This is a new event that we will own as much as they do,” said Kathleen Ratcliffe, president of the St. Louis Convention and Visitors Commission. She added that there is a possibility that it could become a recurring event, depending on how the first festival pans out.
Ratcliffe said that approximately 50 choirs and more than 2,000 singers from nearly 20 countries are expected to participate in the festival. But because “choirs bring an entourage,” the CVC is expecting around 10,000 visitors to St. Louis during the festival, which will be held the week before Thanksgiving, she said.
“That’s traditionally a slow week for St. Louis tourism, so there’s a great ability to impact the hotels and restaurants here,” Ratcliffe said.
“The choral festival is just another example of how important the arts are to the St. Louis business community,” said Donna Wilkinson, chair of the Regional Arts Commission. She noted that 9,000 people are employed by the arts in St. Louis and have a $500 million impact on the region’s economy. “St. Louis offers such a breadth and depth of cultural offerings and performance venues that it’s a natural choice to host the American International Choral Festival.”
Interkultur Artistic Director Christian Ljunggren said that a quarter of the festival will be a competition for a wide variety of choirs, including children’s groups, amateur and semi-professional adult groups, and secular and religious choirs. The choirs will compete in individual categories, the winners of which will compete in a grand prix to determine the overall winner for the festival.
The remaining three-fourths of the festival will be dedicated to performances of all sorts, including opening and closing ceremonies, gala events and impromptu “friendship concerts” at locations throughout the metro area that will combine choirs from different nations.
Venues for the events are still being determined, although the America’s Center, the Edison Theatre at Washington University, Powell Symphony Hall and the Sheldon Concert Hall have already signed on to host events.
“Because this is the first in the U.S., we really want to invite all kinds of choirs,” Ljunggren said. He added that the choirs would have to apply for participation in the festival.
Ljunggren said that Interkultur is strong in China, Indonesia, Germany, Scandinavia, Russia and eastern Europe and he expects several choirs from those regions to participate in the festival. He noted, however, that the festival’s location could make traveling a bit more difficult.
“If you’re European and you go to Budapest, you can just get on the bus. To get here, you must fly across the ocean,” he said, adding that he’s hoping St. Louis arts organizations can help make the travel plans go more smoothly.
Wilkinson, said that several local arts organizations have expertise in bringing in foreign performers, and that she and the other organizers will seek their counsel while preparing for the festival.
John Romeri, choral director at the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, said that while he’s not sure what role St. Louis choirs would play in the festival, he believes that they will benefit from the festival’s presence in St. Louis, both by getting the chance to hear international choirs and by increasing the visibility of local choirs.
“This is going to instill interest in choral music,” Romeri said. “When the event is over, I hope people explore other St. Louis choruses. This is what we need.”
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