News from the European Choral Association

		04/2015

Below you will find our April newsletter, reminding you of the Deadline for Applications for the European Academy for Choral Conductors in Fano and updating you on the last stage of the VOICE project. As usual at the end you will also find some news from the international associations we belong too, this months from IFCM, Choral Festival Network and the International Music Council. Please forward this newsletter to your singing friends, if you work in a choral association, forward it to your members or translate the news which you find essential into your own language. Don´t forget to like our facebook page and follow us on Twitter! With best regards  Sonja Greiner, Secretary General  on behalf of the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat www.EuropeanChoralAssociation.org Die Deutsche Übersetzung kann aus Termingründen leider nicht rechtzeitig zur Verfügung gestellt werden - Sie finden Sie später >> hier. Traduction française >> ici

Content: 01 Don’t miss the deadline! 02 Choral Upgrade in Europe – Update 03 The Youth Project Chorasmus evolving 04 VOICE project approaching its end 05 News from Pécs 06 News from IFCM 07 News from other Cantat festivals 08 News from Choral Festival Netowork 09 News from European/International Music Council

Don’t miss the deadline! European Academy for Choral Conductors 6 – 13/9/2015, Fano (Italy) The Academy with Ragnar Rasmussen (Norway) will be dedicatedto “Bach & Scandinavia – Understanding the music of our times through the study of Bach’sl music” and will focus on important works by J.S. Bach, P. Nørgard, S.D. Sandström, K. Nystedt, J. Mäntijärvi and others. Deadline for applications is 31/5/2015! Further informaiton here or from info@feniarco.it. If you cannot attend the EUROPA CANTAT Festival in Pécs, the Choralp Singing Week in Briançon or the Academy for Conductors in Fano, you can check our Online Calendar of Choral Events here.

01

Choral Upgrade in Europe – Update At the beginning of April the European Union published the results of the last round of project applications under the Creative Europe programme. The European Choral Association – Europa Cantat had ambitiously applied for another major multiannual cooperation project as a follow-up project of VOICE – Vision on Innovation for Choral Music in Europe, which is running out at the end of May 2015. The plan was ambitous since the competition is big and only few major projects are selected. Out of 127 project applications, 16 projects were selected, with the last project funded reaching 85/100 points in the project evaluation. Unfortunately “Choral Upgrade in Europe – Taking Collective Singing to a New Level” only reached 82/100 points and therefore was not among the lucky ones funded this time, even though the evaluation of the experts highlighted the high quality of the project and its relevance.   The partners of the project don’t let themselves be discouraged by this result. The fact alone to have prepared an extensive project involving many partners, and having to think about ways of cooperating and about “upgrading” existing activies as well as initiating new ones, already had an effect on the partners and the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat itself. The festival in Pécs will show signs of “upgrading” in interdisciplinary ateliers and lectures and presentations in the programme for conductors and composers. The Eurochoir sessions 2016 and 2017 will take place in Italy and the Netherlands as planned, though in a different setting, and several national youth choirs are planning to meet at the Choralies in Vaison-la-Romaine, even if they cannot get the extra funding. Most of all the partners have decided to adapt the project and try again with another application in October 2015, since most activities were planned for the years 2016 to 2018 and could thus still benefit form a succesful application in the next round.

02

The Youth Project Chorasmus evolving The current Youth Committee of ECA-EC has been very active since its creation in spring 2013, and one their dreams  has been all along to create a new youth-driven project under the title “Chorasmus”. After discussing many possible secenarios, the Youth Committee has now settled on a concrete action plan which includes applying for funding under the Erasmus plus programme under the strand of “Strategic Partnerships”. Together with youth representatives from A Coeur Joie, Sulasol, Deutsche Chorjugend, Estonian Choral Association, Feniarco and Zimihc, who are partners in the project, and with the support from ECA-EC and the other organisations, the Youth Committee is planning to increase youth empowerment and youth involvement in the Europan Choral World and enhancing peer-to-peer learning among conductors and managers if the field of children’s and youth choirs. The group of young people will be trained to plan, develop, organise and evaluate a choral project on the example of the 2016 and2017 Eurochoir sessions (for singers under 30) in Italy and the Netherlands. They will undergo a special training in France to prepare them for this task, and they will be accompanied by mentors and coaches, with logistic help offered by the respective partners in the country. In addition the group is planning to develop and test a sustainable online platform for peer-to-peer exchange in the field of children’s and youth choirs. This platform should allow conductors and managers in the field, beyond the project period, to find potential partners for bilateral study visits. On the basis of some test visits carried out during the project period, potential future users will be provided with online material (online diaries / blogs, audiovisual material, useful links) including two handbooks on how to successfully prepare, run and evaluate such study visits and which pitfalls to avoid. The platform shall be presented to professionals in the field in the frame of two multiplier events in Estonia at the end of 2017 and in summer 2018. An application for funding for a 3-year-project, starting on September 1st 2015 and ending on August 31st 2018 shall be submitted on April 30th 2015.

03

VOICE project approaching its end The VOICE project is slowly but surely approaching its end and we are currently preparing the reporting documents, both for the European Union and for communication to the public. We are collecting statistics on how many people from which countries attended the different events, how many people were indirectly reached, how much repertoire from which countries was performed etc. – if we had time to calculate the total number of km travelled by all participants of the VOICE activities we would also get an impressive figure, but probably this will have to wait.  Since we also want a qualitative evaluation of the project, participants of VOICE events have been sending us quotes on what impact their participation had on their (professional) life. If you have participated in a VOICE activity and you want to share your experience with us, please use our online form at http://www.thevoiceproject.eu/index.php?id=feedback. Of course, you can also write to voice@eca-ec.org or leave a message on the Facebook page of VOICE. (What have you learned? have you made new friends in Europe? Was it a good experience? Has it changed your vision on what Europe means?) Thank you very much in advance! And, last but not least, we have started writing the Singing Europe report and are finding some very interesting facts and figures which we will share with you by the end of May once the project will be over.

04

News from Pécs Applications for our daily flexible programmes begin in the middle of May! You cannot come for the festival for a longer period? Don’t worry the Festival offers a series of short, so-called “Discovery Ateliers” as well as an extensive programme for Conductors and Composers to you! With these programmes you have the opportunity to feel the festival vibes, join ateliers in the morning and attend concerts in the evening, and you are free to choose the length of your stay – if you are Hung(a)ry for singing but do not have much time, you can even come for only one or two days to get a taste of the festival. The Conductors’ and Composers’ Programme will include presentations of professionals coming from various parts of the world and will focus on almost all areas of choral music. More than 100 seminars, sessions for sight-reading and repertoire enlargement, workshops, lectures and roundtable discussions will make the programme colourful throughout the 8 festival days. Anybody who enjoys singing, wants to discover new repertoire or test new vocal techniques can choose from among more than 40 one-morning Discovery Ateliers, regardless of their previous musical training or age. The ateliers will make participants familiar with choral repertoires coming from all over the world, special singing techniques and various music styles. The aim of these ateliers is to enjoy, discover and sing for fun, there will be no performance with the results of the atelier. Atelier titles include Swedish Folklore, The Sources of American Folk Songs, Klapa Singing, The Miraculous World of Russian Folk Songs, Arabic Monodic Songs, The World of Orthodox Music, Gregorian Chant and the Use of Neumas, Singing of Overtones and Singing with Your Throat, Piazzola’s Tangos for Choirs, Latin-American Baroque Music, Parallelism Between Early Baroque Music and Modern Pop, Philip Glass –Minimal Music, or Choir Improvisation. Check the festival Website for the continuosly updated programme calenders so that you can make your choice and plan your trip to Pécs accordingly! And be ready for the applications starting in the middle of May!

05

News from IFCM The Executive Board, Board and staff of IFCM will meet in Pécs, Hungary, July 28th to 30th 2015, on invitation of the EUROPA CANTAT festival. Do you want to know more about IFCM? In the April newsletter you will find information about the next World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona in 2017, about the IFCM Asia Pacific World Choral Expo in Macao in November 2015 (unfortunately parallel to the Europa Cantat General Assembly and conferenc ein Helsinki), and about Conductors without Borders, as well as news from IFCM Founding members and much more. You can download the latest IFCM newsletter as PDF here: ·  in English ·  in French - en français ·  in German - auf Deutsch ·  in Italian - in italiano ·  in Spanish - en español More on www.ifcm.net

06

News from other Cantat festivals America Cantat 8 21-31 August 2016 - Atlantis, Paradise Island, Bahamas The American Choral Directors Association will host America Cantat VIII in the sunny Bahamas, August 21-31, 2016. Registration will open in January 2016 when full schedule and artistic and concert details will be presented by the artistic committee. ACDA is thrilled to partner with the Bahamas to host a festival unlike any other available throughout the world. All choirs are invited, and all choirs will find a place in this cultural, non-competitive event. Read full article at:  http://choralnet.org/view/451021 More information at:  http://www.america-cantat.org/eng.html

07

News from Choral Festival Netowork Even though the General Assemblies of the Choral Festival Network are usually held online, members of the network also enjoy meeting each other in person whenever possible. The next physical meeting of the Choral Festival Network will take place in Pécs, Hungary, on Sunday, July 26th in the morning, in the frame of the EUROPA CANTAT festival. Festivals and competitions interested in joining the network can learn more about it on www.choralfestivalnetwork.org or contact one of the Board members.

08

News from European/International Music Council The 36th General Assembly of the International Music Council (IMC) will be held in Rabat, Morocco, from 11 to 14 November 2015 (unfortunately at the same time as the General Assembly and conference of ECA-EC in Helsinki) hosted by Visa for Music, a professional market for music from Africa and the Middle East.  Next to statutory meetings (including elections) and gatherings of Regional Music Councils, participants will be able to share and learn during workshops, panel discussions and conferences, which will partly be co-organised with the host.   More on www.imc-cim.org It is still possible to register for the EMC European Forum on Music, June 11 to 14 2015 in Riga, Latvia. The themeof the forum is “Access to Music is Digital?” and members of the European Music Council can present projects and research papers related to the subject. The European Choral Association – Europa Cantat will submit some proposals of exciting new digital projects in the choral field. More about the forum on www.emc-imc.org/events/european-forum-on-music-2015/

09

The European Choral Association is supported by the European Union, the German Ministry of Youth and the City of Bonn Member of: International Federation for Choral Music - IFCM, European/International Music Council (EMC-IMC), Culture Action Europe, Musica International, Choral Festival Network