In these times of uncertainty, music in particular, as a unifying and courageous power, can be a decisive source of hope for people. The community of a choir is what can give support, perspective and confidence to many people.
As one of the oldest and largest choral organizations in the world, INTERKULTUR seeks to support the efforts of choirs and encourage them to find new ways of continuing to sing together and to be together again, despite the continuing restrictions. These efforts are not primarily concerned with concerts and official performances in front of large audiences, but above all with the elementarily important regular choir rehearsals, which are essential for the choral community and the existence of a choir.
With this in mind, we have now addressed an open letter to the Prime Ministers in Germany to support the need for a future perspective for the German choral scene and their desire for new concepts for their work. Especially now, at the end of the summer and the open-air rehearsals, there is a lack of suitable premises, support from the local communities and adapted hygiene regulations that could be implemented even in enclosed spaces.
Choir singing is one of the oldest cultural assets in Germany. Currently, almost 5 million choral singers are affected by the present restrictions on their rehearsal possibilities. We were recently able to accompany some of them during their rehearsals under difficult conditions and document their work in a short film.
Here it is impressively demonstrated that choirs in particular adhere extremely responsibly to the required hygiene regulations in order not to have to give up singing together. However, it is just as clearly documented here that in the coming autumn and winter months such rehearsals will no longer be possible outdoors. A very large number of choirs would have to stop their choir activities forever due to the above-mentioned problems, which would result in a catastrophic demise of the choir – an irreparable damage to the culture of our country!
The desire and the urge of choirs in Germany to rehearse and sing together gain is enormously high and growing visibly. The choirs, choirmasters, board members and singers, they all see the great urgency in this situation to act quickly and unbureaucratically! We would therefore like to invite all those who are in a position to do so to join these efforts in their respective countries and contribute to making singing a part of our daily lives again, while ensuring the necessary safety and health of all people.
