The International Day of Choral Singing

An international choral event to extol the values of solidarity, peace and understanding
The International Day of Choral Singing is an initiative of Alberto Grau from the Latin American Vice-Presidency of the International Federation for Choral Music, proposed and approved by the General Assembly of IFCM held in Helsinki in August, 1990, within the framework of the 2nd World Symposium on Choral Music:

"The world is living through severe and continuous crisis of self destruction. There are no possible reasons that can justify these actions. The majority of the human race wants to live in peace with dignity. It is time to show, with more power and strength, that our choral family contributes, through music to break down the artificial barriers product of politics, different ideologies, religious differences, and racial hatred that separate human beings. We must be able to show that MUSIC, the divine art, is more than the mere search of formal perfection and interpretative beauty, music should serve to extol the values of solidarity, peace, and understanding . We cannot work isolated, we have to make all possible efforts to have our voices heard and to let music work its own paths of communication."
These are the main goals of the International Day of Choral Singing.

Throughout the first nine years, on the second Sunday of December, more than 450.000 singers, from 12.857 choirs, have joined to sing together and celebrate this World Day, distributed in 39 countries such as: Mexico, Brasil, Argentina, Venezuela, Spain, Cuba, Colombia, Dominican Republic ,Chile, Armenia, Martinique, Perú, Germany, Ecuador, Costa Rica, France, Hungary, Southafrica, United States, China, Australia, Greece, Sweden, Canada, Guadaloupe, Guatemala, Poland, Lituania, India, Estonia, Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Finland, Bulgary, Panamá, Curazao, Uruguay, and Ghana.

In 2005, more than 1.000.000 voices sang together.

How can you participate on the International Day of Choral Singing? You may organize a concert with your choir, or a festival, or a common singing, or a choral seminar, or a day of friendship and music, or any other idea where singing together is the main element. For this day a proclamation was written and is always read during the concert. It already has been translated into eight different languages; and one of the compositions dedicated to this day can be included in the program.
We need the participation of all choral organizations to promote and spread this idea, so that our voices will have more strength and our choral family will continue to be active part of the process of world peace.

International Choral Day
Email: secretariat@ifcm.net
www.ifcm.net

download the proclamation