World Choral Day
Projects

An international choral event to extol the values of solidarity, peace and understanding!

Thousands of choirs have joined in the celebration of World Choral Day (WCD) on or around the 2nd Sunday in December in the past twenty years. Millions of singers across the globe have been involved in World Choral Day concerts, festivals, sing-alongs, choral seminars, Days of Friendship and other events.

The World Choral Day 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.

  

Looking back at World Choral Day 2023

On 10 December 2023, the second Sunday in December, the global choral community celebrated World Choral Day. Throughout the month, we saw many wonderful posts on social media demonstrating the various ways in which singing groups took part in the celebration.

More than 100 choirs performed in live performances and in virtual performances to commemorate this annual day. Each registered choir will receive an electronic certificate for their participation in WCD 2023. If you wish to find more about World Choral Day, visit the WCD website as well as the WCD Facebook page. Selected videos from the submitted posts will be made available on the IFCM YouTube channel as well.

In 2024, we are hoping that even more choirs will participate in this annual celebration. We are also introducing our new WCD anthem for 2024-2025 entitled "The Arrow and the Song" by Paolo Orlandi (Italy). Mark the second Sunday of December 2024 on your calendars – 8 December 2024!

 

World Choral Day Anthem 2024-2025

One category of the International Choral Composition Competition 2023-2024 was dedicated to the World Choral Day Anthem 2024. The winning piece was selected among 24 scores by a jury composed of international choral experts. We are happy to announce that the World Choral Day Anthem 2024 is The Arrow and the Song by Paolo Orlandi, Italy. Download the score here.

 

 

 

 

IFCM International Choral Magazine

Official magazine of the International Federation for Choral Music, the International Choral Magazine is published quarterly in the four official languages of IFCM: English, French, German and Spanish. It is distributed in more than 80 countries on the five continents and is the official voice of choral music around the world.

Read more
Global Choral Calendar

Our focus at the moment is to unite the choral calendars of international choral organisations. Meanwhile please consult the calendar of choral events published by the European Choral Association - Europa Cantat here.

Read more