About the philosophy behind the
INTERKULTUR festivals & competitions

When we founded INTERKULTUR in the year 1988, we had the vision of offering festivals and competitions for every choral level. Furthermore we idealized a concept which guarantees a musical get-together also for choirs which are not willing to participate in a competition – trusting that the enthusiasm and sporting spirit of the competition participants inspire them to have a try as well in a competition next time. But we also set very high aims. We wanted to make a contribution to peace and understanding amongst nations by setting a non-political frame within which people of same interest can come together.

For over 20 years now we organise and hold international choral festivals and competitions in Germany as well as abroad and celebrate our 100th event this year.
About 5,000 choirs and music ensembles with approx. 230,000 singers and musicians from 100 nations rank among our participants up to now. Many of them return to their favourite competition or try annually different INTERKULTUR competitions.

Throughout the years we improved and optimised our concepts – the participant`s feedback as well as the feedback from numerous international prominent experts
were a big support along the way.

For a longer period now we judge according to our own Musica Mundi® evaluation system and built a world ranking list for amateur choirs. Now the initial vision already became reality : by creating a system with different performance levels in A and B categories , Open and Champions competitions with up to 28 competition categories subdivided according to number of participants and artistic direction, we took into account your wish to have a positive experience for all choirs. We could even notice some very pleasant artistic developments.

This pedagogical effect does not just appear coincidentally : conductors and participants take the big chance to take part in seminars and workshops which are held by experienced and internationally renowned experts. Through expert feedback before the competitions the choirs have another opportunity to improve their performance so that they can prove not only their artistic skills but also their quick uptake in the competition. Here we gain training, assurance and fun all at once!
Often exactly these choirs top their own expectations in competition situations even if they considered themselves as not competitive before.

In the festival section we are able to offer every choir, dance or music ensemble a stage within a nice atmosphere of an interested audience .
At the WORLD CHOIR GAMES 2008 we already welcomed folklore groups as our guests.
At the WORLD CHOIR GAMES 2010 / Shaoxing , China, we additionally offer a World Youth Orchestra Festival for the first time – we already have several registrations. With these offerings we did not reach our final aim of development yet but we came much closer to our vision: the vision of a festival for everyone.

President Günter Titsch