Choirs lose members
Declining membership figures, financial worries and problems recruiting new talent: Just one year into the pandemic, it is clear that the choral landscape in German-speaking countries has suffered considerable damage as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The study "Choral music in times of coronavirus" (ChoCo) documents the critical situation in this area for the first time in relation to all key aspects of choral work. According to study director Kathrin Schlemmer, the number of active singers in the choirs surveyed has declined significantly during the pandemic. Only less than a third were able to maintain their original number of members. The loss is particularly pronounced among the more than 580 young choirs surveyed. Of these, almost one in eight children's and youth choirs no longer exist.
Almost 60% of all ensembles surveyed expect that they will not continue to work with the same number of singers after the pandemic. 15 percent even fear a significant decline in interest from singers due to the long forced break.
Within a short space of time, over 4300 choirs in Germany, Austria and Switzerland took part in the KU's online survey. The project team has now published the initial results of the online survey of choirs in the current issue of the "neue musikzeitung" (nmz).
Link to the study in PDF format:
https://service.conbrio.de/service/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/ChoCo-Studie_NMZ_final.pdf
