Youth choir singing on the rise

Choral singing is on the rise. This was demonstrated by over 2000 children and young people at the 4th Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival (SKJF). A gigantic concert hall for 2500 spectators was created especially for the festival in the Athletics Center. The two big festival concerts, the "SingplausCH" and the opening and closing concerts took place there. There are no admission criteria for the SKJF, only the condition that all participants are present for three days and complete all the performances scheduled for the respective choir. This year, the lack of a restriction on participation meant that 50 choirs with 1500 singing members took part. Two years ago in Lausanne there were 30, and in St. Gallen there were also 650 children who took part in the cheerful "SingplausCH" with their choirs on Friday.
The three-day program was huge. Around 60 concerts took place in 26 venues, churches and concert halls in and around St. Gallen. Despite frequent rain, the public showed great interest. Further training courses for choir conductors and workshops rounded off the program.

Deficits are out of the question
The SKJF aims to promote children's and youth singing as well as Swiss choral compositions. The founding meeting was held in Zurich on March 7, 2006. The idea for the SKJF came from Michael Gohl, who was also a member of the board of the "Verein Schweizer Kinder- und Jugendchor-Förderung SKJF" at the beginning. The association is a member of the Swiss Choral Association SCV. It ensures the regular organization of the festival and promotes the networking of Swiss children's and youth choirs with other projects across language borders. Only Peter Daniels (finances) remains on the current board of the association. This continuity is paying off in the truest sense of the word. The former CEO and amateur choir singer knows the financing business inside out and has built up a useful network of contacts over the years. Nevertheless, he "always has to start from scratch". Even before the festival began, he put out feelers for potential sponsors for the 2015 festival in Disentis/Mustér: "We only work with donors, we don't do any sponsoring. Donors - usually foundations - give money without anything in return. Sponsors, on the other hand, want to sell something and that doesn't fit in with the purpose of promoting children and young people." This year, Daniels has a sizeable budget of over half a million francs at his disposal. Deficits are out of the question: "We only order what we can pay for".