13th European Youth Choir Festival Basel
From May 17 - 21, 2023, around 2,400 children and young people with a passion for singing and over 30,000 adults will gather in Basel and the region.
For its thirteenth edition, the European Youth Choir Festival Basel (EJCF) has invited outstanding young choirs from eleven European countries as well as a guest choir from the Philippines.
Over 30 high-quality choir concerts and a packed program for singing enthusiasts of all ages make the Ascension Days a great celebration of coming together and singing.
They are traveling from all directions. Eleven youth choirs from Belgium, Finland, France, Georgia, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and the Ukraine, a guest choir from the Philippines and seven youth choirs from various Swiss language regions. The choirs of the Basel Music Academy and the Basel Boys' and Girls' Choir are also taking part. Invitations were extended to those with outstanding musical abilities as well as stage presence and charisma. Over 30,000 visitors are expected to attend the 50 or so events.
Association President Maya Graf is already looking forward to it: "Unforgettable choir concerts, singing together and wonderful encounters between the local population, the many host families, volunteers and the young choir singers will once again enchant our region."
A firework display of choral music
The EJCF opens its five-day program on the Wednesday evening before Ascension Day for the first time with a "Fulminant Choral Spectacle" in the St. Jakobshalle. More than 1000 young people from 13 countries will present music from their regions of origin and set the animated film "Circuit" to music with a new composition by Balz Aliesch, film music composer from Basel. Federal Councillor Elisabeth Baume-Schneider and Association President Maya Graf welcome the audience and the young people from all over Europe. The following days are packed with concerts in Basel and the region. Those who love to sing will get their money's worth at the festival, as will those who prefer to listen.
The choir ship now offers the opportunity to sing together with choirs from Israel, Belgium and Switzerland. Those interested in culture will have the opportunity to get to know the musical cultures of Georgia, the Philippines and Finland at first hand in the Stadtcasino. The Foyer Public of the Basel Theater will also host new Sing mit! events for the whole family. On Saturday afternoon, over 1000 young people perform on five open-air stages in Basel's city center at "Singe uf dr Strooss". The festival concludes on Sunday with the final concert at the Stadtcasino Basel.
New program EJCF Atelier
Since the festival was founded in 1992, the focus of the EJCF has been on encounters as well as music. The new EJCF Atelier program strengthens the exchange between young people from different Swiss language regions. 23 choirs will train under the direction of internationally renowned experts on topics such as choreography, body percussion and Swiss folk songs. The results of their work will be performed on Saturday evening. 220 young people will also work on the multimedia symphony "Nordic Light" for choir, orchestra and pre-recorded sound and video projection in the presence of the well-known Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds and will give the work its Swiss premiere at the Stadtcasino.
Overcoming cultural boundaries
This time, around 600 choir singers are staying with host families in the Basel region. In addition to music schools, parishes and secondary schools, committed individuals and the Basel-based organization Centrepoint are now also helping to find the many guest beds for the accommodation. Festival director Kathrin Renggli says: "Encounters between singers and with the general public help to discover the people behind the clichés. This has become particularly important again in socio-political terms." In general, the EJCF maintains countless collaborations with institutions and organizations of all kinds and works with over 400 volunteers. They supervise choirs or concerts, process old festival material into new souvenir items or work in the box office.
Advance sales for the "Fulminante Chorspektakel" and the "Gala Dinner with Chorical" on the choir ship are already underway.
Advance ticket sales for all other concerts start on Saturday, March 25, 2023. Information is now available online at www.ejcf.ch.
