International Festival of Popular Music

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The International Festival of Popular Music was a music festival in Winterthur that was dedicated to so-called upscale popular music. It took place every year in October from 1991 to 2017, mostly in the Winterthur Theater , and lasted about five days.

Upmarket light music is a genre mainly of instrumental music that has developed from salon music , brass music , circus music or radio music since around 1900 , but also has connections to theatrical genres such as operetta or musical and dance music . The Winterthur Festival was the only one of its kind and was founded by the conductor Reto Parolari , who also directed it.

The festival was dedicated exclusively to professional formations. In addition to Parolari's own orchestra, guest orchestras and choirs have performed, as well as smaller ensembles such as salon orchestras, chamber music ensembles and country bands. In addition to the repertoire of upscale light music, there are also world premieres, for example by Charles Kálmán . Guest orchestras included the Frankfurt Radio Big Band , the Westsächsisches Symphonieorchester , the Neue Elbland Philharmonie , the Südwestdeutsche Philharmonie Konstanz and the Pilsen Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Musicians from various genres between classical and popular music have appeared as soloists, for example Peter-Lukas Graf , Ralph Heid , Paul Kuhn , Boris Mersson , Hazy Osterwald , Egon Parolari , Alfredo Smaldini , Hugo Strasser .

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