Central office for choral singing

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The central office for German-speaking choral singing in the world is a cultural institution run by the city of Solingen , which, in accordance with its statutes, aims to promote choral singing and to provide it with ideal and material support. It acts as a link between German and German-speaking choirs abroad and also has extensive sheet music that it archives. The institution, which is unique in Germany, is affiliated with the Solingen Music School and maintains relationships with almost 600 choirs on all continents, but mainly overseas.

history

From 1979 Haus Kirschheide was the seat of the central office for choral singing

The Central Office for Choral Singing was founded in 1976. The intention was to give expression to the historical importance of choral singing in the city of Solingen, which is home to the oldest secular male choir in Germany. The idea was triggered by the head of Deutsche Welle at the time , Werner Bader , who suggested to the then Federal President Walter Scheel , who was born in Solingen, to establish a worldwide choir center in Solingen. The historic Kirschheide house in the Höhscheid district was chosen as a representative location in 1979 after it had been completely renovated. Since autumn 1977 the choir center has been staffed with 1.5 posts.

At the suggestion of the Solingen District Singers' Association, a support association was founded in 1996 to ensure the continued existence of the choir center.

After numerous austerity efforts by the city of Solingen, savings should also be made at the central office for choral singing due to the tight budget situation for decades. But instead of closing it, after the long-time director Ulrich Renner left the city in 2008, the cultural institution was incorporated into the city music school and has since been using its spatial and human resources on Flurstrasse in the city center, in parts of the Egon Evertz factory halls . The choir center had been combined with the music school since 2004. Today's head of the central choir was the head of the Solingen music school Ulrich Eick-Kerssenbrock until his death in 2017.

tasks

The main tasks of the choir center include:

  • central contact point for German-speaking choirs abroad
  • Coordination of trips abroad and performances by foreign choirs in Germany
  • Organization of training courses for choir directors
  • Archiving of sheet music
  • Organization of the Solingen International Choir Festival

Web links

swell

  1. ↑ a b Overview of the tasks of the Central Office for Choral Singing on chorzentrale-solingen.de , accessed on November 6, 2015
  2. ↑ a b Information on the choir center at Kulturserver-nrw.de , accessed on November 6, 2015
  3. ↑ Historical overview of the Kirschheide house ( memento from January 31, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on solingen.de , accessed on November 6, 2015
  4. ↑ Information on the choir center at wuppertal.de , accessed on November 6, 2015
  5. ↑ Förderverein at chorzentrale-solingen.de , accessed on November 6, 2015

Coordinates: 51 ° 10 ′ 2 "  N , 7 ° 4 ′ 58.2"  E