About the project
How can collective singing get out of conventional choral venues and reach out to new audiences? How can collective singing appeal to younger generations? What aspects of the rehearsal process, of the repertoire, of the performance could be upgraded to better answer the expectations of millennials and of the following generation?
“Sing Outside The Box” will test innovative audience development methods during two sessions of the EuroChoir and different ateliers and concerts at the Europa Cantat Festival in Tallinn and disseminate these methods to multipliers.
The EuroChoir is a European choir gathering up to 60 talented emerging singers. Its sessions are held once a year in a different country. A 2 years cycle was set up, under the supervision of acclaimed conductors: Maria van Nieukerken (NL), Lorenzo Donati (IT) and Mikko Sidoroff (FI).
After the sessions 2017 (Utrecht) and 2018 (Helsinki) , the choir will present its work as special guest of the EUROPA CANTAT festival 2018 in Tallinn.
The themes of the project will also be developed along the festival, with 3 ateliers for singers and 10 workshops for conductors dedicated to the themes:
- Go out and meet new audiences: Use of unusual concert venues, concerts in the frame of non-choral or even non-musical events.
- Staging: Develop innovative approaches to staging, with a focus on the specific abilities of singers as instruments (movement, sound spatialisation, blending in the audience, etc.).
- Technical development: use of lighting and sound reinforcement as an artistic element
- Pedagogy: foster access for non readers, non trained singers, to discover the fun of collective singing.
- Involve choirs, conductors and singers in an active recruiting process of active and passive audiences
Leveraging the prescriptive power of the Eurochoir, of the EUROPA CANTAT festival, and the power of the European Choral network (and two of its international conferences), the project will help redefine a new benchmark for collective singing.
Facts and figures
Total budget: 337.802€
EU co-funding: 200.000€
May 2017 to April 2019
Partners
Estonian Choral Association (EE) (Coordinator)
Estonian Choral Association (ECA) is the umbrella organisation for Estonian choirs, conductors, music teachers and wind orchestras, uniting over 47.000 members.
It works for development of choral singing in Estonia and also at the international level, organises choral events, festivals, competitions, conferences; and conductors courses.
Sulasol (FI)
SULASOL is the Finnish Amateur Musicians’ Association. Founded in 1922, it represents appr. 13.000 choristers and players in about 350 choirs and amateur orchestras. Sulasol is active in promoting the status of choral music and amateur music making in general towards the state and local authorities, ministeries etc. Sulasol organises education, concerts and song festivals, publishes a magazine
(Sulasol) and is also an active music publisher specialising in choral music. Sulasol is the biggest amateur music organisation in Finland.
ZIMIHC (NL)
ZIMIHC arose in 1989 from the need of rehearsal rooms and performances by amateur artists. ZIMIHC developed to an organisation that runs three stages in the city of Utrecht and organises projects and events in the city and around. Amateur art is still our focus. We connect amateurs and professional artists in all disciplines and different kinds of activities. ZIMIHC has a broad and diverse network in Utrecht, its region and (inter)nationally.
In 2009 ZIMIHC brought Europa Cantat Festival to Utrecht. With its network in the city and around concerning choral arts and singers, this festival turned out to be a great success. ZIMIHC supports the choral arts in several ways. It provides stages on several levels and offers information about funding for special projects. Also, by means of the digital platform www.zimihc.nl it helps choirs to promote themselves. Because of the nature of ZIMIHC it is easy (and often done) to connect several disciplines and help them to learn from each other.
European Choral Association – Europa Cantat (DE)
www.europeanchoralassociation.org
ECA is the largest network of organisations, choirs and individuals in the choral/vocal field in Europe, connecting 58 national Organisations in 29 European countries, reaching out to 2.5 million singers and representing the 37 million collective singers of Europe.
It organises activities (either directly or in cooperation with national organisations) for choirs, singers, conductors, composers and managers on all levels from Europe and beyond (festivals, training courses, conferences etc.).
