Idea

BACKGROUND
The idea of a youth choir festival originated in a contest of ideas initiated by the Fond Basel 86 with the theme “Basel — City of Encounters”. This contest was launched by the Christoph Merian Stiftung in 1989.

From 1992 to 2010, the festival took place every three years. The popularity and size of the event led to a change to a two-year-rhythm in 2010. In 2012, the festival celebrated its 20-year anniversary and in 2016, its 10th realisation was honored with a jubilee edition appropriate to the festive occasion. The next festival takes place Wednesday, May 17th, through Sunday, May 21st, 2023.

Today, the festival sees itself as platform for concerts and encounter for highest qualified children’s and youth choirs, taking a leading role in this worldwide. Around 30,000 visitors usually visit the mostly sold out concerts. In addition to this, the festival’s purpose is to bring together people across all borders and to let them discover new horizons together. This applies to the singers as well as the audience and choral professionals from all sectors and scenes.

CENTRAL THEMES
Music
Offering concerts of high musical quality to a wide audience. The festival program shall illustrate the variety of choir music in Europe and Switzerland and address contemporary tendencies in choral singing.

Encounter
Promoting cultural exchange throughout Switzerland as well as between Switzerland and other European countries by means of choral singing, getting to know different music cultures and encounter in everyday life.

Education and sing-animation
Promoting children’s and youth choirs from all regions of Switzerland by providing suitable sing along events and concerts in an international environment of highly qualified children’s and youth choirs. Conveying musical and music-cultural contents related to choir music as well as offering further education for conductors of children’s and youth choirs.  

FINANCING
The festival is financed in five roughly equal contributions from the Federal Office of Culture, the lottery funds of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft, private donors and sponsors as well as returns from ticket and souvenir sales. 

The Swiss federation’s financial support demonstrates the recognition of the festival as a main cultural event of nation-wide importance.