IFCM 40th Anniversary Celebration in Lisbon and Oeiras, Portugal

Sep 28

Published: Sep 28,2022

Following the 2022 General Assembly, members were invited by President Emily Kuo Vong to attend the official reception of IFCM’s 40^th Anniversary which began with a cameo concert by Mosaïca (Jordan) and was followed by a lunch in the beautiful dining rooms of the Palacete.

An exhibition on the 40-year history of IFCM was displayed in the Palacete, presenting items, documents, and leaflets tracing the numerous projects organized since 1982. A looped series of photos from each decade was shown on a big screen. These images are also part of an online photo album created for the occasion: https://www.40-years-of-ifcm.worldchoralexpo.org.

As part of the celebrations of IFCM's 40th anniversary, one of the plenary sessions in the Exchange! explored the past four decades through a lens of "Quo vadis" (Where are we going?). Moderated by IFCM Board Member María Guinand (Venezuela), panelists included IFCM board members and IFCM members: Emily Kuo Vong (Portugal), Noël Minet (Belgium), Jutta Tagger (France), Sonja Greiner (Germany), Jean-Claude Wilkens (France), Tomoko Yokoyama (Japan), Thierry Thiébaut (France), Roula Abou Baker (Lebanon), Victoria Liedbergius (Norway), John Rosser (New Zealand), Frida Zarrán Vallesi (Argentina). The following topics were considered:

History: How was the choral world before IFCM existed? What were the motivations to found IFCM?
Achievements: How is the choral world after 40 years of IFCM existence? What have been the contributions of IFCM?
The Future: How do we foresee the next decades of IFCM? Where can we fit? What are the challenges? Are we needed anymore?