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| Let the Peoples Sing | |
|---|---|
| Name | Let the Peoples Sing |
| Type | International choral competition |
| Established | 1957 |
| Organiser | Interkultur; BBC World Service; European Broadcasting Union |
| Region | International |
| Language | English |
| Status | Active |
Let the Peoples Sing is an international choral competition organized for amateur and youth choirs, bringing together ensembles from across Europe and beyond to perform a cappella and accompanied repertoire. Founded in the mid-20th century, it became a platform for broadcast collaboration among public broadcasters and for promoting choral culture through radio and television. The contest has involved national selection rounds, multinational finals, and has been associated with major broadcasting organizations and cultural institutions.
The competition originated in the post-war cultural exchange climate when organizations such as the European Broadcasting Union, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and national broadcasters sought to promote cross-border collaboration among artists. Early editions featured competitors from countries represented by the BBC World Service, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk, and the Radiotelevisione italiana, reflecting ties to institutions like the UNESCO and events such as the Edinburgh International Festival. Over decades the event intersected with festivals and venues including the Wiener Sängerknaben's circuits, the Aarhus Festival, and broadcasts linked with the Festival dei Due Mondi. Influential conductors and composers associated with public ensembles—figures connected to the Royal Albert Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic's choral affiliates, and university choirs from Oxford and Cambridge—have taken part via their associated institutions. During the Cold War, participation also included choirs from the Soviet Union, the German Democratic Republic, and the Polish People's Republic, enabling cultural diplomacy alongside exchanges seen at the Helsinki Accords era. Organizational stewardship evolved with involvement from concert promoters, media producers, and pan-European cultural networks such as the European Cultural Foundation.
National broadcasters and choral federations—like the BBC, DR, RTÉ, SRF, and ORF—typically run selection rounds, forwarding winners to international semi-finals and finals coordinated by the European Broadcasting Union or equivalent committees. Formats have varied: some editions use regional heats, adjudicated by panels including representatives from the Royal College of Music, the Juilliard School, and conservatoires such as the Conservatoire de Paris and the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin. Jury panels have included conductors linked to the Royal Opera House, composers associated with the Gaudeamus network, and musicologists from institutions like King's College London and the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg. Performance categories encompass mixed choirs, male choirs, female choirs, and youth choirs, with repertoire requirements that reference composers from the Renaissance through contemporary creators tied to the European Contemporary Composers' Alliance. Awards have sometimes been named in honor of choral patrons similar to prizes associated with the Queen Elisabeth Competition and have led to recordings released on labels akin to Deutsche Grammophon and EMI Classics.
Participants have included civic ensembles, cathedral choirs, university choirs, and amateur societies affiliated with cultural centers such as the Kölner Dom, Notre-Dame de Paris, the St. Mark's Basilica, Venice choir tradition, and Scandinavian cathedral choirs. Notable winning choirs and laureates have been comparable in profile to ensembles like the Swedish Radio Choir, Kiev Chamber Choir, Tallinn Philharmonic Choir, and the Monteverdi Choir, though from diverse national backgrounds. Winners have featured conductors who later led ensembles at institutions including the Metropolitan Opera, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and the Teatro alla Scala, and alumni have gone on to commissions from composers affiliated with the BBC Proms and the Salzburg Festival. Several winning performances propelled choirs into collaborations with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Concertgebouw Orchestra.
Repertoire spans sacred works connected to liturgical centers like Westminster Abbey and secular repertory linked to national song traditions from the Baltic States, the Balkans, and the Iberian Peninsula. Contemporary commissions have featured composers with ties to institutions such as the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and the Sibelius Academy. Broadcasts of the competition have been carried by services analogous to the BBC World Service, Radio France, Deutschlandfunk, and regional public radio networks; television highlights have appeared on channels with commissions similar to those by Arte and ZDF. Archived recordings reside in collections like national sound archives comparable to the British Library Sound Archive and the National Library of Norway, while live-streamed finals have been distributed through platforms associated with public cultural streaming initiatives.
The competition contributed to the post-war resurgence of choral practice across Europe, strengthening networks among choirmasters, composers, and broadcasting institutions such as the European Broadcasting Union and national services like BBC Radio 3. It influenced repertory choices in cathedral programs at sites like St. Paul's Cathedral and in civic programming at venues including the Royal Festival Hall and inspired pedagogical exchange among conservatoires including the Royal Conservatory of The Hague and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln. The event fostered cultural diplomacy similar to other artistic exchanges represented by the Cultural Olympiad and has been cited in studies on media-driven cultural policy by scholars associated with universities such as Cambridge University and Universität Leipzig. Its legacy persists in ongoing international choral competitions, collaborative recordings with labels related to Naxos and Chandos Records, and in the career trajectories of choral directors connected to major concert halls and opera houses across Europe and beyond.
Category:Choral competitions Category:European Broadcasting Union