According to an expert, Germany’s gospel choirs have survived the slump of the Corona period. “Corona has not destroyed choral singing,” says Martin Bartelworth, one of the organizers of the largest gospel festival in Europe, which only takes place every two years. The festival in Essen begins on Friday afternoon with a joint opening ceremony on a square in Essen’s city center. It lasts until Sunday.
Z+ (subscription required content); Preservation of church buildings: Does every church have to be saved?
Federal Network Agency: Deutsche Post has too few branches in rural areas
Z+ (subscription required content); State elections in Saxony: “The Citizens’ Choir is a community of solidarity”
“Gospel is rhythmic and emotional, it’s easy to get into and you don’t have to know the notes, that’s the advantage,” said Bartelworth. 5,000 participants bought season tickets for the weekend. “This means the festival has returned to the top level of the pre-Corona period.” At the previous event in 2022 in Hanover, only 3,000 people had registered during the Corona period.
Bartelworth is a board member of the Protestant Creative Church Foundation in Witten, which regularly organizes large choir events and other church music spectacles and follows the gospel scene nationwide.
Positive trend with 4,000 choirs
The positive trend can also be observed beyond the festival in the approximately 4,000 German gospel choirs in Germany with around 100,000 singers that the foundation has in its address database, said Bartelworth. Singing together is enjoying great popularity, which can be seen not only in the founding of choirs, but also in commercial offers for “group singing”.
The gospel festival costs 109 euros for individual participants on all three days. However, this only covers part of the festival costs of almost one million euros, said Bartelworth. Funding comes from the city, the state and the two major churches. For the first time, the festival is also being sponsored by the Catholic Church.
Singers from 200 choirs from 24 nations are taking part in the festival at numerous locations in the Ruhr area city. 130 hours of stage programming at 90 events are planned. The motto is “Welcome to Paradise”. More than 50,000 visitors are expected from Friday evening to Sunday to attend the many concerts where people can sing along, swing along or just listen.
