German-Chinese co-operation strikes a cord with choirs from all over the world

With three strikes of the peace bell, Günter Titsch, president of the INTERKULTUR Foundation (Germany)  and Zhang Changping, Mayor of Xiamen,  officially opened the 4th WORLD CHOIR GAMES in China on Saturday, 15 july 2006. From 15 to 26 July, the WORLD CHOIR GAMES, the Olympic Games of Choirs, are being held in China for the first time, following in the tradition of Linz, Austria (2000), Busan, South Korea (2002) and Bremen, Germany (2004).

More than 400 choirs from 80 nations, with 20,000 participants, have gathered to enjoy the hospitality of Xiamen under the motto "Singing together brings nations together?. The participants,  who were welcomed by the Chinese state councillor Chen Zhili and the deputy foreign minister Li Jinzhang, also included several choirs from Germany. The colorful opening ceremony put on for their guests by the Chinese hosts in the congress centre of this city of millions was a musical and cultural mixture of the traditional and the modern. The honorary president of the 4th WORLD CHOIR GAMES is the former German president, Walter Scheel. In the coming two weeks, choirs from all over the world will compete for Choir-Olympic gold, silver and bronze medals. This year, the INTERKULTUR Foundation, which is based in Pohlheim in south-western Germany, is being honored with the Kulturpreis Europa by the Kulturforum Europa for its contribution to the Olympic ideal of peace through the WORLD CHOIR GAMES.

The INTERKULTUR Foundation has also been an active member of the German UNESCO commission (DUK) since 2005. Both organisations share the aim of promoting peace and security through international dialogue and co-operation.