A Day at the Symposium
April 2019
As Aotearoa heads at last into winter, the WSCM2020 team is thinking ahead to next winter and positively buzzing at the prospect of the international choral world descending on our little corner of the globe. And there’s no doubt that eight riveting days of choral discovery, professional growth and collegial aroha will keep us warm and utterly engaged in mid-July 2020! But what will a day at the Symposium actually look like? No one person’s experience will be the same as another’s, of course, but what might a typical day offer?
Fortuitously, a blog from next year by a WSCM2020 attendee has fallen through a hole in the space-time continuum and just been handed in. Here’s an extract, reproduced without permission:
Woke up early on Symposium Day 3. Headed off for breakfast in the CBD, where again Aotea Square was packed with the 2000 or so delegates here for this choral extravaganza. Still buzzing at the memory of an amazing opening ceremony 2 nights ago – wow! Waited for my ‘flat white’ (strange name but great coffee) and went over my picks for the day on the WSCM2020 event app.
First up, attended Haka Fit session, followed by Open Singing – they’re using a different choral celeb each day! After morning tea (in one of several great networking spaces), where I made some excellent choir touring connections, I went to American Joan Szymko’s inspired talk on ‘The Greening Power of Song’, though others who went to Anna-Maria Hefele’s overtone-singing demonstration were gobsmacked! Lunched at the Expo and caught up with Aussie choir director friends while browsing the publisher stalls – I could programme my next 5 years’ concerts from what’s available here!
Crossed the square and just had time to squeeze in another thoughtful presentation: Jeremy Haneman’s ‘Singing Our Lives – A Haven for Migrants and Refugees’. Missed the multinational forum on ‘Decolonising Choral Performance’, grrr, but will look it up on the app. Then quickly back to the room before Town Hall evening concerts featuring the fabulous Batavia Madrigal Singers from Jakarta, the equally brilliant Zürich Singing Academy and to cap it all off Voz en Punto from Mexico – electrifying! Sleep needed. Tomorrow looks just as good.
Quite a day! Maybe that was from your blog next July…
Earlybird registrations are now open (and IFCM members get special discounts), so why wait any longer?
If you’ve got any more questions about WSCM2020 you might find they are answered on our FAQs page at www.wscm2020.com/faqs
