The high notes of a choral ensemble can transport us to another world, where the beauty of music touches the soul, and the barriers of language and culture fade away.

Similarly, to promote cultural exchange and mutual understanding through music, the World Choral Symposium (WCS), a global gathering of choral music enthusiasts, will be held in Türkiye's iconic city of Istanbul, correspondingly a vital town for weaving a wonderful cultural tapestry for centuries, embodying many cultures.

The symposium, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, will take place between April 25-30 and will be spread across historic venues in Beyoğlu. It will bring together the world's best choirs and expert speakers from the United States, Spain and Canada to Indonesia, Gabon to Sweden, Estonia to Puerto Rico.

The WCS is more than just a symposium or a festival. It celebrates humanity's shared love for music and its power to unite people across borders, languages and cultures. It is a testament to choral music's enduring appeal and relevance in today's world and a reminder of its vital role in fostering peace, harmony and understanding among nations.

To delve deeper into the enchanting world of choral music and get a sneak peek of this tremendous cultural regalement, I had the honor of conversing with a celebrated conductor of the State Polyphonic Choir (Devlet Çoksesli Korosu) Burak Onur Erdem.

"In essence, we are all members of a choir, necessarily, because everyone who uses their voice is already part of this activity. You will witness this in our festival concerts. We create a huge choir from our audience during our evening and gala concerts. The concert-goers not only listen but also sing along with us. Anyone who uses their voice can sing and join the choir. The WCS is an ideal place to discover this. We see choirs from different continents from all over the world. Our audience will now see how different cultures around the world create their songs and choir structures," he explained the essence of the festival.

According to Erdem, the most ancient instrument in the history of humanity is sound.

"We start using our voice from the moment we are born and we all grew up with lullabies. At the end of the day, it is our greatest communication tool. For this, choral singing dates back to all of human history. But, of course, there are cultures that have developed differently. Now if we look at Türkiye or a little further to the Middle East, there is a different singing technique. The reason for this is cultural, as every country has its musical history," he explained.

Thanks to this great event, different cultures and nations will come together in choirs, offering an auditory feast for the Istanbulities and local and foreign tourists worldwide.

Epoch-making opening

The evening of April 25 will mark the day when Grammy award-winning for best choral performance the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the State Polyphonic Choir, which has played a role in introducing choral music to a broader audience in Türkiye for 35 years, will take the stage for the opening concert of the event.

In the concert, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, conducted by its founder Tonu Kaljuste, will perform works by prominent Estonian composer Veljo Tormis. In contrast, the State Polyphonic Choir, conducted by Norwegian guest conductor Ragnar Rasmussen, will perform pieces by composers from Türkiye and Norway.

"Here, we believe that Turkish music instruments hold a very important place. That's why you will be able to listen to the melodies of traditional Turkish instruments. This will be very horizon-widening for the audience because we believe in collaboration here. So, all of our concerts involve collaboration. It's about bringing together different cultures. That's why the opening concert is a great example of this. This concert shows how different cultures can come together to create a whole new rhythm," he said.

"Here, we will also see how local and global music blend. There are melodies in Norwegian, Estonian and Turkish music that can dissolve into each other and support one another," he added.

'Changing Horizons'

The WCS's 2023 theme is "Changing Horizons." As Istanbul is a city where cultures have met for centuries, weaving a unique cultural tapestry, the selection of Istanbul as the venue of this great event is very meaningful.

"We are already accustomed to seeing many cultures within ourselves and communicating with each other as a city. We have content here that will open, develop, change, and make discoveries for all our participants. For example, the audience will be witnessing how different cultures make music, an American coming, and seeing how a Lebanese choir sings in Arabic here ... there will also be interaction among themselves," he said.

"A participant from China is coming and joining a rehearsal of a choir from Gabon, Africa. So, we are creating an interaction network, an energy center here. And we are doing this in Istanbul, one of the world's most important cultural capitals. The most valuable point of this project is that there are concerts and symposiums, but we are making Istanbul a meeting point of the world," he added.

"The desire to learn about different cultures and how music is made in different parts of the world is a fantastic opportunity for our curious listeners. When you come to a concert, you can listen to a choir from Sweden, Puerto Rico and Africa simultaneously. You cannot find this chance anywhere else in the world. Not just a soloist's recital, an orchestra's concert, or a choir's concert. The coming together of different cultures is a greater value here. That's why we say, 'The sounds of the world are together in Istanbul.' The important thing here is that we can come together in Istanbul," he elaborated.

Iconic, historical venues

Correspondingly, the venues where the artists will be performing have undergone a meticulous selection regarding their cultural and historical significance. Among them is the Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Taksim Mosque Cultural Center, Atlas 1948, Grand Pera, Akbank Sanat, and Borusan Music House.

"Choral music has been sung in every venue for centuries. From monasteries to concert halls, there are human voices everywhere. Now we are trying to reflect this variety. But of course, it's not possible to highlight just one venue. Because one of the world's best concert halls is in Istanbul, AKM, we put all our gala concerts here. The acoustics are fantastic. The technical possibilities are very strong, and the hall is ready to host choirs from around the world. Without AKM, this event could not have come to Istanbul," Erdem said.

"We are spread throughout Beyoğlu in a wide spectrum of different places. This is because we don't see this festival as just a few concerts coming and going to Istanbul. We see it as a meeting point where we can offer different concert experiences to Istanbul residents and music lovers in different venues. Our international participants are already eager to see these venues," he added.

Six world premieres

The Istanbul program of WCS will have a world premiere each evening. Accordingly, the works by six composers will be performed for the first time by the choirs.

For instance, the audience will hear the new work composed by prominent composer Özkan Manav on Orhan Veli Kanık's iconic poem "I'm Listening to Istanbul" for the first time.

"We have award-winning choirs from Indonesia, Africa and Canada. We have 55 choirs from five continents. There is significant participation from Türkiye with 35 choirs, as we also want to showcase the strength of choir music in Türkiye to the world. Therefore, all of our concerts will feature different choirs. The audience who comes to a concert will have the chance to watch not only one but several choirs. Especially in our gala concerts, compared to our concerts at AKM opera hall, the audience will have the opportunity to watch three different choirs in the same concert as the audience will join as well. It will be quite an interactive event," Erdem said.

You can visit https://wscmistanbul2023.com/wscm/about for more detailed information on the program.