INTRODUCTION

Male voice choirs/ensembles once again have a wonderful opportunity to gather in Cornwall, one of the most beautiful counties of England, for a unique festival of male voice choir singing, workshops, competitions, socialising and sightseeing. The male voice choir tradition in Cornwall has long been a significant part of county cultural life and there are currently about thirty male voice choirs in the County.

This fourth International Festival will be centred on the very attractive Cathedral county town of Truro but all choirs involved will have have the chance to perform in other Cornish towns and venues. The first Festivals in 2003, 2005 and 2007 were considered to be resounding successes with 50 choirs registering in 2005 and over 2,500 singers taking part in 32 concerts and events in 26 different venues. The 2007 event broke all records - including the largest number of choirs participating - 56 adult and 12 youth and boy choirs - the largest number of singers (over 3,000), and the largest aggregate audience (over 30,000)

The press reported that the Festival had exceeded everyone's expectations and was a triumph for the organisers, with audience attendances excellent and friendship between choirs marvellous. Practically every concert was packed out.

This year, the Festival aims to bring more male voice choirs together in a spirit of musical friendship and song. We are delighted that we shall have choirs from Russia and Poland joining us and we especially welcome Vocal Six from Sweden. The credit crunch has taken its toll on choirs' ability to travel but, from the UK we have stunning choirs too. We shall be joined by the excellent Ysgol Gerdd Ceredigion fresh from the S4C TV choir competition success. From Northern Ireland, Donaghadee Male Voice Choir is coming and, of course, Colne Valley Male Voice Choir will be with us both in workshop and concert.

The prize for the furthest travelled choir this year must go to the Sverdlovsk Male Choir College. Based in the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg 1000 miles east of Moscow, they certainly have travelled the furthest! However we also have the Dubna Boys Choir from Moscow and Hermitage from St Petersburg.

In the competitions, we are delighted to be able to welcome jury members Dr. John Dickson (USA), Dr Vivien Pike (UK), Robert Sund (Sweden), Sergey Pimenov (Russia), Christopher Grey (UK), John Harries (UK) and, of course, Festival Vice President, Dr. Roy Wales (UK).

In all respects the Festival will be a wonderful spectacle of international music making. If you have not bought your tickets yet, click here for more information.

I wish everyone a wonderful time whether singers, supporters or audience members and I thank the many hundreds of helpers who have worked tirelessly for many months to ensure the success of this years events.

Peter Davies

Festival Director

Pictured:

Above top right Colne Valley MVC – UK 1st prize Winners 2007

Above left Linkoping University MVC-Sweden International Trophy

Above right Four Lanes MVC- Cornwall Best Cornish Choir