Musica Sacra International Encounter Festival from 17 to 21 May 2024

The Musica Sacra International festival, which takes place in Marktoberdorf over Whitsun from 17 to 21 May 2024, not only presents top-class music from the world's major religions, but also brings people together. People who meet as part of the interfaith festival and spend five days together. An encounter that is more important than ever in this day and age. People not only meet to listen to and make music together, but can also engage in intensive dialogue, from yoga in the morning, discussions and workshops in the afternoon, to talks and concerts in the evening. After the concerts, there is the opportunity to exchange ideas in the Café Musica. Anyone can sing in the festival choir and thus become an active part of the festival.

Eight ensembles from five countries and different religions have been invited to enter into a musical dialogue together throughout the Allgäu region. The Resonanz (Islam) choir from Turkey consists of around 40 singers and has already been honoured with the "International Very Good" award at the Marktoberdorf International Choir Competition. Traditional and contemporary music, dances and overtone singing from Central Asia will be presented by the five-member ensemble Hatan (Buddhism). It combines traditional Central Asian songs from Mongolia and Kazakhstan with innovative arrangements and individual improvisation. The Nairobi Chamber Chorus offers a platform for cultural exchange and enables guest and up-and-coming Kenyan musicians to collaborate with high-quality choral music.

Oriental Echo (Christianity) unites the singer and composer Rita William (Baghdad) with the Iraqi musician, composer and arranger Ragend William and Rimonda Naanaa (Syria), who became known as a professional qanun player. They are dedicated to oriental-Christian and classical-Iraqi singing. The male ensemble Vox Werdensis (Christianity) has developed into an internationally renowned interpreter of Gregorian chant and medieval music. The singers are accompanied by the medieval flute and the quinterne and interpret pilgrim songs from various repertoires of medieval music. The Karnataka College of Percussion (Hinduism) is one of the most established ensembles of classical South Indian music. In addition to the singer R.A. Ramamani and the gatham player Karthik Mani, Magnus Dauner from Allgäu will also be performing. Since 2015, he has been a student of Mani and Ramamani at the Karnataka College of Percussion, which he visits on annual study trips to Bangalore.

Daniel Kempin (Judaism) studied music in Darmstadt and tours with concerts and workshops with Jewish songs throughout Europe, Russia, Israel and the USA. He is co-founder and co-director of the Interreligious Choir Frankfurt. The Novi Sad community choir Hashira (Judaism) is strongly committed to cultivating the Jewish synagogue and folk music heritage. Nevertheless, the choir's repertoire includes almost every form of choral music and it also sings in various languages. The quality of the ensemble is characterised above all by the diversity of its members, who come from different nations and religions.

Concert tickets are available at all Eventim advance booking offices, the Eselsohr bookshop in Marktoberdorf, the service centres of the Allgäuer Zeitung newspaper and at www.musica-sacra-international.org.