The 10th Cornwall International Male Choral Festival

Tuesday 10th May, 2022 - 9:55am

This year marked the 10th Cornwall International Male Choral Festival, which is held every two years around the early May Bank Holiday. Despite the pandemic problems since 2020, the present Festival attracted choirs from Cornwall and the rest of the UK as well as from abroad - this time they came from Germany, Switzerland, Iceland, West Africa and Canada.

The Festival included concerts that are put on in venues throughout the Duchy, featuring a local choir together with three or four others. On Thursday 28 April, MMVC performed in one of the first concerts in Chapel Street Chapel, Penzance with Imperial MVC from the London area, Alcester MVC from the Midlands, and ffortisibros from Germany, in front of an enthusiastic audience.

We were fortunate to have join us and who were very impressive were ffortisibros - only sixteen young men who first sang together at school and who performed unaccompanied some pieces which were previously unknown to us.

Once the concert was over, all four choirs went to the Astro Park where our Ladies Committee put on a wonderful spread, including various Cornish specialities, and afterwards we sang for each other until late. It made a fitting end to an evening which combined music and comradeship - as one of MMVC said, “It was just like old times!”

ffortisibros were entered into the forty and under choir class which took place on Saturday which they won with an outstanding mark. Their music director, Benedikt Kantert  was proclaimed Best Overall Conductor in the Choral Competition and they were also ‘crowned’ Champion Choir on Sunday after the forty-one voice choir competition, which Mousehole took part in. The choir sang three pieces of music: ‘The Prayer’ arranged by Mark Hayes; ‘When Music Sounds’ with music by Victor Johnson and words by Walter De La Mare and finally Joseph Martin’s arrangement, a choir favourite, ‘Sing Your Way Home’. Unfortunately this was not to be our year, as Loveny MVC won our class which was thoroughly deserved.

This was not the end of our International experience as on Monday evening the choir sang in the final International Gala Concert in the newly refurbished Hall For Cornwall, along with the Atlantic Boy Choir, ffortisbros and Only Men Aloud. Being on stage in the newly refurbished theatre was an absolute delight.