That was the 6th BFV Festival
This was the sixth Black Forest Voices Festival
Barbershop, beatbox, yodelling, electronics and IN BETWEEN at the sixth Black Forest Voices Festival
For four days, the sixth Black Forest Voices (BFV) Festival centred on musical contrasts and the world in between with concerts, workshops and hands-on activities under the motto IN BETWEEN. From traditional yodelling to experimental electronic music, from classical barbershop to modern beatbox, the festival came to a successful close after four eventful days on Sunday 16 June with the concert "Echoes In Between".
Sustainable encounters at eye level and in community
The special thing about the BFV idea was a complete success for the festival organisers: Encounters at eye level, learning from each other and singing and celebrating in community: lecturers also took part in workshops themselves, those who just happened to be passing by also sang at the song table on the festival meadow, workshop topics were discussed further while queuing at the eight food and drink stands on the cosy festival meadow, stage artists were spectators, the audience sang this year's festival song with powerful voices and improvised rousingly by means of vocal painting together with the choirs and professional groups of the concert evenings.
The effect is a lasting one, because the BFV participants - choir and ensemble directors, managers and amateur singers from rural areas and cities - take what they have learnt and experienced in workshops, coaching and concerts, the impulses, topics and ideas as well as contacts made on site, back to their regions and their ensembles and choirs, which in turn benefit from them.
The festival is growing: record numbers of participants, visitors and events
The festival is growing: BFV was able to sell 226 four-day and 37 one-day festival tickets, in addition to 448 individual concert tickets and 49 individual workshop tickets.
In 14 concerts (including seven free concerts and five with exclusively local choirs), 37 ensembles with around 690 (!) singers took to the stage - including four full-length concerts, the Sunday matinee with the fabulous "Ringmasters", a beatbox music theatre for children, "Kirchzarten sings!" with children's, youth and adult choirs and around 400 singers from the region, an Alemannic choir concert "Gschwetzt wie gsunge" and even a shanty concert! A total of around 2,500 listeners gathered in front of the stages.
The two three- to four-day coaching sessions for bands & ensembles and - for the first time - for choirs were attended by the six lecturers and a total of eight vocal bands and choirs with a total of around 140 singers - all of them amateurs. The masterclass "Arranging" had six participants.
52 workshops were offered by 25 instructors and recorded a good 2140 workshop participants. Eight Young BFV programmes were aimed specifically at children.
Particularly important to the festival organisers were the 24 varied and free events, which, summarised as the "Sound of Kirchzarten", not only "lured" local people to the festival, but also presented the enormous versatility of local musicians and singers to (inter)national visitors: The large and small concerts in the senior centre, on the Schalampi and Talvogtei stages, the open workshops, singing along with the Liedertafel, strolling through the Soundgarden, "Hock" on the festival meadow with its eight food and drink stalls, the listening island and sound parade for children were enormously well received - this year's BFV festival choir alone, led by three professional choir directors: This year's BFV Festival Choir alone, led by three professional choir conductors, counted 80 singers who took part in the Sunday church service in Kirchzarten and the "Big Vocal Night" on Saturday.
BFV is locally connected and globally networked: 16 nations were recorded among the active participants: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan and the USA.
Sixteen-strong team and 35 helpers
The organisational and artistic BFV team consisted of ten people who conceptualised the festival in terms of music, art, format and dramaturgy, communicated with artists and partners, planned the venue, space, technology and schedule as well as graphics, press and public relations, ticketing and merchandising, acquired and supervised the catering and volunteers - and much more. Six colleagues "operated" the technology and our documentation and social media channels on site. 35 volunteers - all enthusiastic singers and music lovers - ensured the smooth running of the workshops and concerts, as well as the set-up and dismantling - and brought a good mood and a family atmosphere to the festival!
Cooperation partners and supporters
BFV is networked and supported:
alwa Mineralbrunnen GmbH, Amateurmusikfonds des Bundesmusikverband Chor & Orchester e.V. gefördert durch die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien, Arbeitskreis Musik in der Jugend Landesverband Baden-Württemberg, Badischer Chorverband e.V., B&HP Weißhaar GmbH, Bürgerstiftung Kirchzarten, Caritasverband Breisgau Hochschwarzwald, Chorverband Breisgau e.V., Chorverband Schwarzwald-Baar-Heuberg e.V., Deutsche Chorjugend e.V., Deutsche Stiftung für Engagement und Ehrenamt, Energie- und Wasserversorgung Kirchzarten ewk GmbH, Familie Margot Hug, Fürstlich Fürstenbergische Brauerei GmbH & Co. KG, Gemeinde Kirchzarten, Gesellschaft zur Verwertung von Leistungsschutzrechten gvl, Grundschule Kirchzarten, Grüne Flotte, Hochschule für Musik Trossingen, Hotel Fortuna, Ina & Stefan Saumer, Katholische Kirchengemeinde St. Gallus, Kinder- und Jugendbüro Kirchzarten, Kirchzarten Echt inklusiv, Künstler:innen und Chöre aus der Region, Kunstverein Kirchzarten, Medi@thek Kirchzarten, Pfeffer & Stift, Reservix, Ina und Stefan Saumer, Schwäbischer Chorverband e.V., Sparkasse Hochschwarzwald & Sparkassen-Verband Baden-Württemberg, Spritzenhaus Restaurant & Bar, Tourismus Dreisamtal e.V. , 35 Volunteers aus Kirchzarten und Umgebung, Volkshochschule vhs Kirchzarten, Weingut Hug, Willi Sutter und many more.
We were allowed to use 26 venues, locations and rooms, mostly free of charge: Talvogtei inner courtyard, meadow in front of the Talvogtei, path around the Talvogtei, social room and meeting room in the Talvogtei, large parlour, St. Gallus Catholic Church, Kirchzarten primary school with 2 rooms, KiJuB social room, Medi@thek, citizens' hall, 3 rooms in the St. Gallus, 2 conference rooms and wine cellar of the Hotel Fortuna, Schalampi, Sparkasse HochschwarzwaldDirekt building, Johanneskapelle and foyer as well as the "Am Krumbach" room of the Caritas senior centre, vhs Dreisamtal - and many places, corners, locations for spontaneous rehearsals and singing - including the festival pub "Spritzenhaus". For the first time, the BFV Festival set up a "Room of Silence" to offer a protected retreat.
Culture as an economic factor: overnight stays, service providers and more
The BFV e.V. alone booked around 230 overnight stays around and during the festival in 7 Kirchzarten accommodations (Hotel Fortuna, Pension Föhrenbacher, Hotel Löwen, Hotel Krone, campsite, Black Forest Bike Hostel, Caritas Apartments). Many self-booking multi-day festival participants stay in the hotels and guesthouses, while choirs and ensembles stay at the campsite and neighbouring youth hostels. We also know of numerous purchases in the attractive shops, especially in the pedestrian zone, as well as the use of the catering facilities outside the festival meadow times and also in between.
At least 12 service providers from Kirchzarten and the surrounding area were involved in the festival: Rettich Getränke (Kirchzarten), Atlantis Trinkwassertechnik (Hartheim am Rhein), ewk (Kirchzarten), Würzburger Raumeinheiten (Bad Bellingen), René Schreiber (Gottenheim), Paul Becker GmbH (Freiburg), B&HP Weißhaar (Emmendingen), Coco Sound (Freiburg), Pfeffer & Stift (Freiburg), Metzgerei Föhrenbacher (Kirchzarten), Weingut Hug (Pfaffenweiler), Staatliche Brauerei Fürstenberg (Donaueschingen), AuberGenie (Freiburg), History Food (Breisach), Freiburger Foodbike. Johanna – das Wagencafé (Stegen), Unicorn (Freiburg), Wall GmbH (Karlsruhe), Sascha Mittmann Werbung (Freiburg).
We are looking forward to the next edition: June 12-15, 2025 in Kirchzarten.