New team brings great success to the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition

Even before the last sounds of the 19th Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition have faded away, the choir competition can still be regarded as extremely successful. The choirs were enthusiastic, the audience celebrated them with standing ovations and never-ending applause. The international guests not only raved about the beautiful landscape, but also and above all about the meeting of the top choirs in the Allgäu.

The new MODfestival team around Managing Director Prof. Ulrich Wegenast can tell you a thing or two about the fact that this is not a sure-fire success after more than 30 years of the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition, but hard work. But it has paid off. There has been an increase in all areas. Starting with the choirs, of which a total of 16 were successfully invited to the competition instead of just 12 in 2023.

The team was already rewarded during the Christmas period when it became apparent that more festival passes were sold than ever before thanks to the “Winter Special” and “Early Bird” campaigns. In total, twice as many festival passes were sold as in 2023, which ultimately also had an impact on advance ticket sales, with around 20 percent more tickets sold than in the last competition.

With the selection of new venues, such as Munich and Polling, the competition was successfully expanded and thus reached a broader audience spectrum. New additional and supporting programs such as the school choir meeting of the Swabian grammar schools with 500 pupils from the region or the new sing-along concert in the tent showed that new formats not only work, but were also enthusiastically received by the audience.

The winner has not yet been decided. But one thing is already more than clear: the festival, which started with a new team, is a great success and a real cultural highlight for the Allgäu region. However, it is also reaching the limits of its capacity. The program book was already sold out on the opening evening, as were the opening concert, the final CHORD and individual venues. And the festival tent next to the MODEON, which is particularly popular with the audience, was bursting at the seams with visitors at the Singschoppen.