With great regret we have taken the difficult decision to cancel this year's abcd Choral Leaders' Festival, our 35th Annual Convention, which was to have taken place from 28-30 August at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.
The decision was taken in light of the ongoing situation regarding coronavirus, both in the UK and abroad.
abcd has held a convention every year since 1986 so this was not a decision taken lightly, but we are conscious that the current situation is likely to take a considerable time to resolve. We are also very aware of the extremely difficult situation musicians find themselves in at present, that choirs are not able to meet, and that at the moment we need to find alternative ways to continue our work and support for choral leaders of all kinds.
Plans were well underway for this year, including international guest choirs St Jacobs Vokalensemble from Sweden, and Latvian Voices, and members of The King's Singers. We would like to thank them and the staff at the Conservatoire for their understanding at this difficult time.
We are intending to start planning some alternative shorter events in due course, which will include some of the planned convention workshops and extended repertoire sessions. abcd fully intends to continue its training course programme when circumstances allow while developing new kinds of events and online resources to support and encourage our members and the wider choral community. In turn, the support of individual and corporate members for abcd is deeply appreciated and particularly vital at this time.
Posted: Wed 25th March 2020