Songs of praise: An emotional Greek-German musical collaboration at Berlin Cathedral

Thirty-eight students from the Chios Music School joined forces with choirs and ensembles from Berlin’s Song Academy as part of German Unity Day. German Unity Day may well have been celebrated earlier this month but the sounds of the songs sung to mark the occasion are still reverberating from Berlin to Athens. Some 240 Greeks and Germans joined their voices in a festive service at Berlin Cathedral on Saturday 3 October. The Greek participants were 38 pupils from the Chios Music School, who performed alongside choirs and ensembles from Berlin’s Sing-Akademie (Sing-Akademie zu Berlin). Together they performed works by Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Britten, Lewandowski and Holst, as well as "Ora kali" by Michalis Adamis and "Messa Latina" by Yannis Christou. The result of this remarkable musical encounter was deeply moving. Kai-Uwe Jirka, the artistic director of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, was the conductor of the concert given at the Berliner Dom: "Today we celebrate the reunification of the two parts of Germany. For the past three years we have held a ceremony in the cathedral. After the service inside, we go outside with the congregation and we all sing together on the church steps for Europe. There is a special story behind this, because this event for Europe was our own idea. Three years ago, after the service, we came out of the cathedral and there was another event taking place in the Lustgarten, organised by the far-right party in our society. And we all said that this could not be allowed to happen. We had just come out of the service and we wanted to be together without hatred, without racism. So for three years now we have been reserving this space for our choirs and saying: 'All right, we cannot celebrate only Germany. Because what is Germany without Europe? And what is Europe without Greece?' This year, for me, everything that happened was perfect. We have young people from all over Europe coming together, singing side by side and sending a very strong message for Europe." This was not the first collaboration between the Greek choir and the German choral ensembles. As part of the 10th Chios Music Festival last August, more than 50 young choristers from the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin spent a week on the island, giving concerts at various venues across Chios. Conductor Friederike Stahmer founded the Berlin Sing-Akademie Girls’ Choir 20 years ago. She was on Chios this summer and shared her experience with Euronews: "What really makes this exchange programme special is that we come together and create music. A short while ago my choir travelled to Chios for the island’s Music Festival. There we learnt some Greek songs, mainly from Chios but also from the wider region. The pupils of the Chios Music School learnt German songs. Of course, at the beginning such musical collaborations are always challenging: the musical style is different, the language is different and you really have to work hard. At the same time you realise that you are learning so much about another musical culture. And now it is very rewarding that the Chios Music School is in Berlin and we have the chance to revisit all the repertoire we had already performed on Chios. You can see how it develops and blossoms. And I think it is not only about getting to know one another; creating art together, making music together has an even deeper impact on them. I am sure it will be an unforgettable experience in their lives." The Chios Music Festival and the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin have set up this special cultural exchange, bringing the island’s Music School together with German choirs, with the support of the Greek-German Youth Foundation (ΕΓΙΝ/DGJW). The Greek group stayed for eight days in the German capital and took part in three concerts in total. Olga Holdorff Myriagou and Lefteris Veniadis shared the artistic direction of the highly successful Chios Music Festival: "For the Chios Music Festival it is very important to offer opportunities to young people, to the new generation, because the choir that is here in Berlin taking part in the exchange programme has many more opportunities than the children on Chios, which lies on the edge of Europe. It is therefore a great chance for the children of Chios to come to Berlin and join such a project. Suddenly we have 100 children on stage. So we want to create opportunities on Chios as well, when the children from Berlin come through this programme, and ensure that they too have high-quality experiences there. We want to bring similarly significant activities to the island, but also to have the chance to take our children abroad, so that they can learn and discover new things, to open their ears," explains Olga Holdorff Myriagou. Lefteris Veniadis adds: "Through the common language of music, we witnessed a miracle. German children sharing the stage with the children of Chios, singing German and Greek songs. There was, in other words, a kind of osmosis, a common goal. We managed to stage all these concerts as part of the Chios Music Festival in different parts of the island, in wonderful landscapes that took on a new dimension through music. And now something similar is happening in Berlin. We are very pleased with the outcome and the children from Chios are truly impressed by what is taking place here." Four young people who took part in the exchange programme and sang in the service and the concerts shared their experience with us: Orfeas Kirythras, who is from the Chios Music School said: "First of all, the experience is absolutely unique. Nothing like this has ever happened before in my life, or anything similar. I believe this exchange is extremely valuable, because we learn to live alongside people from another culture, another mindset, and overall they teach us a great deal. Greeks and Germans share this desire to create, this longing for creativity and for music. We want to build this beautiful thing called music." Chrysa Noka is also a student at the Chios Music School: "At first I had doubts, but then I agreed to come, because I thought I would never have this experience again. When the children came to Chios, of course we faced quite a few difficulties because of our differences, but in the end we were able to coexist and we adapted our daily lives so that everyone felt comfortable." Louise Castellani from the Berlin Girls’ Choir noted: "The experience on Chios was so wonderful, because I made many friends there. In the morning we would go to the beach and play volleyball, so it was really fantastic, and here in Berlin it is also just perfect. I enjoy it very much and I hope we can repeat this collaboration next year. We had a great time." Elsa Kriegenburg from the Berlin Girls’ Choir said: "What brings us together is the common language of music. It makes everything much easier. Singing together creates a very different sense of companionship and community. Communication in general was not that difficult either, because I think that, especially as young people, we all speak English to some extent, so we could really talk, have conversations with one another. So we became friends very quickly. And it is wonderful that we are now meeting again here in Berlin." After the service ended, the musical encounter continued outside Berlin Cathedral, on the steps overlooking the Lustgarten, with the initiative "Sing for Europe!", where the choirs and the large crowd sang together.