Deutscher Chorverband

The Deutscher Chorverband (DCV) is the world's largest organization of amateur music, with over 1.4 million singing and supporting members in around 21,000 choirs. As the umbrella organization of its 28 member associations and the German Youth Choir, the DCV represents the diverse and vibrant choral culture in Germany.

• Diverse Projects and Events: The DCV initiates and supports a wide range of projects and events, including singing promotion in kindergartens, music education in children's and youth choirs, collaborations between schools and choirs, men's and women's choir days, jazz choir festivals, days of new choral music, and choir director congresses.
• Training and Education: The association offers extensive training for singers and choir directors, as well as education for management newcomers and choir boards.
• Research and Research Center: The DCV operates Germany's only foundation that runs a research center for choral music.
• Conferences and Seminars: Hundreds of conferences, seminars, and practical weekends complement the concert program of amateur choirs.

The mission of the Deutscher Chorverband is to nurture and promote choral singing in the amateur music sector in all its diversity. The association makes a significant cultural policy contribution at regional, national, and international levels.

• Tradition and Cultural Diversity: The DCV preserves, develops, and maintains the traditional and cultural diversity of choral singing.
• Representation and Advocacy: The association represents choral singing in the public sphere as well as to decision-makers in culture, politics, and society, and advocates for the interests of its members.
• Voluntary Engagement: The DCV promotes, strengthens, and recognizes voluntary engagement at all levels.
• Diversity, Justice, Participation, and Cultural Involvement: The association stands for these values and respects the autonomy of its member associations.

• Promotion of Singing among Children and Youth: The DCV and the German Youth Choir work together to promote singing among children and youth. A nationwide initiative for child-friendly singing, launched in 2000, supports daycare centers and kindergartens in integrating group singing into their daily routines.
• Cultural Education and Social Cohesion: Choirs enrich cultural life, strengthen awareness of our cultural identity, and create opportunities for encounters between people of different generations, backgrounds, beliefs, and opinions.
• UNESCO Recognition: "Choral music in German amateur choirs" was included in the nationwide register of intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2014.

• German Choir Festival: Every four years, the DCV invites to the German Choir Festival, which provides a stage for vocal ensembles of all genres and formations.
• Week of Open Choirs: This event offers singing enthusiasts and ensembles the opportunity to get to know each other and participate in choir rehearsals.
• chor.com and CHORALSPACE: These platforms offer training opportunities, festivals, and forums for the exchange of all actors in the choral scene and promote vocal music in all its facets.

The Deutscher Chorverband is thus a central player in cultural education and an important part of social cohesion in Germany, nurturing and promoting singing and vocal music at a high level through its diverse activities and initiatives.

• 1 - https://www.dbk.de/fileadmin/redaktion/Zahlen%20und%20Fakten/Kirchliche%20Statistik/Allgemein_-_Zahlen_und_Fakten/AH-342_DBK_BRO_ZuF_2023-2024_Internetdatei.pdf
• 2 - https://www.dhs.gov/terms
• 3 - https://www.deutscher-chorverband.de
• 4 - https://choralspace.org/partner/partners_dcv/
• 5 - https://www.deutscher-chorverband.de/verband/hintergrund/leitbild-und-satzung