International Male Choral Festival comes to Cornwall

Choirs from all around the world have arrived in Cornwall for the 11th International Male Choral Festival. Singers of all ages will spend the next few days performing at 25 venues across the county. About 50 choirs will be taking part, with the event expected to attract more than 50,000 people, organisers said. Jakob Martinec, spokesperson for the Prague Boys' Choir, said the festival was "such an important event". "It's wonderful, there are so many exciting things happening here in Cornwall and this is such an important event for choir singing, that is in crisis worldwide," he said. "So, to have this extraordinary festival with so many choirs, it's joy."Festival director Gareth Churcher said there was still a "huge appetite" for the festival. "Through all the real challenges around the world, and the cost of living crisis, there is still clearly a huge appetite for the joy and camaraderie that our festival brings," he said. "It would be fair to say we are putting on an amazing event in the face of adversity and we cannot wait to welcome our friends - international and closer to home - for a festival that makes so many people happy." Patrick, from the Prague Boys' Choir, added: "I think everyone here could be a potential singer, everyone has a beautiful voice, if they like singing they should go after it and follow singing."