Greatest choir in the world: !SING DAY OF SONG finale with more than 60,000 singers

"A beautiful day" - that was the title of the final song sung at the final concert as well as a fitting summary of the !SING – DAY OF SONG project. 600 concerts all over the Ruhr Metropolis and many thousands of singers turned the whole Ruhr region into one gigantic choir. All day long, starting with midnight and sunrise concerts, people were singing on ships, on market squares, schoolyards and even in subways.

On Saturday night, Gelsenkirchen's VELTINS-Arena was filled to the rafters for the world's biggest choir. Conducted by Steven Sloane, Artistic Director of RUHR.2010, the two-and-a-half-hour concert was a thrilling ride through musical history – from Beethoven to the Beatles, gypsy choirs to Habanera; filling the stadium with the voices of opera diva Vesselina Kasarova, folk songs, the new Ruhr anthem "Komm zur Ruhr", the traditional miners’ song "Glück auf" and the "Ave Maria". "Being the son of a church musician I had so far always found the Ave Maria to be pure kitsch," says RUHR.2010 Chairman Oliver Scheytt. "But when Bobby McFerrin sang the first pitch and the entire stadium the second, I knew this was the most beautiful version I had ever heard." Steven Sloane was impressed as well: "Everyone did a really terrific job!"

For Fritz Pleitgen, Chairman of RUHR.2010, it was "overwhelmingly beautiful. The DAY OF SONG was really a people's event and an excellent application for the Ruhr to host the Eurovision Song Contest."

Active participants included not just the 8,000 singing in the choirs on the pitch and the enthusiastic crowd; the evening's special guests were impressed as well: "We are really proud to have been a part of this unique event," says Steven Kolacny of Belgian girls’ choir Scala & Kolacny. The Wise Guys stated that, "We have never experienced anything like this! It's truly special to see this many people express their emotions in such an intense manner."

One of the evening's biggest stars couldn't quite believe it all once the final song had been sung – Bobby McFerrin: "It's wonderful. Complete strangers get together and sing. A year ago when Steven Sloane first told me about the idea I had my doubts – I had never sung with 60,000 people. But I have to say you really did it!"

Steven Sloane, the evening's impresario found the perfect closing words to sum up the DAY OF SONG: "People talk too much – they need to sing more."

You can find press photos for !SING - DAY OF SONG here.
You can find additional information about the project on the project home page at www.ruhr2010.de/en/sing.

RUHR.2010 Media contact international:
Katharina Jarzombek
Telefon: +49 (0) 201 888 20 49
E-Mail: katharina.jarzombek@ruhr2010.de