Cincinnati World Choir Games preparations took four years

CINCINNATI - Members of a youth choir from Columbia broke into spontaneous song Tuesday as they registered at Duke Energy Center for the World Choir Games.

The young men and women in a chorus from Thailand posed for pictures in the lobby and checked out the offerings at the Superstore of official merchandise.

The hot humid air moved by a slight breeze on Fountain Square was filled with the sound of diverse languages from around the world.

Those were some of the snapshots from Cincinnati in advance of Wednesday night's opening ceremony at U.S. Bank Arena.

"This is our picture postcard moment and everybody wants to grab that with all the gusto that they can," said Dan Lincoln, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau.

The first week of competition begins Thursday and runs through Saturday.  The second week is July 11-13.  There are dozens of concerts scheduled throughout the city.

How did Cincinnati win the games?  After all, the competition was stiff with cities like Vienna, Malta, Toronto, St. Louis, Reno and Los Angeles in the mix.

It was 2008 when Aronoff Center Operations Director Todd Duesing began looking for off-season events to book at the theater.  He contacted Interkultur, the organizing committee for the games, and learned the group was considering holding its first U.S. competition in 2012.

Duesing contacted Venus Kent, Sales Manager for Cultural Arts Events for the Cincinnati USA Convention & Visitors Bureau, and they began to look at the bid process.  They traveled to Graz, Austria, for the 2008 World Choir Games to check things out.

"We didn't know how big it was, whether Cincinnati could handle it or if we had a good shot at winning it," said Lincoln.

The decision was quickly made to make a bid, raise $10 million and mobilize the community behind the event.

"It was too big, too broad and too important to do this alone, so we brought in other people," Lincoln said.  "Everyone from the governor, to city and community leaders, arts and cultural leaders and people that run our arts organization."

Among them was Erich Kunzel, the late conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, who mapped out a vision of the opening and closing ceremonies that includes the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra and the May Festival Chorus.

When the delegates from Interkultur visited Cincinnati, Kunzel personally showed them downtown, Music Hall and explained the changes taking place in Over-the-Rhine.  He did it all in German.  The folks from Interkultur, which is based in Frankfurt, were ecstatic.

"It was one of the major reasons I think they fell in love with Cincinnati," Lincoln added.

In May of 2009, Interkultur made it official.  Cincinnati won the competition to host the 2012 World Choir Games.

Secretary General Stefan Piendl said there were three main reasons for the selection.

"First of all is the music," he said.  "The rich musical tradition of Cincinnati in general with the great orchestra -- the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Pops -- and also the May Festival is the oldest choir festival in North America."

Interkultur New Events Director Stefan Bohlander said the people of Cincinnati were the second reason.

"The support we felt from the city was very, very strong," he he said.  "We felt that the Cincinnati people welcomed us very warmly and showed us a very, very strong support to help us set up the World Choir Games here."

Both Piendl and Bohlander said the final piece of the puzzle was the venues for the event -- Music Hall, Aronoff Center, School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Cincinnati Masonic Center, U.S. Bank Arena, Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption and numerous churches.  Nearly all are located within walking distance of the downtown hotels.

"I liked Cincinnati from the very beginning," said Piendl.  "We are a company from Frankfurt and somehow I feel Cincinnati is somehow similar.  It's the same kind of city -- same kind of size."

"I'm confident it was the right decision to come here," he added.

Bohlander took it one step further.

"I expect that it will be the best games ever," he said.