Peace and Freedom Concert on the occasion of "30 years of the Europe Prize City of Bocholt".

European melodies rang out on 5 May in the church of St. Michael Suderwick to mark "30 years of the Europe Prize for the City of Bocholt". The project choir "Town Twinning" Bocholt and the Stadskoor Bredevoort jointly gave a peace and freedom concert on the Council of Europe's Europe Day. The overall musical direction was provided by Dineke de Roo from the Netherlands.

Mayor Thomas Kerkhoff and his Dutch counterpart from Aalten, Anton Stapelkamp, jointly welcomed the numerous concert-goers.

Award of the Europe Prize 30 years ago

In his greeting, the Mayor of Bocholt recalled the award of the Europe Prize as the highest municipal distinction by the Council of Europe in 1993. Kerkhoff emphasised that this prize was awarded in particular for the cross-border cooperation with the Netherlands. Anton Stapelkamp was pleased that this concert on the German side perfectly complemented the Freedom Meal, which had already taken place at noon in the neighbouring Dutch town of Dinxperlo.

Songs from Beethoven to Monk

The concert began with the European anthem "Ode to Joy". Both choirs sang this song composed by Ludwig van Beethoven together. This was followed by the song "Praise of Friendship" by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and other songs, some performed individually, from the repertoire. Together with the concert guests, both choirs then sang "Freude schöner Götterfunken" together again at the end.

Tradition of cross-border cooperation

The project choir and the Stadskoor have known each other since 2012. Various concert projects, for example at Christmas or on the occasion of the 800th anniversary of the city of Bocholt, have brought the two choirs from Germany and the Netherlands together time and again.

Support from EUREGIO

This cross-border concert was supported by the INTERREG Programme Germany-Netherlands with funds from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).