Welcome to MODfestivals e.V.
MOD, the town of Marktoberdorf's car registration number, is the town's unofficial abbreviation - so the town's large event centre is called MODEON and we are called MODfestivals!
Marktoberdorf, the district town in the beautiful Allgäu region on the edge of the Alps, about 100 km southwest of Munich, becomes the meeting place of the worldwide choir and music scene once a year! Every year at Whitsun, we bring together choirs and ensembles from all over the world for musical encounter festivals with the highest international reputation:
The Musica Sacra International Festival takes place in the even years and the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition in the odd years.
The two festivals were founded by Dolf Rabus. It was also his wish that the Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Chorverbände e.V. (BDC) has been the sponsor of the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition since its beginning in 1989 and of the Musica Sacra International Festival since 2006. On the initiative of the BDC, the sponsoring association MODfestivals e.V. was founded on 12 November 2017, which has been responsible for staging the two events since 2018.
Both festivals have become an important part of cultural life in Germany, especially in Bavaria and the Allgäu. They promote, cultivate and develop choral music at an international level and intercultural as well as interreligious dialogue in the sense of the UNESCO guidelines.
The Bundesmusikverband Chor & Orchester e.V. (BMCO), the successor organisation of the BDC since 2019, and the supporting association MODfestivals e.V. continue to cultivate the cultural-political connections and objectives that have grown up. The BMCO is the conceptual sponsor of both festivals.