Live Stream
What a party it has been! For all who want to look back the link is available for delayed viewing until the end of April. All videos are currently being edited for publishing on the BinG! youtube channel.
Barbershop Music Festival 2026
‘A CAPPELLA LOVE’ is the motto under which numerous choruses and quartets will gather at the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal from 12 to 15 March 2026 for Germany's largest barbershop event. Experience the German Barbershop Championships and let yourself be carried away by exhilarating performances and the unique barbershop a cappella sound at the evening show on Saturday.
We are looking forward to a great a cappella festival with singers from all over the world, because in 2026 the World Mixed Championships will finally be held again, bringing together the best mixed quartets and choruses in the world in Wuppertal.
The Barbershop Music Festival 2026 is all about love – love of music, love of spectacular entertainment and love of giving you a fantastic and memorable time. Come along on a journey and feel the fire that burns in over 1,200 passionate singers. This is a cappella music that touches the heart! You can find a review of 2024 below with videos from the BMF 2024.
Look forward to incredible vocal volume, breathtaking emotional highlights and rousing performances!
The BMF is sold out. Tickets are still available for the Westminster Chorus concert with The Newfangled Four on Thursday, 12 March 2025. (The concert is included in the participant and supporter ticket for the weekend.)
How to get there
Wuppertal is easy to reach from many German railway stations.
Due to construction works, the high speed trains will unfortunately not be stopping in Wuppertal in March. Local trains (RE/RB, S) will continue to take you to Wuppertal Central Station (Wuppertal Hauptbahnhof). You can check the connections here.
Wuppertal Central Station and the city centre are both about a 10-minute walk from the Historische Stadthalle. If you take the escalator to platform 1 at the station and walk straight along the platform towards platform section E, then take Elisabeth-Schniewind-Str. to Bahnhofstr., you will almost have reached the Historische Stadthalle Wuppertal.
The nearest international airports are Düsseldorf (DUS), Frankfurt (FRA) or Amsterdam (AMS).
Westminster Chorus
Special guest is Westminster Chorus, the gold medal chorus in the BHS 2024 international competition!
Under the direction of Dr. Dan Wessler, Westminster Chorus is the winner of the 2009 Pavarotti Trophy ‘Choir of the World’ and the gold medal winner of the Barbershop Harmony Society in 2007, 2010, 2015, 2019 and 2024. The chorus, which is made up of young and dedicated singers, was founded in its current formation in 2002. Westminster is a male chorus from California and a member of the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS). The chorus is dedicated to preserving and promoting the art form of barbershop while creating and encouraging an inclusive community for young people in Southern California and around the world to engage in a lifetime of singing, music and artistic expression.
Contest
Since 2012, BinG! has been organising World Mixed, the world championships in mixed barbershop. After a pandemic-related break, we can finally welcome the world's best mixed ensembles to our country for the fifth time in 2026. In recent years, many great mixed barbershop choruses and quartets have emerged, enriching the barbershop world.
As soon as we have the results, we will publish them here.
Jury & Rules
A distinguished panel of judges will evaluate the competitions according to BHS rules:
Singing: Aaron Evans, James Robert Estes, Alison Thompson; Lucas Bitzer (practice judge)
Performance: Dusty Schleier, Marty Lovick, Sandra Lea-Riley
Musicality: Cay Outerbridge, John Burri, Alex de Bruin
Admin: Ben Porter (Panel Chair), David Wright, Hartmut Otto
Live Stream
The BMF is sold out – but don't worry: so that family, friends and fans can still be there live, we are bringing the competition directly to your home via livestream.
A livestream ticket costs €18.
Wuppertal
We look forward to welcoming you to this stage in Wuppertal.
A few rules for a carefree convention experience:
Please wear your badge at all times to gain access to the town hall and the rooms.
Smoking is not permitted in the building. Logical.
It is not permitted to bring drinks (except closed water bottles) or food into the main hall.
The event is sold out. Please do not keep seats free, but fill every seat and always join the other participants.
When the doors to the Main Hall are closed, they are closed. It is possible that not all participants will always be able to find a seat in the Main Hall or the gallery. In this case, you can follow the livestream in the Majolika West Hall or (from Saturday afternoon) in the Mendelssohn Hall.
Hairspray may not be used in the changing rooms. As perfume can also cause allergic reactions, please use it sparingly.
You can buy lunch in the city or at the train station, both of which are about a 10-minute walk away. If you do not want to walk, you can order packed lunches; the link is at the top of the page.
You can leave your jackets and coats in the cloakroom in the foyer. The cloakroom is not supervised. Please leave your valuables at the hotel. Please do not leave any large items of luggage in the dressing rooms, as there will be another 1,200 people needing the space before and after you.
(c) Simon Wierzba
Performance order
- Quartet semi-final - Session 1
Mic Warmer: Last Minute
1. Not Too Fancy
2. Seriously?!
3. Escapade
4. It's a bet
5. The Hillbillys
6. Summer & the Good Vibes
7. Sound of July
8. Rhine Rhapsody
9. Newphoria
10. Tic Tag Toe
11. Nice n easy
12. Sunny Side Up
13. 3.1
14. Schallundraus
15. The Light Fantastic
16. O-Ton
17. Mixed Bag
18. Pen Pals- Quartet semi-final - Session 2
Mic Warmer: Take Four
19. Night Train Quartet
20. Klangküsse
21. Nice When It Works
22. A.S.A.P.
23. Sunday Night Social
24. Mrs. Lovett
25. PHK - Pastor Hannes Kör
26. Wash Queens
27. Game on!
28. Mäxpitch
29. Empire
30. Veto
31. Dreamscape
32. Aurora
33. BAM!
34. Ami Quartet
35. No Limits
36. 3vs1
37. Andrew's Sisters
38. 3/4 anwesend
39. Smoke Ring
40. VelovoxMic Cooler: The Newfangled Four
- Choruses - Session 1
Mic Warmer: No Borders Show Chorus
1. Northern Stars
2. Ladies First
3. Barbershop Blend
4. Barberkadabra
5. Munster Mix
6. Undercover MixMic Cooler: PDX Voices
- Choruses - Session 2
Mic Warmer: Lucky Dreamers
7. A Cappella Company
8. Main Stream Magic
9. Munich Show Chorus
10. Sugar ´n Spice
11. Mixed Nuts
12. Erster Kölner Barbershop Chorus (EKBC)
13. BinG! Youth Chorus (BYC)
14. Project M
15. A Cappella Ladies
16. Voices Unlimited
17. Düssharmonie
18. Project Mosaik
19. Mixology
20. Lux A Cappella
21. The Rhubarbs
22. Harmunichs
23. Barberellas
24. Herrenbesuch
25. Miss Harmony
26. Crucible Vocal Project
27. Bristol A Cappella
28. Women in BlackMic Cooler: Westminster Chorus
- Quartet Finale
tbd
Programme
- Thursday, March 12, 2026
6:00 pm: get together at "Historischen Stadthalle" Tickets: Get Together
6:00 pm: stage test quartets
7:30 pm: Concert Westminster Chorus and The Newfangled Four. Tickets: Konzert
9:00 pm: stage briefing choruses
- Friday, March 13, 2026
09:30 am: Semi finals for the German and World Mixed Quartet Championships
06:40 pm: draw of quartet finalists
08:00 pm: German and World Mixed Chorus Championships part I
followed by afterglow
- Saturday, March 14, 2026
09:30 am: part II of German and World Mixed Chorus Championships
03:35 pm: Chorus awards ceremony
04:30 pm: German and World Mixed Quartet Championship Finals
07:05 pm: Quartets award ceremony
08:30 pm: Show of the Champions, followed by afterglow
- Sunday, March 15, 2026
10:30 am: Coaching under Glass
11:30 am: Tags and Closing
Dear singers,
dear festival guests and
dear board members of BinG! Barbershop in Germany,
‘A Cappella Love’ is the long-standing motto of the Barbershop music festivals, which bring together singers from all over the world every year, like a big family reunion. They are all united by their love of music and singing together. As in any choir or vocal ensemble, diverse and long-lasting friendships are formed here, and cultural coexistence and social cohesion are lived out as a matter of course – and that is wonderful! Especially at a time when tendencies towards exclusion and isolation are on the rise worldwide, choirs and ensembles can demonstrate their unique power and strength as the heart, pulse and engine of democracy in a melodious and harmonious way.
This year, the German Barbershop Championships and the international World Mixed competition, in which the world's best mixed barbershop ensembles compete, are once again part of the festival. BinG! is playing a pioneering role here, for which I would like to express my sincere congratulations: While until 2019 barbershop singing was strictly gender-segregated in almost all other countries, BinG! has long included all-voice ensembles and offers mixed-voice barbershop ensembles a stage far beyond Germany's borders, enriching the scene in a unique way. The high number of participants confirms this impressively.
I would like to express my sincere thanks to the team behind BinG! Barbershop in Germany and its lively and exciting festivals: people who work mainly on a voluntary basis and who, with great commitment and passion, make such unique music events possible, bringing joy and unforgettable experiences to many people.
On behalf of the Presidium of the German Choral Association, I wish you every success and a wonderful outcome for the Barbershop Music Festival 2026. I am very much looking forward to being able to attend parts of the festival in person.
Yours sincerely,
Christian Wulff
President of the German Choral Association
Former President of the Federal Republic of Germany
