Farnham Youth Choir wins two gold medals at World Choir Games
On 15th July, Farnham Youth Choir’s Senior Choir (FYC) arrived in Auckland, New Zealand, to represent the UK at the 13th World Choir Games. The event is based on the Olympic ideals, which aim ‘to peacefully unify people and nations connected by song in a fair competition. The idea is to inspire people to experience the power of interaction by singing together’. In total, 250 choirs and groups from 42 nations took part.
Led by their artistic director Patrick Barrett and accompanied by Matthew Rickard, FYC competed – alongside adult choirs – in the ‘Sacred Music’ category and came away with gold. They also competed in the ‘Secondary School Choirs’ category, winning a second gold medal!
These results were especially significant as this year Farnham Youth Choir celebrated its fortieth anniversary. FYC has previously won double gold medals at recent European Choir Games (2015, Germany and 2019, Sweden). The choir were delighted to uphold their reputation as one of the UK’s leading youth choirs and also to have the opportunity to meet other choirs from all over the world.
This really was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for our young singers, aged 11–18. Singer and FYC senior leader, Freya, said, ‘it was amazing being at the World Choir Games in New Zealand surrounded by singers from all over the world. We all loved the new friendships we made. We got to learn about their cultures through song, whilst sharing our own. Winning gold was just another amazing thing to add to such an incredible trip.’
Chair of Trustees, Melanie Hancox said, ‘just getting all our young singers to Auckland for the World Choir Games was a huge achievement, so to also come away with double gold medals was the cherry on the cake. This was a huge team effort on the part of our singers, their parents, our musicians and the whole wider FYC family.’
Artistic Director, Patrick Barrett said, ‘our young singers worked so hard to prepare for this competition and each and every one of them brought their A-game to the performances. I’m extremely proud of all of them.’
FYC are so grateful to tour sponsor QuadConsult as well as the plethora of local supporters and donors who contributed to our fundraising campaign. Without the support of many local people and organisations, we wouldn't be able to give our young singers such transformative opportunities.
If you know a young person aged 6-18 who would like to join this award-winning family of choirs, we are holding free open rehearsals in central Farnham on 11th and 18th September. Go to www.fyc.org.uk/joinus to register.
