Farnham Youth Choir kicks off 40th anniversary season

Farnham Youth Choir, one of the world’s best youth choirs, is celebrating its 40th anniversary! Over the last four decades, children and young people have been inspired to come together and sing at the highest level, initially by FYC founder David Victor-Smith MBE and now under the direction of Patrick Barrett. The choir has won numerous awards and performed in many of the world’s most prestigious venues.

The celebratory year kicks off with open rehearsals on 6th and 13th September where children and young people from school years 2-9 are invited to come and see what the choir is all about. If they enjoy themselves, children in school years 2-4 can immediately join the Training Choir and older children can audition for either the Junior Choir or the Senior Choir, where a limited number of places are available. The choir has a bursary scheme and is keen to include children from all backgrounds.

After that, celebrations get fully underway at our autumn concert right here in Farnham at St Andrew’s Church. Tickets are available from our website (fyc.org.uk). Various Christmas performances follow and in 2024, the choir invites alumni to join them at a gala concert in London on 9th March. The year culminates in the Senior Choir jetting off to Auckland, New Zealand, to compete in the Interkultur World Choir Games. It’s going to be an exciting year!

Co-Chair of Trustees, Melanie Hancox, said:

‘We’re so excited to be sharing our anniversary celebrations with our local community. Farnham Youth Choir has such deep roots in the town and we want to include as many people as possible in our celebrations.’

Artistic Director, Patrick Barrett, said:

‘Our anniversary year is going to be busy, but we’re very happy to have so many brilliant performance opportunities to offer our young people. It’s a great time to join one of our choirs.’

Budding singers who would like to go to an open rehearsal should visit fyc.org.uk/joinus.

FYC Senior Choir wins best Children’s Choir!

Farnham Youth Choir is immensely proud to have returned from the Concours Choral International in Provence with another trophy! Conducted by Patrick Barrett and accompanied by Matthew Rickard, FYC won the Children’s Choir category following their outstanding performance against choirs from China and Chartres. 

FYC also competed alongside adult choirs in the ‘Sacred Music’ and ‘Pop, Gospel, Spiritual and Folk’ categories and was delighted to be the children’s choir placed highest in each category. A highlight of the trip for all the young singers was meeting choirs from around the world. FYC member Keira said:

‘It was an amazing experience as everyone from musical backgrounds across the world were coming together to sing. It was also amazing to see the other choirs perform to such a high standard and to spread their love for choral music with big smiles on their faces.’

The tour was a fantastic bonding experience for all involved and cemented the already strong friendships between members. Singer, Zoe, said:

‘Having the opportunity to travel with such a kind, funny and supportive group of people is what made this competition so special.’

FYC parents who were lucky enough to attend the concerts in Provence witnessed this first-hand:

‘As a parent it was a fantastic experience to see the performances and see the choir develop and grow!’

‘The FYC singers all seem genuinely kind and supportive of each other and this seems to be amplified when they are together. These tours give our youngsters life-changing experiences and lessons on how to be kind and accepting human beings.’

So, where next? Farnham Youth Choir choir is looking forward to celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2024 with a special concert in London in March 2024 and a tour to the World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand. Local people can support the choir to reach this goal by making a donation at fyc.org.uk/donate.

FYC Senior Choir triumphs in Hull!

On 27th April, Farnham Youth Choir’s Senior Choir (FYC) arrived in Hull for the first ever Interkultur International Choir Competition to be held in the UK. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this was also the choir’s first international choral competition since 2019. The choir competed against choirs from as far afield as Finland, South Africa and Turkey. In total, 27 choirs from 10 countries took part.  

Led by their artistic director Patrick Barrett and accompanied by Matthew Rickard, FYC competed - alongside adult choirs - in the ‘Sacred Choral Music a cappella’ category and came away with a silver award. They also competed in the ‘Youth Choirs of equal voices’ category, winning the category trophy with gold!

After nearly 40 years of choral excellence, Farnham Youth Choir has developed into a family of choirs that supports children to achieve extraordinary things through a shared love of singing. FYC has previously won international competitions from the World Choir Games (2006, China) to 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.

Singer, Freya, said, ‘Competing in Hull was so much fun. The reward of winning the youth choir category after working hard all term made me feel on top of the world.’ 

Co-Chair of Trustees, Melanie Hancox said, ‘watching this group of singers, some of whom have been in FYC for years and others, only months, work so hard and raise the level of their performance was inspirational. There is no doubt that events like these change lives – none of our singers will forget what they achieved this weekend.’

Artistic Director, Patrick Barrett said, ‘the International Choral Competition in Hull was an inspirational experience. Seeing the incredible talent from across the globe helped us to raise our game and celebrate the brilliant voices of Farnham on the world stage.’

The next date in FYC’s competition calendar is the Concours Choral International taking place in Provence in July 2023. Local people can support the choir’s competitive efforts, by making a donation at fyc.org.uk/donate or wishing us luck at our Facebook page, facebook.com/farnhamyouthchoir. Without the support of many local people and organisations, we wouldn’t be able to give our young singers such transformative opportunities.

Senior Choir takes a step closer to The World Choir Games 2024

The weather may have been cold, but there was a very warm atmosphere in The Spire Church at 5pm on Saturday 4 March! The talented members of Farnham Youth Choir put on a free teatime concert (plus tea and cake) in order to raise money for their attendance at The World Choir Games in Auckland, New Zealand in July 2024.  

The extremely varied programme featured small vocal groups performing well-known songs by ABBA and Billy Joel, alongside solo performances by the singers, ranging from Mendelssohn to the Lithuanian song Paukščiai and even a new composition, written and performed by a choir member. Also included were instrumental pieces such as Debussy’s lovely Clair de lune played by FYC accompanist, Matthew Rickard. 

It was fantastic that the concert was so well supported and overall the event raised a very welcome £1200, taking the choir one step closer to their goal.