FYC put Farnham on world stage with double gold medals at the European Choir Games 2019

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On Tuesday 6th August, Farnham Youth Choir topped off an outstanding year by representing Farnham and the United Kingdom at the European Choir Games and Grand Prix of Nations in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Having also appeared on the X Factor Live Final on ITV1 last December, FYC continued its high profile season with Gold medals in both categories it entered, with storming performances in the Youth Choir category before going on to excel against adult choirs in the Sacred Music category.

With a repertoire that included choral works by Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert and Maurice Durúfle - as well as contemporary composers Janet Wheeler and Oliver Tarney, FYC stunned judges as the 40 strong choir took centre stage at the event. With members ranging between 12 and 18 years of age, the choir was accompanied by Matthew Rickard and a dedicated team of supporters and staff whilst hundreds of followers cheered them on in real-time via social media.

Bear Crawford, a longstanding member of the choir, said: ‘I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved, and we’ve all worked so hard to have this amazing experience in Gothenburg.’

Jess Miller said: ‘I’m so proud to be able to call myself a senior leader of such an incredible choir! We have worked so hard this year and everyone has pulled together amazingly to achieve the best results we could have hoped for! We never expected to win anything in such challenging categories but our hard work is clearly reflected in our shiny gold medals!!

Artist Director Joanna Tomlinson said: ‘This has been an incredible experience for the choir and its supporters and shows the exceptional talent and professionalism our young singers put into every performance. We have a long tradition of competing strongly in competitions, but this was an exceptional achievement, especially when competing against adult choirs from across the world.’

In addition to their gold medal winning performances, the choir also connected with choirs from Denmark, Italy and the USA as part of the Grand Prix of Nations - giving impromptu performances and a ‘Friendship concert’ in Vasakyrkan as part of the event.

With Training, Junior and Youth Choirs made up of over 150 young singers, Farnham Youth Choir is ranked in the top 50 Youth Choirs in the world by Interkultur and will be going on to perform John Rutter’s ‘Mass of the Children’ at the Sion Music Festival, in Switzerland on 18th August 2019.

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The charity is aiming to continue to gain support for its ambitious plan to compete in the World Choir Games in Belgium in 2020.

More information about joining one of FYC’s choirs in September 2019 onwards can be found at www.fyc.org.uk/joinus