64 members and 13 supporting adults from Barnsley Youth Choir represented Great Britain in the World Choir Games in Helsingborg, Sweden. The World Choir Games, or Choir Olympics, is widely regarded as the most important international choir competition and features some of the very best choirs in the world. In total 160 choirs from 40 countries and 5 continents participated with 207 competition performances and around 8500 singers involved. BYC competed against outstanding adult choirs from countries including New Zealand, Indonesia, China and Germany.
The choir competed in the Gospel Choir and Pop Choir Categories against seasoned and highly experienced choirs. The choir was awarded Gold Medals for their performances scoring 94.67 in the Pop Choir Category and 96.00 in the Gospel Choir Category out of 100. Other choirs also reached a gold medal threshold scoring above 80 out of 100 but Barnsley Youth Choir was awarded 1st place in both categories with the highest score and became double World Champions in a special Champions Awards ceremony.
Amongst a number of exciting events in which BYC took part, the choir was invited to perform in a special Celebration Concert with choirs from Canada and France, a Friendship Concert with choirs from Zimbabwe, China and Germany and also took part in a special closing ceremony, performing with a 70-piece professional orchestra as part of a massed choir of 400 singers from across the world. Following this success, the choir flew directly to the world-famous Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest festival in the world.
They were joined by 2 other choirs from the organisation. A total of 280 people were involved including children as young as 7 years old, in 9 concerts at the iconic Greyfriars Kirk to 2060 audience members, with over 1000 choosing to write excellent reviews. The choirs performed at a very high level following 9 months of detailed preparation, supported by a strong team of around 40 volunteers, musicians and technicians.
Mat Wright MBE, Artistic Director, said
‘We are incredibly proud of these superb achievements. The standard and quality of singing in the World Choir Games was exceptionally high and for Barnsley youngsters to compete on the same footing as these outstanding choirs with such a strong international pedigree is testament to the hard work of everyone involved across the organisation, and to the children and young people themselves. They worked so hard to prepare over the last 12 months and performed at an exceptional level, moving audiences to tears throughout the week. We have been inundated with emails and messages from international audience members, choir leaders, singers and jury members who have been overwhelming in their praise for the standard of our performances in Helsingborg. Seeing the Union Jack raised and our national anthem being sung in the Helsingborg Arena was a very special moment and marks a significant milestone since the choir was formed 17 years ago. It seems almost inconceivable that an inclusive community choir from Barnsley has become World Champion, and it does so because of the support of so many over a considerable number of years. The tour to Edinburgh that followed was perhaps even more logistically challenging with so many people involved but it was a huge success. Seeing 7 year old children perform at the largest Arts Festival in the world to an international audience with such assurance and skill reminds us of the talent that exists in Barnsley and the highly skilled team of around 100 musicians and volunteers that works so hard to nurture this potential on a weekly basis. We would like to thank everyone that supported our young people and enabled them to be involved, including sponsors, those that donated and many that made significant sacrifices to organise and support this extensive tour. It was such a special 2 weeks, only made possible because of the support of the community, and it provided an experience that everyone who was involved will never forget’.
Photographs ©Ian Wallace
