After working together on a project with the BBC Singers in May 2017, the Belfast Philharmonic Youth Chamber Choir joined with the Dublin Youth Chamber Choir in an exciting new venture as the Cross Border Youth Choir. The Cross Border Youth Choir's first performance saw them place equal second in the National Youth Choir category at the 2017 City of Derry International Choir Festival and in October 2018 they went one better and were crowned National Youth Choir.
One of their winning pieces in 2018.
In November 2018 the Chamber Choir were proud to participate in the première of Patrick Hawes' Great War Symphony along with satellite choirs from around the UK.
CBYC also won the Youth Choir category of the RTÉ Lyric FM Choirs for Christmas competition in both 2018 and 2019.
In 2020/21 CBYC took part in a range of online activity while we couldn't meet to sing together. Members joined the Vocal Constructivists The Construction Site project; sopranos and altos from both choirs sang in the Belfast Philharmonic Society's virtual choir performance of Britten's Saint Nicolas; and tenors and basses - as well as our younger boys from Phil Youth and DYC Training Choir - joined a changing voices afternoon with guest speakers, encouraging boys and young men to continue to sing as their voices change and into adulthood. We also reworked our annual autumn workshop into an online version, remote recording a new Christmas Carol which was one of the top five in Making Music/Classic FM's Carols for Christmas competition and played on Classic FM in December 2020!
One of our most exiciting new projects is the Cross Border Youth Choir Composer Club, which brings together interested members from both choirs to create their own new compositions through the year, supported by conductor Lynsey Callaghan and emerging composer Laura Sheils. Among our exciting results so far, Aidan was one of ten young composers chosen by the award-winning vocal group, Ora Singers, as a finalist in its composer competition and mentoring scheme; and Grace won the 2021 Feis Ceoil choral composition competition - open to all Irish composers under 40! We hope to present some of their compositions to audiences soon.
