DYC ARCHIVES
*DUBLIN YOUTH CHOIR'S FIRST-EVER VIRTUAL CHOIR!* (march 2020)
Our singers have worked so hard this term in preparation for our concerts and for the Cork International Choral Festival, Maynooth Choral Festival and Feis Ceoil. One of our favourite pieces this term was 'Nader My God By U' and we were so looking forward to singing it. Unfortunately all of our events for this term have now been cancelled so we wanted to find a project that would give us a chance to share this incredible piece of music with as many people as possible, while staying safe at home. This has been a huge amount of work for our singers and for Brian Murphy who produced it. All of our singers perfected and recorded their own lines at home and Brian brought the whole project together. We are delighted that you can hear our amazing singers performing this amazing piece and we are happy to feel connected to our DYC Family at this time.
Success for Dublin Youth Choir in the RTÉ Choirs for Christmas 2019 competition
Dublin Youth Chamber Choir was named overall runners-up in the RTÉ lyric fm Choirs for Christmas competition and won the award for best performance of a contemporary Irish choral work with Rhona Clarke’s ‘Make We Merry’!
The larger Youth Choir won the prize for Best Youth Choir along with the Belfast Philharmonic Youth and Chamber Choir as the Cross Border Youth Choir. They sang David Willcock’s arrangement of ‘Away in a Manger’.
Congratulations to all the DYC choirs who recorded tracks for this competition. All DYC choirs recorded music by Irish female composers for RTÉ Lyric FM Choirs for Christmas 2019 to highlight the wonderful music created by women in Ireland. This reflects Dublin Youth Choir's ongoing commitment to the representation of women and the promotion of Irish composers in their programming. Both Training Choir and Junior Choir performed pieces written by Lynsey Callaghan, their conductor. Youth Choir performed ‘Hodie!’ by Laura Sheils - a brilliant new piece of choral music for SATB choir that they premiered in December 2019.
Dublin youth chamber choir In áras an uachtaráin again
On 7th December, Dublin Youth Chamber Choir was delighted to perform at the President’s annual tree-lighting ceremony. They were part of a stellar line-up of acts, which even included Hozier. They performed as two small ensembles throughout the day both inside the house and at the entrance, before joining together to lead the singing as the tree was lit! It was a very memorable day for all of the singers. A special DYC thank you to Brian and David for conducting at the event.
Dublin youth chamber choir in áras an uachtaráin
On 2nd October 2019, Dublin Youth Chamber Choir was honoured to perform for President Michael D. Higgins, Mrs Sabina Higgins, and their guests at the President’s official residence, Áras an Uachtaráin. President and Mrs Higgins were hosting an event for families campaigning for justice for the Birmingham bombing victims, and for representatives of the Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation.
Chamber Choir performed beautiful music by Irish composers Seán Doherty, Conor O'Reilly and Michael McGlynn, and a movement of the All-Night Vigil by Rachmaninov. They ended their performance with a setting of the Sunset Poem by Dylan Thomas, one of the President’s favourite poems.
champions of the european choir games 2019
Dublin Youth Chamber Choir represented Ireland at the European Choir Games in Gothenburg, Sweden, from 3–7 August 2019. They were named Champions of the European Choir Games in the Youth Choir category and were awarded two gold medals, including one for the international Grand Prix, and a gold diploma for their performances. The awards ceremony took place in the Partille Arena, Gothenburg. Dublin Youth Choir was honoured to be the only choir representing Ireland out of the 171 choirs and 6300 participants from 47 nations who took part in the European Choir Games. The Irish national anthem was the first of seven national anthems to be sung .
Artistic Director and Founder, Lynsey Callaghan
“This is a huge achievement for Dublin Youth Choir. We began rehearsing just two years ago but through the hard work and total dedication of every young singer and volunteer, we have accomplished more than I thought was possible in this short time. Our singers and music team strive for excellence and we are delighted that this has been recognised on an international stage. Every member of the DYC family is crucial to the success of Dublin Youth Choir and the singers’ determination, diligence, and passion was evident in their performances at the European Choir Games. We are excited to build on this achievement throughout the next academic year and for DYC to continue to grow and improve. We will add three new choirs to the DYC family in September 2019, facilitating the participation of singers from 7 to 28 years old.”
