ORGANISERS of the first Worcester International Festival for Young Singers have announced the 11 choirs that will be taking part.

The event is the first-ever international festival for children’s and youth choirs in the UK and will bring more than 400 young singers from across the world to Worcestershire.

Organisers Sing UK had a tough task in narrowing down the 23 choirs who applied to the final 11. They come from Hong Kong, Spain, Lithuania, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, with two each from Poland and Russia.

Artistic director Malcolm Goldring said: “The reach of choirs who applied to come to sing in Worcester was impressive.

“We had a tough task selecting just 11 choirs. In addition, some 50 young singers from Worcestershire will be singing as part of the festival.

“What an amazing chance to meet people and make friends with young people from across the globe – right here in Worcester.”

Some 430 young singers will share their national musical traditions and cultures in a week-long event based in Worcester city centre, featuring a range of public concerts, street singing and workshops and culminating in a gala concert at Worcester Cathedral.

Four international choral conductors will lead the workshops that will see young people from different nations working together under a banner of Peace and Unity between Nations, reaffirming the mission of the European Choral Association – Europa Cantat – of which Sing UK is a member.

One of the conductors, Bob Chilcott, has been commissioned by Sing UK to produce a new work for WIFYS that will feature all the singers.

Five Days that Changed the World, using poems by Charles Bennett, will be performed at the gala concert in the cathedral on Friday, July 26, the final night of the festival, and is supported by the Bransford Trust.

The festival runs between July 19 and 27. For more information, visit singuk.org/wifys.