Barnsley singers at Vermanes Garden © INTERKULTUR

A day at the European Choir Games

Meet Barnsley Youth Choir in Riga

European Choir Games 2017

Participating in the Grand Prix of Nations Riga 2017 & European Choir Games is more than about competition and singing. In between rehearsals, for example, some singers from the Barnsley Youth Choir (from Barnsley in Great Britain) visited the Choir Games Park in Vērmanes Garden to buy bracelets with traditional Latvian symbols and thus got a souvenir of Latvian culture.

They also received bracelets after a donation to an animal shelter - the charity organization “Labo un radošo darbu apvienība”. Zanda Radziņa, the leader of the organization, told that their main aim was to teach children responsibility and love for animals. Their dog Lotte was adopted from a shelter and works as a teaching dog to show how friendly the rescued animals are.

The members of the choir explored the market and bought not only the bracelets but also Latvian delicacies like gingerbread cookies and traditional salted nuts. They explained that the choir did not yet have much time to visit the main attractions of Riga but is planning to have an excursion on Thursday, after they will have finished all their competitions.

The choir had qualified for participation in the Grand Prix of Nations in the category “Gospel, Spiritual, Music of Spirit & Faith” on Monday and will thus compete once again on Wednesday. After the choir’s first performance, the members expressed their happiness and joy about how they performed, and late on Monday evening they found out they had qualified for the next higher level of competition.

Besides, Barnsley Youth Choir from the UK used some innovative methods in raising the funding necessary for participation in the European Choir Games: they included organizing a crowdfunding campaign, a raffle and an auction where a guitar signed by Ed Sheeran was sold.

The choir set a goal of £ 13,000 to send its best singers to Riga, Latvia, and reached this goal in 56 days only. Over half of this sum was raised after the auction of a guitar signed by the world-famous singer Ed Sheeran: it was bought by a couple from Barnsley, the choir’s hometown. The guitar, Martin LX1E, is the same guitar that Ed Sheeran uses in his performances.

Here is Barnsley Youth Choir performing together with Tuks Camerata from South Africa in a Friendship Concert in front of Riga Congress center:

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