702 or when children with a passion for singing count the days
At the time of writing, there are still 702 days to go until the next Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival SKJF 2026 kicks off. How come a young singer is already counting the days? The latest festival provides some answers.
You have to admit it was good luck: Petrus was in a good mood. He gave the Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival SKJF 24, which took place from May 9 to 12 in Neuchâtel, the most wonderful of May weather. Although the weather was still a little cloudy and cool at the start, it became all the more beautiful and warm during the four days of the festival, which already provided fantastic ground for a great festival atmosphere.
Young and old alike would have been warmer in their hearts on the spot anyway: the 2200 participants from 17 cantons and all four language regions of Switzerland in Neuchâtel filled all festival formats with their incredible energy, driving dedication and high vocal quality. What the 73 children's and youth choirs present, aged from 7 to 25, produced on the stages of the various performance venues was extremely moving, impressive and quite simply grandiose.
It's difficult to list the highlights of the program for this 9th edition of the festival, as they are highly subjective. However, among the particularly successful formats, let's mention the "singing boat tour" on Lake Neuchâtel, the intergenerational flashmob introduced by a five-musician brass band and attended by almost 1000 participants, the choral karaoke organized for the first time, the ASCEJ interpretation contest, the performance of the youngest singers, the participants in the "Singplausch", and last but not least : Dominique Tille and his Quatuor plus pianiste, who prepared the audience for the following festival concerts with an open singing session, and whose blend of clowning, serious rehearsal work, performance ideas and interaction with the (young) audience was simply superb every time.
Neuchâtel, as host city, also contributed to the festival's great atmosphere: the festival venues were easily accessible on foot, the churches involved "église rouge", "emple du bas" and "la collégiale" lent themselves very well to concerts, the "Chant sur les places" in the heart of the medieval city center made the most of its charm, the festival center in the Littoral skating rink shone with its ideal lakeside location, where numerous green spaces invited shared relaxation but also spontaneous singing actions, and a lakeside crêpe stand provided an additional French-speaking touch.
When children and young people are asked to name their personal highlights, the motivation for counting down the days - apart from the fantastic venues, extraordinary performances and impressive choral performances - is justified above all by one word: TOGETHER. Experiencing together what it's like to perform in front of 2,000 people, making your voice resonate with so many other young singers, pushing yourself together to maximum presence and precision during the performance, showing together what you can already do and what you can do professionally at a young age, sharing great emotions together. But also getting around together, eating, spending the night in a gym, visiting the city, shopping, chilling out by the lake and, last but not least, partying and dancing together!
The festival organizers are delighted that the seed they have sown is bearing fruit: from the outset, the SKJF has focused on what unites them, namely the pleasure of singing together. In addition to mutual motivation, individual performances and mutual inspiration, it's above all the sharing of common enthusiasm that, at this festival, passes from choir to audience, from choir to choir and from child to child like a warm, benevolent spark, and helps create that extremely pleasant SKJF atmosphere. Or that makes you want to download a countdown app to wait until the next festival.
