Good times ahead
A good atmosphere can't be "manufactured". But it can certainly be helped: for its next festival, the Swiss Association for the Promotion of Children's and Youth Choirs (SKJF) is banking on new festival formats in addition to the tried-and-tested concerts and workshops.
"Cover me in sunshine, shower me with good times...". - When these lines from a Pink song, interwoven in a four-part quodlibet, came their turn, the children could hardly contain themselves: at this point in the concert, their performance was simply unrivalled in terms of the desire to sing and their joyful energy. The latter spreads effortlessly to the 500-strong audience, enabling many to leave the concert venue, if not dancing slightly, at least with a beaming face - as in "good times".
That's what happened last May at the "Les touche-à-tout" singing event organized by the Swiss Association for the Promotion of Children's and Youth Choirs. 200 children from 9 different choirs took part in this day of singing, fine-tuning songs they had rehearsed beforehand or had just learned, and gracing their audience at the final concert with their irrepressible desire and joy of singing and resonating together.
The SKJF expects 10 times as many participants, but exactly the same kind of "audience happiness", at the 9th Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival at Ascension 2024 in Neuchâtel. To help keep singers and audiences happy, SKJF 24 will be offering the following new festival formats:
Interpretation contest
For the first time, prizes will be awarded at the Swiss Children's and Youth Choir Festival: in front of an audience, the 4 choirs whose interpretation of a Swiss song composition in French or Italian is the most convincing will be rewarded with a professional video recording.
Jam-Choeureoké
Here, courage and relaxation are the order of the day: young singers aged 16 and over can sign up in small groups or as a choir to perform their favorite song on stage at the "Case à chocs" cultural center. The "one shot" principle means that participants are accompanied by live musicians, without rehearsing together beforehand. High fun factor!
Workshops
Once again, renowned specialists will be leading the workshops that are so popular with participants: Ludovic Winkler (CH/Beatbox), Maik Zosso (CH/Stage presence), Astriyd Cottet (FR/Signed music), Markus Detterbeck (DE/title n.n.) and Daria Occhini (CH/Yodel). Another workshop will be devoted for the first time to the theme of amplification: in "amplified music", choirs will receive valuable advice on working with acoustically amplified instruments.
Intergenerational Flashmob
The SKJF is reserved exclusively for singers* aged between 6 and 25. To promote exchange with older generations for the first time, adults will also be able to take part in the "Carmina Burana" flashmob in 2024, with the St-Michel de Fribourg choir and the DeMusica ensemble under the direction of Philippe Savoy.
The SKJF 24 will take place from May 09 to 12, 2024 in Neuchâtel. The registration deadline is October 31, 2023.
