The countdown is on to the 2020 City of Derry International Choir Festival, due to take place online from Wednesday 21 October until Sunday 25 October.

At a time when the North enters a new lockdown stage, the annual festival will be bringing a brilliant line-up of choral events into the homes of its world-wide audience. The wide-ranging programme of events features music from across the globe, from choirs of many shapes and sizes, and everything is free to view.

Available to watch on Facebook, YouTube and the festival’s website, audiences will be treated to exclusive concerts by guest artists Tenebrae and Ardú, a global virtual choir performance of Danny Boy and a stunning rendition of Amazing Grace by schools in Derry, Strabane, Omagh and Donegal. Choirs from Africa, Asia, Australia, South America, USA and throughout Ireland and the UK feature in video performances of popular, jazz, gospel and sacred music and viewers can enjoy a mini-series of never-before-seen footage from previous festivals. On top of that, a world premiere of brand new music by award-winning Northern Ireland composer Brian Irvine, created especially for the 2020 edition.

The festival will present a new five-part podcast series, available to download on all podcast platforms, featuring special guests from the local, national and international choral world. Singers, teachers and music enthusiasts are invited to join two interactive singing workshops and a panel discussion on zoom next week, where choral, educational and medical practitioners examine the current Covid restrictions and explore the many ways that we can continue to sing.

Sponsors of the Festival, Caldwell & Robinson, commented, “The City of Derry International Choir Festival joins world-class excellence with Derry’s in-built passion for music and community participation. The marriage of global horizon and ambition with deep community engagement lies at the heart of Caldwell & Robinson’s ethos, too. The Festival raises the profile of Derry nationally and internationally, and we’re very much looking forward to the online big sing of Danny Boy, a global event that can only come from here.”