Young Orchestras CIC and City of Sanctuary are inviting young refugees, asylum seekers, and children of refugees, aged 16-30, to join a newly created European Youth Music Refugee Choir.

This will be a residential week in Oakham, where the choir will rehearse in parallel with young musicians from around Europe as part of European Youth Music Week, starting on 29th July and culminating in a concert with the orchestra in Leicester Cathedral on 3rd August. Organisations and volunteers are already supporting us in recruiting members for the choirs, but we are now extending the invitation to organisations across the UK for refugees to join the residential week. No experience in necessary as the refugees will be tutored by highly experienced musical staff during the course and all costs, inc. travel to the course and full room and board, will be covered.

They are also looking for ‘Host’ choir members; these will be young people between 16-26 who have experience of singing and working with refugees or other vulnerable people. They will support the refugees during the course and help in the long term development on the choir in the local areas. This is a fantastic opportunity to have a wonderful experience on a high quality music course and to shape the future of what we hope will become a national network of youth refugee choirs.

If you know of anyone who might be interested in joining the choir or in being a host member, or of any organisations that may have choirs with eligible members (church or community choirs), please contact Danny at [email protected] or see our website www.europeanyouthmusic.org for more information.