Guelph Youth Singers (GYS), now in its 16th season, has become a high profile representative of the City of Guelph in the field of choral music. Founded in 1991 as Guelph Children Singers, this organization was formed to provide children and youth with an opportunity to experience a professional level of musicianship. The three treble choirs in the organization are: Choir I, a training choir of children aged 6 and up; Choir II, a more advanced training choir of children and youth aged 9 and up; and Choir III, a choir for singers who have superior singing and music reading skills, aged 11 and up. A Chamber Choir has been incorporated as a part of Choir III, and is an advanced ensemble for young women aged 16 and up. GYS offers a seasonal boys’ choir, rehearsing in January and February, to prepare for entrance in the Guelph Kiwanis Festival, and to sing a solo piece/s in the annual spring concert. Weekly instruction includes vocal technique, theory and sight singing, and is augmented with workshops by guest clinicians in drama, movement and voice throughout the year. GYS performs up to five major concerts per season as well as workshop, festival, corporate, community and guest performances.

GYS has released two solo CDs: Bird in the Nest (1998) and Wind in Our Sails (2002). GYS has also performed on CDs with Guelph Chamber Choir (On Christmas Night, 1995); for the Canadian Literacy Association (Notable Canadian Choirs Sing Christmas Carols, 1996); with the Guelph folk ensemble, Tamarack (Blankets of Snow, 1998); and singing the title song on the CD Song of Our City: A Musical Celebration of Guelph .

All three choirs of GYS perform annually in the Guelph Kiwanis festival, and have distinguished themselves at the Provincial and National levels of the National Festival Association Competition, winning provincial awards in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2005, placing second in 2006, and national first prize awards in 1999 and 2001. From 1996-2006, Guelph Youth Singers has received the annual trophy and award for the best Choral Program for its performance in the local Kiwanis Music Festival.

GYS Choirs tour regularly throughout Ontario and into the northern United States. Past performance highlights include singing for national conventions of the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors (Quebec City, 1996 and Toronto, 2002) and the American Choral Directors Association ( Chicago, 1999). They have performed in Montreal, Kingston, Toronto, Syracuse, N.Y. and Coquitlam, B.C., Alberta, and Nova Scotia, as guests of various choirs. They have also hosted choirs from southern Ontario, Quebec, B.C., Alberta, Nova Scotia and New York state as well as choirs from Japan and Slovenia. GYS has toured to perform as visiting guest artists to the State University of Potsdam, New York (2000), Albion College in Michigan (2001) and Fort Wayne, Indiana (2003).

Continuing with this tradition, in 2006-2007, GYS Choir II is attending the Junior Treble Festival in Toronto that will include a workshop with a guest clinician and a mass performance with nine other children’s choirs. Choir III will be hosting the Vancouver ’s Children’s Choir in Guelph at the end of March and then traveling to Vancouver in April as part of a SEVEC exchange program. Choir III will attend the Senior Treble Festival in Stratford. This festival will also include a workshop with a guest clinician and an evening concert performance with other youth choirs.

Auditions will be held at the end of November and into December, for a mid–year entrance into the choir in January, 2007 and in May and June for entrance in September 2007.  For more information on Guelph Youth Singers, phone 519-821-8574.