ABOUT LYC
A family of choirs for all young Londoners
At the heart of LYC is a family of 10 choirs for young people from school year 3 to age 23. The choirs meet once a week in term time, and perform regularly throughout the year across London and beyond.
We exist for all of London’s young singers. Our citywide vision has always promised to deliver two things: musical excellence and social change. We work to remove barriers to access to ensure that everyone can take part.
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BRILLIANT TRAINING AND OPPORTUNITIES
Whichever LYC choir you’re part of, you’ll enjoy brilliant training and performance opportunities across all kinds of music.
You’ll learn musical skills and develop your abilities, making great friends and memories along the way.
A PLACE TO SING, A SPACE TO GROW
“LYC has given me back confidence I never knew I needed. It has introduced me to the best people I have ever met and taught me that it’s okay to be a choral music nerd. I look forward to every rehearsal all week and feel such a sense of belonging like I’ve never felt before.”
We passionately believe that choir sets young people up for a better future. We support every member to develop their knowledge, aspirations, confidence, empathy, character – and a lifelong love of singing and music.
“It’s really exciting and you learn new skills, and I find that everybody there is my friend and my family.”
CITY-WIDE IMPACT
We are active across London as a choral champion. Our LYC Experience programme offers support and resources to teachers, schools and Music Hubs.
OUR STORY
When the Olympic Games came to London in 2012, LYC founders Rachel Staunton and Suzi Digby OBE saw the remarkable galvanising effect sport was having on young people of every background. Inspired by this, they created a musical model that would bring together young people from across London and unite them in the shared endeavour and passion of singing.
TIMELINE - HIGHLIGHTS
| 2012 | LYC launches as five choirs: Boys’ Choir, Girls’ Choir, Training Choir, London Youth Choir and Chamber Choir. There are 115 members in total. Rehearsals are held at St Saviour’s Pimlico and Pimlico Academy. |
| 2012 | The London Youth Choir appears at the O2 Arena with the Rolling Stones as part of the Stones’ ’50 & Counting’ tour. |
| 2013 | The London Youth Choir makes two further appearances with the Rolling Stones at Glastonbury Festival and at Hyde Park. |
| 2013 | We receive funding from Youth Music for our first major schools workshop project, reaching 66 state primary and secondary schools across all London boroughs. |
| 2013 | The London Youth Choir makes its orchestral debut alongside the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at Brighton Early Music Festival. |
| 2013 | LYC commissions new music for the first time: ‘Reflections’, based on the ‘Friday Afternoons’ songs of Benjamin Britten. |
| 2014 | LYC is honoured to name Gareth Malone OBE as our official Patron. |
| 2015 | LYC choirs make their TV debut as part of broadcasts with Gareth Malone OBE (Who Do You Think You Are? – BBC) and Jamie Oliver (Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution) |
| 2016 | LYC appears on Channel 4’s Christmas TV broadcast animation of ‘We’re Going On A Bearhunt‘ based on the children’s picture book by Michael Rosen and Helen Oxenbury. |
| 2017 | We launch the LYC Aspire programme with generous support from the John Lyons Trust. |
| 2017 | LYC choirs make two Royal Albert Hall appearances as part of the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance and My Great Orchestral Adventure. |
| 2017 | Our Festive Concert is held in the beautiful surroundings of Milton Court Concert Hall at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, marking the start of a new venue partnership. |
| 2018 | Members of the London Youth Choir appear with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa as part of Sky Arts’ ‘Passions’ documentary on the life and music of Leonard Bernstein. |
| 2018 | We are privileged to open a new venue partnership with City of London School, which now becomes our regular Monday night rehearsal venue. |
| 2018 | LYC performs at the world premiere of Patrick Hawes’ ‘Great War Symphony’ as part of Classic FM Live at the Royal Albert Hall. |
| 2019 | LYC launches its two specialist ensembles for changing voices in school years 7-11, LYC Cambiata Boys and LYC Cambiata Girls. |
| 2019 | The London Youth Chamber Choir performs at the 2019 Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod in Wales. |
| 2019 | Our first collaborative concert with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus is of Mahler’s Symphony No.2 at the Royal Festival Hall, conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. |
| 2020 | We launch our first regional choir, LYC South East. |
| 2020 | LYC goes online within weeks of the Covid-19 lockdown, moving all choir rehearsals to Zoom and launching LYC Live, a new members website with resources including a ‘Happiness Zone’ to support mental health. |
| 2020 | LYC presents Together, its first-ever fully digital concert, featuring pre-recorded performances by all seven LYC choirs. |
| 2021 | The second LYC regional choir, LYC West, is launched in lockdown. 150 children sign up for free taster workshops, with one third signing up for auditions to join as full members. |
| 2022 | 20 members of LYC Junior and Cambiata Choirs perform with Jason Donovan and Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Platinum Party at Buckingham Palace. |
| 2022 | LYC South West, our third regional choir, is launched in Streatham, marking a new partnership with Streatham & Clapham High School. |
| 2022 | 45 members of LYC Cambiata Girls & Boys appear at the Royal Variety Performance 2022 with Gary Barlow, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gareth Malone. |
| 2023 | Our fourth regional choir, LYC North East, is launched in Tottenham. |
| 2023 | LYC celebrates its 10th anniversary with a concert, RISE UP, in the Royal Albert Hall, featuring the 10 LYC choirs and over 1000 guest primary school children from London schools. |
