Help realize Anneke & Erika’s dream to tour to Europe with the East Rand Youth Choir

Please help realize Anneke & Erika van der Walt's dream to tour to Austria & Poland with the East Rand Youth Choir in June and July 2019.

The East Rand Youth Choir will be touring Europe in 2019. They will compete in two international competitions, one in Salzburg, Austria, and one in Torun, Poland. The international tour will be from 19 June 2019 – 5 July 2019. The price of the tour is R38500, excluding lunch money and spending money. Each choir member is responsible for the amount of R38500, and the amount must be paid in full before 31 Mei 2019.

This is your opportunity to help us make a choir member’s dream ofbeing able to compete in an international competition, a reality.

Background about the East Rand Youth Choir

The East Rand Youth Choir is a diverse multicultural youth choir based in Ekurhuleni and consist of 81 singers from the age of 14 – 21. The Choir represents a community of exceptional talent and passion for music. The East Rand Youth Choir strives to inspire the youth of South Africa through music and dance. The Choir was established 1978 and since then has been known as one of South Africa’s top youth choirs. The Choirs is highly appraised internationally with several tours under the Choir’s belt. In 2012 Gert Pottas took leadership of the Choir and started his career at the ERYC with a successful tour to Europe in 2013. The Choir competed at the Musica Sacra a Roma Competition in Italy where they received a Silver and Gold for their various categories. They were also announced as the most aspiring choir of the competition with three of their pieces being nominated for premier piece of the competition.

In 2014 the choir produced their first recorded CD (Adagio – Music is the way) under the direction of Gert. The choir also. In 2016 ERYC traveled to Germany, Austria, Czech Republic and Hungary. The competed in two international competitions. The first was in Bratislava where they competed in the categories Gospel, Folklore and Youth Choirs. They received Gold for all three categories (90+) and were announced winners of all the categories. The second competition was in Budapest were the choir competed in the Open Competition. They took part the categories Gospel, Folklore and Youth Choirs. The received gold for all three categories and were announced category winners for all three categories. The choir was then invited to partake in the Grand Prix for all the best choirs of the Competition and they were also invited to be one of four choirs of the competition to perform at the closing ceremony. At the Grand Prix the ERYC received a Laurea Summa Cum Laude for the Gospel category and Laureatus (the highest award) for the Folklore category. ERYC was announced winners of the Grand Prix and winners of the competition. The choir produced their second recorded CD (Road Home 2016) under the direction of Gert Pottas.

The East Rand Youth Choir hosts prestigious choir festivals annually for both high school and primary school choirs. The aim of these festivals are to motivate and inspire these choirs in order to achieve true development and innovation for our youth. ERYC also forms part of a prestigious new project launched in 2017 call The East Rand Choral Artists. The Choral Artists is a project choir that aims at involving the entire community and bringing the parents and singers together on stage. ERYC was honored to be a part of the World Choir Games 2018 representing Ekurhuleni district. The Choir is truly proud of its legacy and will continue to build on the name which is the East Rand Youth Choir.