The Voice Festival UK (VF-UK) is a UK arts education charity dedicated to contemporary a cappella, unaccompanied singing.
The Voice Festival's central purpose is to increase the awareness and popularity of the a cappella art form in the UK, and to support the development of the existing UK a cappella scene, by recruiting and encouraging new participants, developing new audiences, supporting and educating existing participants and building UK a cappella communities.
Founded in 2008, the Voice Festival UK was conceived by two a cappella singers from the University of Oxford, who wanted to help support and develop the growing a cappella scene in the UK. In its infancy, the Voice Festival offered a competition for university a cappella groups alongside workshops, and had around eight participating groups.[1]
Still run by a growing team of volunteers, the organisation has increased its offering year on year, and now offers a series of workshops, masterclasses, concerts, competitions and networking events for singers of all ages across three separate programmes: youth, university and community. Events takes place throughout the year, with highlights being the annual Festival Weekend in Spring, and a showcase at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August.
From 2009 to 2010, there were three regional rounds of the Festival, held in Oxford, Cambridge and St Andrews. In 2011, two new regional rounds were added in London and Birmingham. In 2012, the Cambridge round was scrapped due to lack of participants, but was replaced by a round in Bristol. This year also saw youth and community categories added to the competition. In 2014, regional rounds were replaced by a single video round.
On three occasions, the winners of the annual university competition have been invited to perform at the ICCA final in New York. In 2009, Out of the Blue came second in the finals. The 2010 winners, The Oxford Gargoyles, were unable to compete in the final in New York due to the University of Oxford's exam timetable.[2] Cadenza competed in the ICCA finals in New York in 2011 but did not place.
The Voice Festival UK has released two compilation albums, showcasing cover songs arranged and performed by both professional and amateur a cappella artists from across the UK. The Voice Collection 2013 was released at the London A Cappella Festival. The Voice Collection II arrived three years later, released at the 2016 Festival Weekend.
| No. | Song Title | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Free | The Boxettes | |
| 2. | Summer Senses | Fuchsia | |
| 3. | Rumour Has It / Mercy | In The Pink | |
| 4. | Hide and Seek | All The King's Men | |
| 5. | Til There Was You | Finesse | |
| 6. | Jailhouse Rock | Voces8 | |
| 7. | Roxanne | The Oxford Belles | |
| 8. | Addicted to Love | The Refrains | |
| 9. | Smile Please | Jack Telfer St. Claire | |
| 10. | Ex Factor | In The Smoke | |
| 11. | It Was Almost Like A Song | Havoc | |
| 12. | Improvisation | Shlomo vs. Ruby Wood | |
| 13. | You've Got The Love | Apollo5 | |
| 14. | High (Forever You And Me) | Vive | |
| 15. | Earthquake | The Techtonics |
| No. | Song Title | Artist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Burn | AfterParty | |
| 2. | Sam Smith Medley | The Rolling Tones | |
| 3. | Blindsided | The Accidentals | |
| 4. | Holding Out For A Hero | The Scopes | |
| 5. | Rich Man | Semi-Toned | |
| 6. | I Feel Like A Woman | Oxford Gargoyles | |
| 7. | Galvanize | The Songsmiths | |
| 8. | Bad Romance | Restless Symphony | |
| 9. | Accidentally In Love | Killer Quines | |
| 10. | Just Be | The Bristol Suspensions | |
| 11. | Last Night | The Beatroots | |
| 12. | Use Somebody | The Wellingtones | |
| 13. | Michael Jackson Medley | The Cosmopolitones | |
| 14. | She Will Be Loved | Choir of Dave | |
| 15. | Happy | 2014 Festival Weekend Participants |
| Year | Cambridge Regional | Oxford Regional | St Andrews Regional | Birmingham Regional | London Regional | Bristol Regional | Wildcard | Overall Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not awarded | Out of the Blue[3] | ||||
| 2010 | Out of the Blue The Oxford Gargoyles | Not applicable | Not applicable | Not applicable | The Oxford Gargoyles | ||||
| 2011 | Not applicable | Not awarded | Cadenza[4] | ||||||
| 2012 | Not applicable | The Other Guys | HotTUBBS | Not awarded | All The King's Men | ||||
| 2013 | Not applicable | All the King's Men Vive | Not awarded | Vive |
The 2014 competition saw a change in format, in which the regional rounds were scrapped, and competitors applied for the competition via video entry, from which 12 groups were taken through to a 'semi-final', and then five groups went through to the final. This allowed more groups to apply, and ensured that all groups were judged fairly and equally by one set of judges.
| Year | Semi-Finalists | Finalists | Overall Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Out of the Blue[5] | |||
| 2015 | Semi-Toned, The Alleycats, The Songsmiths, Choral Stimulation, The Rolling Tones | Semi-Toned[6] Ward Swingle Award for Originality: Choral Stimulation | ||
| 2016 | Sweet Nothings, Northern Lights, Pitch Fight, Aquapella, The Bluebelles, The Alleycats, Killer Quines, RadioOctave, The Songsmiths, Bristol Suspensions, Cadenza, The Rolling Tones | The Bristol Suspensions, The Songsmiths, Cadenza, Aquapella, The Rolling Tones | The Bristol Suspensions[7] | |
| 2017 | Aberpella, Aca-pocalypse, The Bluebelles, In The Pink, RadioOctave, The Rolling Tones, The Songsmiths, Sweet Nothings, Tone Up, Vocal Focus, Vox | In The Pink, The Rolling Tones, The Songsmiths, Sweet Nothings, Tone Up | The Rolling Tones[8] | |
| 2018 | Aca-pocalypse, Academy, Aquapella, Decibelles, Alvarium (formerly known as Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them), Killer Quines, Licence to Trill, Pitch Fight, RadioOctave, Tone Up, Cosmopolitones, The Oxford Commas | Licence to Trill, Pitch Fight, Aquapella, Tone Up, Alvarium (formerly known as Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them) | Aquapella[9] |
| Year | Overall Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Acabelles | |
| 2013 | The Wellingtones | |
| 2014 | The Tiffinians | |
| 2015 | The Dreamettes | |
| 2016 | The Tiffinians | |
| 2018 | The King's Barbers |
| Year | Overall Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| 2012 | In The Smoke | |
| 2013 | Original Sing | |
| 2015 | In The Smoke | |
| 2016 | In The Smoke |