The Voice Festival UK explained

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.

History

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.

Discography

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.

The Voice Collection 2013

No.Song TitleArtist
1.FreeThe Boxettes
2.Summer SensesFuchsia
3. Rumour Has It / MercyIn The Pink
4.Hide and SeekAll The King's Men
5.Til There Was YouFinesse
6.Jailhouse RockVoces8
7.RoxanneThe Oxford Belles
8.Addicted to LoveThe Refrains
9.Smile PleaseJack Telfer St. Claire
10.Ex FactorIn The Smoke
11. It Was Almost Like A SongHavoc
12.ImprovisationShlomo vs. Ruby Wood
13.You've Got The LoveApollo5
14.High (Forever You And Me)Vive
15.EarthquakeThe Techtonics

The Voice Collection II

No.Song TitleArtist
1.BurnAfterParty
2.Sam Smith MedleyThe Rolling Tones
3.BlindsidedThe Accidentals
4. Holding Out For A HeroThe Scopes
5.Rich ManSemi-Toned
6.I Feel Like A WomanOxford Gargoyles
7.GalvanizeThe Songsmiths
8.Bad RomanceRestless Symphony
9.Accidentally In LoveKiller Quines
10.Just Be The Bristol Suspensions
11.Last NightThe Beatroots
12.Use SomebodyThe Wellingtones
13.Michael Jackson MedleyThe Cosmopolitones
14.She Will Be LovedChoir of Dave
15.Happy2014 Festival Weekend Participants

Results of the University Competition

2009–2013

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 GuysHotTUBBSNot awardedAll The King's Men
2013 Not applicable All the King's Men
Vive
Not awarded Vive

2014–present

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
2016Sweet Nothings, Northern Lights, Pitch Fight, Aquapella, The Bluebelles, The Alleycats, Killer Quines, RadioOctave, The Songsmiths, Bristol Suspensions, Cadenza, The Rolling TonesThe Bristol Suspensions, The Songsmiths, Cadenza, Aquapella, The Rolling TonesThe Bristol Suspensions[7]
2017Aberpella, Aca-pocalypse, The Bluebelles, In The Pink, RadioOctave, The Rolling Tones, The Songsmiths, Sweet Nothings, Tone Up, Vocal Focus, VoxIn The Pink, The Rolling Tones, The Songsmiths, Sweet Nothings, Tone UpThe Rolling Tones[8]
2018Aca-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 CommasLicence to Trill, Pitch Fight, Aquapella, Tone Up, Alvarium (formerly known as Fantastic Beats and Where to Find Them)Aquapella[9]

Results of the Youth Competition

Year Overall Winner
2012Acabelles
2013The Wellingtones
2014The Tiffinians
2015The Dreamettes
2016The Tiffinians
2018The King's Barbers

Results of the Community Competition

YearOverall Winner
2012In The Smoke
2013Original Sing
2015In The Smoke
2016In The Smoke

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About. Thevoicefestival.co.uk. 12 January 2021.
  2. News: A history of the Gargoyles. Oxford University. 12 July 2011. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110516055115/http://users.ox.ac.uk/~goyles/history/. 16 May 2011.
  3. http://www.thevoicefestival.co.uk/results.html Voice Festival UK Past Results
  4. News: Cadenza wins Voice Festival UK 2011 competition. SingACappella.org. 18 March 2011. 12 July 2011.
  5. News: Out of the Blue - 2014 University Champions - thevoicefestival.co.uk. 2014-03-23. thevoicefestival.co.uk. en-US. 2016-11-24.
  6. News: The University of Exeter's Semi-Toned - VF-UK University Champions 2015 - thevoicefestival.co.uk. 2015-05-18. thevoicefestival.co.uk. en-US. 2016-11-24.
  7. News: Meet University Champions 2016 - The Bristol Suspensions - thevoicefestival.co.uk. 2016-06-02. thevoicefestival.co.uk. en-UK. 2016-11-24.
  8. Web site: Events. April 2017. The Rolling Tones. 11 July 2024.
  9. https://twitter.com/AquapellaBath/status/985584242204782594