Our Various Voices Rising show brought together on stage three European LGBTQI+ choirs: Voces Gaudii (Poland), DynamiQ Voices (Utrecht) and of course Sing Out Brussels! The show was organised as a prelude to the Various Voices European LGBTQI+ Choir Festival that we are organising in 2026.
Sing Out Brussels’ mission includes organising international events to promote our values. In 2026, our choir will host the European LGBTQI+ Choir Festival Various Voices choirs, organised every four years in a different European city by a different choir.
As a prelude to this event, we welcomed the Voces Gaudii choir from Warsaw in Poland and the DynamiQ Voices choir from Utrecht in the Netherlands over a weekend. In all, nearly 150 choir members took to the stage. At the Centre Culturel d’Uccle, each choir presented a selection from its repertoire to a packed house, before singing together “Brave”, a song inviting them to proudly assert their identity.
This weekend was not only rich on a musical level: it was also rich on a human level. It all began the day before the show, with rehearsals on the Friday afternoon, which provided an opportunity to make initial contact, particularly with the singers staying with local people. On Saturday, the singers were invited to take part in a range of activities: a guided LGBTQI+ tour of the centre of Brussels, organised with the help of L-Tour, a visit to the venues that will host the Various Voices festival in 2026, a presentation of the festival’s artistic project by our artistic director Simon Paco, and little games to help them get to know each other better.
After the concert, the party continued into the early hours in a city centre bar that had been privatised for the occasion. On Sunday lunchtime, a closing brunch rounded off the weekend in style, with a delicious meal, some singing, laughter and a few tears.
The event was held in conjunction with the ‘Rendez-vous à Bruxelles‘ organised by the European LGBTQI+ Choir Fédération Legato to promote the 2026 festival. Around twenty people took part, representing as many European choirs from England, Italy, Spain, Norway, Germany and the Netherlands.
The singers who took part in the weekend left already looking forward to coming back for the festival, which will bring the centre of Brussels to life for 5 days in June 2026!