Since its inception over ten years ago the SETU Waterford Youth Choir has built a reputation as one of the foremost Youth Choirs in the country. They have been awarded prizes at regional, national and international music festivals and their alumni have gone on to be members of many leading amateur and professional choirs, including Irish Youth Choir and World Youth Choir. In 2016 they became the first youth choir ever to win the ‘National Choir of the Year’ competition in Navan and they also received a gold award at the International Youth Music Festival in Bratislava, Slovakia. These major achievements were honoured by the Mayor of Waterford with a Civic Reception in City Hall.
The opportunity to perform in Carnegie Hall originated in April 2016 when the choir shared a concert in Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford with a High School choir from New Jersey, the Morris Knolls Chorale. Their performance was so well-received that soon after the SETU Waterford Youth Choir was extended an invitation to New York in January 2017 for a series of concerts culminating with a performance in the world-famous Carnegie Hall.