The international jury meeting for session 2026 took place online where the jury selected the best singers from 87 candidates. The international jury selected 60 singers from 37 countries to be part of the World Youth Choir 2026 session. ​​

​

Selection criteria

The selection was made by a jury representative from each of the three World Youth Choir patron organisations: Victoria Liedbergius on behalf of the European Choral Association, Burak Onur Erdem on behalf of the International Federation for Choral Music and Sasho Tatarchevski on behalf of Jeunesses Musicales International, and the World Youth Choir Session Manager.

​

The process was conducted taking into account the artistic and musical quality of each candidate, as demonstrated in the audition files submitted. Furthermore, the jury considered the complementarity of the selected singers’ voices in order to create cohesive sections and a balanced sound for the choir as a whole. Whenever possible, attention was also given to enhancing the diversity of countries represented in the World Youth Choir. In addition, the jury considered candidates’ previous participation in World Youth Choir sessions, aiming, whenever possible, to balance the selection by giving opportunities to singers with fewer prior sessions. The selection process proved challenging for the jury because of the high quality of all applications.

​​​

Acknowledgments​

The World Youth Choir Foundation would like to thank the World Youth Choir jury for carrying out the hard task of listening to all the audition files and performing a fair and balanced selection of talented singers which will integrate the choir this year.