Youth Choir Furiale

Youth Choir Furiale – Belgium

Arte Musicale often renews itself, and Furiale is a relatively young group composed of young members. Our youth choir unites people in secondary school and higher education, and is filled with enthusiastic souls bursting with musical energy.

In this mixed SATB choir, conductor Steve De Veirman pays specific attention to boys’ voices turning into men’s. The material is specifically chosen for boys to find their ways to become a true tenor or bass. Together with the enthusiastic girls, the boys are taught techniques to sing SATB pieces, adapted to the tessitura and the pitch of their younger voices.

This is why our music choices tend to be quite diverse: pop, gospel, spiritual, musical… Still, more classical pieces will definitely also find a place at our concerts. For bigger projects, the choir often works together with other Arte Musicale choirs or the orchestra.

In 2024, youth choir Furiale merged with the children’s choir Furiakanti, merging higher education students with secondary school students. Furiakanti had a longer history, winning the audience award for ‘Choir of the Year’ in Belgium in 2008 and receiving first place in a Provincial Choir Competition in Belgium in 2014. Chorists from both choirs also participated in an exciting exchange program with a choir from Barcelona in 2017.

Thanks to our recent decision to merge these two young choirs, we are able to create a bigger group of enthusiastic young singers, which makes it possible for us to have higher ambitions. Recently, we have taken on bigger projects, and we are definitely looking forward to our first international competition!

Steve de Veirman, Conductor

The Belgian choral conductor, Steve De Veirman, began his musical education in 1982 at the Muziekacademie Emiel Hullebroeck te Gentbrugge. He then followed higher music studies at the Lemmensinstituut in Leuven. He combined instrumental training in piano, cello, Baroque flutes and singing with theoretical and pedagogical skills. To become proficient in the choir direction, he took lessons with Florian Heyerick, Rudy Tas, Johan Van Bouwelen and Erik Van Nevel. He further specialized with conductor and composer Kurt Bikkembergs. His choir and singing experience was also enriched by singing along with projects from various professional choirs and ensembles such as Ex Tempore, Collegium Brugense, Capella di Voce, Goeyvaerts Con sort, Musa Horti and Psallentes.

Steve De Veirman conducted the children’s choir Papageno and the St.-Camilluskoor and spent three years at the musical helm of the Arenberg Kamerorkest in Leuven and the Gentse Schola Cantorum in in Gent. For five years he also directed the Volwassenenkoor Vokamando. In addition, he has also been the chief conductor of the renowned Cantabile-Gent choir since September 2011 and directed them to their last note in April 2017. Today he is still the conductor of the Jeugdorkest Forza Muzica, Kamerkoor Furiant, Jongerenkoor Furiakanti, Dameskoor Furiosa and Jeugdkoor Furiale.

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