Prep 6 Bryher Gemmill and Year 11 Lucy Peek are honoured to have won sought-after spots in the National Youth Girls’ Choir and the National Youth Training Choir.
Auditions for these acclaimed choirs take place all over the country, with thousands of youngsters hoping to gain a place in groups of just over hundred singers.
Prep 6 Bryher was selected for the choir having been offered a place a year ago, only to discover at the last minute that she was still too young to take it up. Spots are usually open to girls from Prep 6 to Year 10.
The audition process has been daunting and rigorous consisting of an intensive one-day trial in front of a panel of expert judges. Against thousands of the country’s top performers, the girls were challenged to demonstrate their understanding of music theory, perform two pieces to perfection and even prove their ability to pitch a note after only hearing it once.
The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain meet twice each year, during the spring and summer holidays, for residential courses which means its members can still sing with their regular choirs during the rest of the year.
The ensembles perform both independently and collaboratively with other NYCGB choirs at venues around the UK.
Recent highlights include appearances at Southbank Centre’s Chorus Festival 2015 in the Royal Festival Hall, the world premieres of Steve Goss’s Songs of the Solar System in Coventry Cathedral and Shlomo’s She Crossed My Lost Heart at Leeds Town Hall in 2013 and performances in 2015 at Coventry, Truro and Lincoln Cathedrals, as well as contributions to NYCGB’s critically-acclaimed 2013 recording of choral music by Benjamin Britten.
