Singing for Joy at Joining the National Youth Choir

Laura (Upper Sixth) is looking forward to her first performances with the National Youth Choir (NYC), having been selected in the summer for a place with this prestigious musical organisation. With the Carols in the Albert Hall followed by an international tour to South Africa in April and the BBC Proms in August with the NYC and BBC singers there is plenty to get excited about!

Discovering that she had successfully secured an NYC place was a thrilling moment for Laura, who enthused:“I was on the Tuscany music tour with Leighton Park when I found out I’d been offered a place- I was ecstatic!! I love National Youth Choir as an organisation and I was so excited to see that I’d get to be involved with the choir and their experiences for another up to seven years.”

Laura explained: “I had to do a “move up” audition, as I was moving up from the Training Choir (for ages 15-18). This involved picking two pieces and singing them off copy without accompaniment to the principal conductor and the Head of the Alto section. I then had to do a series of pretty challenging aural sight-reading tests, and then a 10-minute interview with both people. I’d had a little experience with auditions like this considering my place in the last choir, but it was a pretty big jump up and was really nerve-wracking! Nic Chalmers, the principal conductor, was super lovely the entire way through and that settled my nerves though!”

Performance experiences outside School are very much supported at Leighton Park where Music is a particular strength. Laura confirms “Music at Leighton Park is honestly the best: I’m in the Chamber Choir and Senior Choir and both of these co-curricular activiites mean that I’m involved with choral music a lot of the time. This has helped me with my NYC success as it means that I’m constantly learning how to sight-read more efficiently. It also means I get to sing loads and loads of choral repertoire as well as soloist repertoire in my performance lessons at LP, constantly building to my repertoire list for future auditions!”