The National Youth Choirs of Great Britain (NYCGB) has announced details of a record-breaking 2018 Summer season with its five choirs enjoying unprecedented audiences and activity.
Live concert audiences
Live concert audiences were in excess of 19,000, thanks to:
- appearances at the First Night of the 2018 BBC Proms, the Opening Event of the 2018 Edinburgh International Festival and the Amiens 100 Commemoration Event (National Youth Choir)
- sell-out concerts at the 2018 Snape Proms (National Youth Choir) and 2018 ABCD Convention Gala (National Youth Boys’ Choir)
- an open-air performance trail at Beamish Museum in County Durham (National Youth Girls’ Choir)
Hundreds of thousands more people were reached through two televised performances, two radio broadcasts, one livestream and the first-ever Virtual Reality Prom, which featured the National Youth Choir.
In addition, 655 audience members were entertained at free ‘pop-up gigs’ in public spaces in Cardiff, Framlingham, Harrogate, Settle and Durham.
World premieres
NYCGB choirs gave four world premieres during the Summer, three of them of works by female composers:
- The National Youth Choir gave premiere performances of Five Telegrams by Anna Meredith, My Granny Sarah by Errollyn Wallen and One Equal Music by Ben Parry
- The National Youth Training Choir and O Duo percussion duo gave the premiere performance of Imagine It! by Janet Wheeler
- The National Youth Chamber Choir sang in the UK premiere of Danish composer, Per Nørgård’s Symphony No 3 at the BBC Proms in the presence of the composer
NYCGB choirs performed more than 60 works in total, more than half by living composers.
Video and audio recordings
NYCGB choirs also took part in video and audio recordings:
- The National Youth Training Choir and O Duo created a music video of Janet Wheeler’s Imagine It! in the Richard Whiteley Theatre at Giggleswick School
- The National Youth Girls’ Choir and children from Beamish Museum’s Youth Group created a music video of Joanna Forbes L’Estrange’s A Woman (Wearing Bloomers) on a Wheel at Beamish Museum
- The National Youth Choir and National Youth Training Choir recorded six new audio tracks for release on NYCGB’s digital record label
- The National Youth Choir’s performance at Snape Maltings was filmed and will be made available to watch in full on NYCGB’s YouTube channel
Record participation
In total, more than 500 children and young people sang in NYCGB in July and August with participation for 1 in 5 ensured by NYCGB’s Financial Assistance scheme.
The success of the season was ensured by more than 100 members of staff, including pastoral and social staff and heads, section leaders, accompanists, singing, musicianship and Alexander Technique tutors, course managers and conductors.
NYCGB auditions
Auditions for the National Youth Training Choir, National Youth Boys’ Choir and National Youth Girls’ Choir will be held at locations across the UK in October and November 2018.
Booking opens on 27 September 2018 here.
Header photo: Members of the National Youth Training Choir pictured at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, August 2018 © NYCGB
