Izzy’s National Youth Choir Residential
Izzy in Year 7 once again captivated audiences with her wonderful vocal abilities as she took part in the National Youth Choir Residential programme over the summer holidays.
Following an initial Zoom audition back in 2020, for the National Youth Choir of Great Britain (NYCGB) Girls’ choir, Isabelle was thrilled to return to the choir, this time able to experience fully the summer course experience and perform in person. Isabelle explains, “You can apply for the auditions from Year 5 upwards, back then when I did it, it was during covid, so I did a Zoom audition and we had to sing a song and do a bit of sight reading with the interviewers, a little bit of oral and a ‘get to know you’ section.
A few weeks later my mum received an email to say I had been selected and that we needed to secure my place. The first course I went on was in person, but the spring prior to that was on Zoom so it wasn’t as interesting or social.
My first in person course was great – we did lots of songs, but also a lot of social interaction. This last summer course we learnt four songs and two short songs off by heart in just over 4 days, it was intense.”
This year the choir performed at The Princess Alexandra Auditorium which boasts a stunning 750-seat dedicated performance venue on the banks of the River Tees at Yarm School, and in Spring, the choir will be performing at The Royal Albert Hall.
Alongside developing her performance skills, Izzy credits the Choir’s residential courses for encouraging social interaction and enabling her to create friendships with like-minded people.
“I have met lots of new people, the first year I made a new friend, the second spring I made two new friends and the past summer I made a friend called Stella, who has also performed with the Scottish Youth Choir.”
Following such a successful and enjoyable experience, Izzy would encourage anyone interested in Choir and performance to audition, offering the following advice: “Just be yourself and choose a song that really shows off your voice and just sing it like there is no tomorrow, just go for it! I did singing in the rain, it isn’t my favourite song to sing but I picked it because I had just done it in a singing exam and got a really good mark for it and I knew it well. It is also really fun to sing as well.”
Congratulations and well done Izzy, we look forward to hearing you sing in our upcoming School productions.