 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition 2008THE CHOIR OF THE YEAR SUCCESS STORY CONTINUESImpromptu are proud and excited to report that we have made it through to the final of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition. This means we are one of only six choirs still left in the 'Adult Choirs' category, out of the thousands who originally entered. What a vindication of all our hard work!The final will take place at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall on the weekend of November 8 and 9. The winner of our 'Adult Choirs' category will go on to the grand final at the Royal Festival Hall in London on December 7, to compete against the winner of each of the other categories plus the two other best choirs in the final. Here's hoping our success story will continue all the way to London. Round 2 - Area SelectionThe Choir of the Year judges did indeed give us a lovely Christmas present: a place in the Area Selection round in Basingstoke on March 2nd. Debbie chose two very different songs for our eight-minute programme: She's Like the Swallow, a beautiful, moving Newfoundland folk song, and Auyuittuq, a very challenging contemporary piece that features two of our singers howling like wolves!)
We were up against 11 other choirs in Basingstoke and the competition was stiff. But unusually for a competition like this, there was only one mixed-voice choir, and we hoped this boded well for our chances of making it through to the next round.Our performance went well, and the adjudicators, Stuart Barr and Tim Sutton, were lavish with their praise. They seemed particularly impressed that we had performed two challenging songs unconducted (the only choir in this round to do so), which pleased us no end because very often they make no mention of this part of our performing style. )
Stuart Barr said that he would have liked to have listened to us for another twenty minutes and that are tuning was "cracking"! Tim Sutton agreed and his written comments about Auyuittuq were: "A very fine and assured conductor-less performance of a challenging piece. Your choice of sound colour were intelligently made." At the end of the morning, we were overjoyed to hear that we had been named one of five Choirs of the Day, which means we have earned ourselves a place in the National Selection round. In this round, the judges will listen to the Area Selection round recordings of all the Choirs of the Day, and from these they will choose six choirs to go forward to the Final in Liverpool in early November. So now all we can do is wait with fingers crossed for the judges' decision in June or July. But being a glass-half-full kind of choir, we have already started to prepare our programme for the final - here's hoping! Sarah Lee (March 2008) Round 1 - CD auditionsThe competition format has changed slightly this year, which has taken us rather by surprise. Instead of starting with an open audition round, all choirs have been asked to submit an eight-minute performance recording. The judges will listen to all the recordings submitted, and from these they will select the choirs to go through to the Area Selection rounds.With very little guidance available as to what the judges are looking for in these recordings, we have opted to send in three contrasting songs to give an indication of our range and ability. Hoj Hura Hoj, a lively Czech folk song, Flos Regalis, a 13th century English Rondellus, and Dance To Your Daddy, an old Impromptu crowd-pleaser. We've sent in our recordings and are now anxiously awaiting the judges' decision, which is expected some time in December. Here's hoping for a lovely Christmas surprise! Sarah Lee (December 2007) << top << back to home page |
