Private School News

MOUNT ST MARY’S COLLEGE choir on song at national competition

Students from a Derbyshire school were on song at the UK’s biggest amateur choral competition.

The Combined Choir at Mount St Mary’s College performed in the first round of the BBC Choir of the Year event at The Anvil concert hall, in Basingstoke.

Pupils aged between seven and 13 years old sang ‘Sit Down You’re Rocking the Boat’, from Guys and Dolls, which featured a solo from student Alex Allt.

Lucy Kitchener, director of music at Mount St Mary’s, said: “The bi-annual BBC Choir of the Year is one of the most prestigious national choral competitions so we were thrilled to represent the school and test ourselves against some of the best choirs in the country. We sang very well and had excellent feedback from the judges.”

Mount St Mary’s College Choir was featured on Songs of Praise last year after impressing the judges with its entry for the BBC TV show’s Choir of the Year contest.

Its Junior Choir was also awarded the Voices Foundation Junior Choirs Award for Excellence at the National Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham in 2009.

Lucy added: “The choir continues to go from strength to strength and, as the standard improves, we’re keen to take part in more national festivals.”

The competition followed a performance by Mount St Mary’s jazz band at the prestigious black tie snooker event, the Sheffield Cue Ball.

Talented musicians got their big break playing to a high profile crowd which included John Parrott and Dennis Taylor in the city’s Winter Gardens for the charity event, which marked the beginning of the World Snooker Championship.