ORCHESTRAS AND CHOIRS

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain

National Youth Choirs of Great Britain plays a vital role in keeping Great Britain’s reputation for musical excellence alive, and kindling a passion for singing in young people. NYC offers the highest performance and training standards to bring young people into contact with the repertoire, quality of work, ethos and pleasure of choral music.

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Introducing... Laura Attridge, 19 (NYC)

Laura Attridge, 19, from York, has been involved with the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain for five years, working her way up from the through the training choirs to the main choir. She was a member of the NYCGB from the age of 14. Laura’s association with NYCGB continues to this day through her membership of the NYC’s semi-professional chamber choir, Laudibus since March 2007.

“I have always, always been singing. The story that my parents like to tell people is when I was four and I wouldn’t stop singing the Queen of the Night aria from The Magic Flute. I started having singing lessons and doing grades as soon as I started secondary school. I have been lucky to have been very well supported and to have gone to a private school which had very good facilities.

“I was 14 when I auditioned for the National Youth Choirs. I wanted a more challenging choir than my school choir. It’s been amazing. Twice a year I go into this incredible atmosphere with some of my best friends who really understand the way I work as a musician. And everyone comes from such different backgrounds. There are medics, geographers, people who are still at school and don’t know what to do with their lives, people who are dedicated to singing.

“The fact there are these tiers from the training choirs to the main choir is good. It’s like going from primary school to secondary school to university. You feel like you have really outgrown it but then you go to the next one and feel challenged again. There’s a real sense of progression. The first time I got a solo part was just incredible for me. I took part in the European tour in 2006 and it was wonderful to know I had advanced enough to be given that opportunity.

“The choir is a huge part of my life. I can’t imagine life without it. It’s my dream to be on stage but singing is not like the violin where you know you can get to the standard you need to if you work hard. My voice might not keep getting better.

“If I went to music college and I got to the point where I wasn’t going to get any better, then I’d have wasted three years of my life. I didn’t want that to happen. That’s why I’m studying English Literature at Newcastle. It will give me the sensible fallback if music doesn’t work out. But the voice is what I really love. Singing with the choir when everyone is on the ball and everyone’s feeling it, it’s wonderful. It’s like a physical glow.”

Visit the official website for the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain 
www.nycgb.net