AROUND TOWN MEETS
the UK’s highest ranked choir, Cantamus, by ten points in the Jazz, Pop and Show category. While competing in Riga, the choir were also asked to perform with Kate Rusby at Underneath the Stars Festival where some of the younger members sang in front of 2,000 people.
everything from Stockholm Cathedral to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
“Our name was on the Fringe advert which was surreal. There was 50,000 things to see, who’d come and see little old us? But we were regularly pulling audiences of about 30 most performances, which wasn’t bad when the average is about seven people.
“By the end of the week, we were performing to over 200 people, some who’d driven back just to see us again.”
Another recording session ensued with the release of their debut 12-track album, When You Believe, which was recorded in a church and sold worldwide on iTunes.
After a year away from the games, this summer saw the choir return to Riga to compete at the Euros with
“By the end of the week, we were performing to over 200 people, some who’d driven back just to see us again.”
the pressure mounting to keep their reign over Europe.
“People obviously expected us to do well but many didn’t realise we were up against choirs who meet twice a day, six times a
week, whereas we just meet for an hour and half every Thursday to rehearse.”
Also, the majority of the musical directors are full-time conductors, whereas Mat gives his time for free while holding down his ‘proper job’ as Vice-Principal of Horizon Community College, ensuring that around 2,000 students are fully engaged and are safe, with raising three small children.
“Most of the MDs questioned why I didn’t just concentrate on my best 60 singers and just solely practice with them for competitions. But we don’t do things like that at BYC. I want to work equally with each singer to make sure they fully flourish and improve with us. “We have over 300 children involved. Sadly, whilst they all have wonderful opportunities, we can’t take all of them to international competitions. Every child has to audition for a place on the team beforehand which is tough saying no to them when they’ve worked so hard.”
Up against choirs who take the competitions deadly serious, the intense level means singers must train like athletes, monitoring food, water, vitamin and sleep levels before performances – if they haven’t had enough, they simply don’t perform.
The choir won both their
categories again, gaining high scores in the 90s. Again, BYC were automatically put through to the Grand Prix of Nations for two categories, where they surpassed
The children’s choir is led by Mat’s wife, Eleanor, a fellow AST teacher, accomplished violinist and former member of the National Children’s Orchestra. With three young children, daughters Ruby and Maisy are both choir members with their births having been somewhat of a prophecy into them joining the family of singers.
“My wife went into labour with Ruby on a Thursday which is rehearsal night so made life difficult.
me, I take joy from others doing well and hope that what we achieve together and the connections we make will give these kids a better chance and outlook on life.” Along with expert singing training, Mat has also been surprised to see that their joint experiences have helped shape the choir in an unexpected way.
“We started it to give these kids something to do on an evening, but they’ve all become really respectful, ambitious, disciplined and focused too. They all get on like a big second family and are all so supportive of each other’s individual successes. We’ve even had numerous young people gaining places at top universities such as Oxbridge.” As international success has prevailed so too has the list of events scheduled in the choir’s
I went to practice and told her to text me if anything happened. With Maisy, Eleanor went into labour while I was on the way to a sell-out concert with people coming as far as from Spain to watch us. “Luckily, I managed to change the order of performance round to put the more difficult songs at the beginning and ran out the doors in the interval, arriving at hospital just as Maisy was born.”
Younger brother George came with no drama but unfortunately has no choice but to come along to rehearsals, too.
With long days at work followed by rehearsals and planning at
home, choir life can be challenging for the Wrights, especially when Mat has been asked to fly off to Spain, France, Russia and South Africa to deliver workshops and adjudicate competitions.
Members of the boys choir 6
aroundtownmagazine.co.uk Kate Rushby performing with the choir
“I have a very understanding wife who just so happens to be a great mum and tells me to crack on with it. But it’s not just about
diary. While preparing for the 2018 World Choir Games in South Africa, the choir have also been asked to perform at an awards ceremony closer to home at Blenheim Palace, following in the voice boxes of Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift.
But with over 450 members in both the youth choir and Barnsley Singers, the struggle to find a venue to house them all on stage is real. Concert days now consist of three performances and start at 6am with a midnight bedtime to ensure it all works together in harmony. In June, the choir as a whole received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, recognising the hard work each of the 45 volunteers dedicates to the choir during their structured roles and responsibilities. “Most of all, we’re really proud to be putting Barnsley on the map. How wonderful it is for people from all over the world repeatedly asking us where Barnsley is and if they can come to visit us.”
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