National Youth Choirs of Great Britain

Laudibus disc 'Light and Gold' took home a Grammy in the coveted awards ceremony in LA. Recorded by Decca with the Eric Whitacre Singers, the disc took home the 'Best Choral Recording' title, fending off stiff competition from discs by fellow Brits Paul Hillier and Stephen Layton.

Huge congratulations to the members of Laudibus, Mike Brewer and, of course, our good friend Eric Whitacre.

See the video of Eric' acceptance speech here.

Ella Rainbird-Early, from Training Choir North, has won the Choirgirl of the Year competition. Ella, who sings at Coventry Cathedral and attends the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire, participated in the Grand Final which took place on Monday 24 October at St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square, London; the show was broadcast on Sunday 6 November at 8.00pm on Radio 2. As a finale to the evening’s event, the new Radio 2 Young Choristers sang a specially arranged version of the Christmas carol – In the Bleak Midwinter – with special guest Joe McElderry, the former X Factor and Popstar to Operastar winner.

She sang in several BBC programmes over the Christmas period and will be appearing on Songs of Praise on the 22nd January. Huge congratulations to Ella from all at NYCGB!

The concert which brings the Easter Course to a close is currently sold out. We are working with the Royal Albert Hall to make additional tickets available to parents/guardians of members attending the Easter Course and will be in touch directly with our members in due course.  As we cannot guarantee that we wil be able to do so, you may want to contact the Hall in the meantime to ask if any tickets have been returned.

Returned Tickets  The Royal Albert Hall has over 1000 members who are automatically sent tickets to concerts.  It is hoped that many of these members will return their tickets over the coming months. These tickets may not start to come back to the Hall for a few weeks, which is why box office staff may not be able to offer you anything right now. Call the Royal Albert Hall on 0845 401 5045 (+44 20 7589 8212 if phoning from outside the UK) or visit www.royalalberthall.com 

Tickets for the Laudibus concert are now on sale! Phone the office on 01913348110 or email Emily (emily@nycgb.net) to book yours NOW! 

Members who have registered for a place on the Easter Course will be sent confirmation letters in mid-February. NB - please don't buy tickets for the concert at the Royal Albert Hall, which ends the Easter Course until your place on the Easter Course has been confirmed.

Fiona Maddocks and Nicholas Kenyon list NYC's Songs of the Baltic as a 'Hidden Gem of 2011'. Click here.

Forms for the 2012 courses are now available on our website. Please return your Registration Forms as soon as you can, as the courses fill up very quickly! The final deposit deadline for the Easter Course is the 27th January, but due to demand for places there is no guarantee that Members who have registered by this date will be offered a place.

Former NYC/Laudibus member and guest conductor – Will Dawes on tour with multi-award-winning ensemble ‘Stile Antico’.

 Christmas is a busy time for Baritone and Conductor - Will Dawes this year… Boston, Seattle, Vancouver, Milwaukee and New York are just some of the performance stops for Stile Antico’s ‘Puer Natus Est’ tour that is set to sell-out following there previous critically acclaimed visits across the Atlantic.

Much in demand in concert, Stile Antico performs regularly throughout Europe and North America. Their recordings on the Harmonia Mundi label have enjoyed great success, receiving the Diapason d'Or de l'année, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik and twice attracting GRAMMY nominations. Their recent release Song of Songs won the 2009 Gramophone Award for Early Music and reached the top of the US Classical Chart.

As if that isn’t enough… Will is performing right up until the final moment by joining the world-renown ‘Polyphony ’for their sell-out annual performance of Handel’s ‘Messiah’ at St John’s, Smith Square, London on 23rd December. Box Office : Box Office: 020 7222 1061 http://www.sjss.org.uk/

Former NYC/Laudibus member – Lucy Potterton joins international superstar Nigel Kennedy and his Orchestra of Life on tour across Europe.

 Having only just left the world-renowned a cappella ensemble and close friends of NYCGB – The Swingle Singers… Lucy Potterton is wasting no time with her most recent venture… No stranger to touring and performing night-after-night, Lucy is currently on stage and performing in over 30 venues across Europe with international violin virtuoso –Nigel Kennedy introducing his new electric jazz album ‘Shhhh!’

This new collection, recorded as the Nigel Kennedy Quintet, features original Kennedy compositions plus a version of the late Nick Drake’s 1971 song ‘River Man’, with guest vocals by Boy George. The whole project was produced by Paul Inder, son of Motorhead leader Lemmy.

Well done Lucy! We hope you manage to take a break at Christmas!

For more details visit www.kennedyshhh.com/ or to follow Lucy on twitter visit @pottylean

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