Young people invited to sing Handel’s Messiah free at the Royal Albert Hall with Suzi Digby OBE

May 28, 2013 - PRLog -- Over 1,000 free places have been made available so that school, youth and university choirs up to the age of 25 can take part in The Scratch Youth Messiah without charge. Choirs are being asked to register their interest now, with formal booking starting in September. For full details visit the dedicated page on our website http://www.trbc.co.uk/wp/?page_id=4046.

All young choirs, whatever their experience, are invited to take part, choosing their own level of involvement. The Scratch Youth Messiah will include all Handel’s best-known choruses and arias, from which choirs can choose to sing everything, or to dip a toe in the water by joining in with the opening chorus (‘And the glory of the Lord’), the famous ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ and the final ‘Amen’.

The Scratch Youth Messiah will take place at 14h15 and will be followed by the annual evening performance of Messiah from Scratch by The Really Big Chorus, the UK’s largest choral society. As Messiah from Scratch approaches its 40th anniversary in 2014, this is an ideal time to introduce a new generation of singers to Handel’s genius and encourage them to share in the UK’s rich choral heritage. The Scratch Youth Messiah will be as Handel wrote it, not an arrangement, enabling young singers gradually to learn the original masterpiece.

We are thrilled and delighted that The Scratch Youth Messiah will be conducted by Suzi Digby OBE, a tireless champion of choral singing among young people and the inspiration behind The Voices Foundation. We are fortunate to have the support and guidance of Richard Hallam MBE, former Government adviser on music education and Chair of the Music Manifesto Steering Committee, and another major driving force in school and youth music.  Overseeing the project is Trevor Ford, Chairman both of the London Youth Choir and of Scratch Concerts Ltd.

Information packs for school/youth choir leaders are available now, either via our website www.trbc.co.uk/wp/?page_id=4046 by post from PO Box 4211, Bath BA1 0HJ or by e-mail to youthmessiah@trbc.co.uk .  Initial registration to take part must be completed by 15 July 2013.  

ENDS

Notes for editors

Twitter: @ReallyBigChorus    

1.   The Scratch Youth Messiah starts at 14h15 on Sunday 1 December at the Royal Albert Hall. Youth choirs will rehearse in the Hall from 11h30.

2.   The Scratch Youth Messiah is presented by Scratch Concerts Ltd, which promotes Messiah from Scratch each year at the Royal Albert Hall with The Really Big Chorus. The performance of Messiah from Scratch in 2013 will be as usual at 19h00, following The Scratch Youth Messiah.

3.   Suzi Digby OBE has worked internationally with choirs for many years, and has been at the vanguard of the revival of singing in schools and among young people in the UK.  She is creator of The Voices Foundation (the UK’s leading National Primary Music Education Foundation), of Vocal Futures, and co-founder (with Rachel Staunton), of the London Youth Choir.  She is passionate about building the next generation of singers and works tirelessly all over the world to achieve her ambitions, with numerous television and radio appearances testifying to her enthusiasm and commitment in this vital area of education. She received the OBE from HM The Queen in 2009 for outstanding services to music education. www.suzidigby.com

4.   Trevor Ford trained at the Royal Academy of Music, and has subsequently worked as an orchestral musician, choral conductor and orchestral manager. He is a professor at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Among other appointments, Trevor Ford is Chairman of Scratch Concerts Ltd, the London Youth Choir and the Royal School of Church Music London Area, a Trustee of Newham Music Trust and Hon. Treasurer of the Incorporated Society of Musicians.

5.   The Really Big Chorus is the UK’s largest choral society with around 12,000 singing members. It began life in 1974 when Canadian Don Monro, then a student at Imperial College, joined with fellow scientists to hire the Royal Albert Hall and fill it with amateur singers for the very first Messiah from Scratch:  no rehearsal at all for the chorus, just an electrifying, adrenaline-filled performance. Other RAH concerts in May and July (‘the last night before the Proms’) have rehearsals on the day, and TRBC also organizes singing breaks to prestige overseas venues, and relaxing choral cruises.