Menlo Park, CA, USA and Durham, UK - March 12, 2023 - FeelitLIVE, Inc., the creators of FeelitLIVE, the world’s first all-in-one choir tech platform, today announced the winners of Britain's Top Choirs™ 2023, a virtual forum created to showcase the vast choral talent in the U.K.
National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain from Durham was named the Grand Prize Winner after earning the highest score among the top 5 finalists. As Grand Prize Winner, the choir group will receive a £2,000 cash prize and bragging rights of being among the best in the country.
Greg Beardsell, Conductor, National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain, Durham said, “Our recording of Cough, Cough was a lot of fun to devise and shoot. Indeed, an awful lot of work went into it both in production and post-production, but we were so delighted with the results and were so pleased that the three adjudicators saw what we saw, which was a really special thing. So thank you to them and to all of the staff at FeelitLIVE for putting on such a great competition.”
Choirs from across the U.K. were invited to upload a song performance recorded and performed between 1st September 2021 and 10th February 2023, to enter the competition. Submissions were received from all around the UK, from community choirs to youth choirs to school choirs to show choirs, all submitting entries. A judges’ panel of leading choral experts from the UK evaluated the entries and audience members were invited to vote during the live finale which premiered on March 12, 2023, at 8 pm GMT.
The esteemed judges on the panel included Neil Ferris, Hilary Campbell, and Dr. Manvinder Rattan.
The top 10 finalists were selected based on an overall 40-point score with 30 points derived from the judge’s criteria of Technical Evaluation, Musical and Artistic Criteria, and Overall Artistic Impression, along with Audience Voting (during the live Grand Finale event) which accounted for 10 points.
Association of British Choral Directors (abcd) was also a partner of Britain's Top Choirs™. abcd is the leading UK organisation devoted entirely to supporting all choir leaders. For over thirty years it has been promoting opportunities for the professional development of everyone leading singing, whether you've been just persuaded to take over your school choir, you conduct a church choir, cathedral choir, chamber choir, choral society, or community choir – or all of those.
abcd offers support, resources, and advice and runs courses and events, live and online, covering conducting and vocal technique, repertoire and programming, CPD for teachers, and conducting courses from Initial to Advanced – something for anyone leading a choir.
The Winners & finalists
Grand Prize Winner
National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain, Durham
Finalists (in no particular order)
Choir of the Earth, Milborne Port, Sherborne, Dorset
National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain, Durham
Laurelin Voices, London
Oakham School Chamber Choir Oakham, Rutland
The White Rosettes Leeds, West Yorkshire
About Britain's Top Choirs™2023
(https://www.feelitlive.co.uk/britains-top-choirs)
Britain's Top Choirs™ is a virtual forum created to showcase the vast choral talent in the U.K. and hosted by FeelitLIVE, the all-in-one digital entertainment platform. The Grand Finale was broadcast live on the FeelitLIVE platform on 12th March 2023, at 8 PM GMT.
Britain's Top Choirs™ shines a spotlight on choirs in the U.K. that make beautiful music every day and get together to celebrate teamwork, resilience, talent, diversity, hope, and positivity. BTC aims to bring your choir’s talent to audiences around the world through the power of digital.
About National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain, Durham
(https://www.nycgb.org.uk/)
National Youth Choirs of Great Britain run five auditioned choirs for more than 700 talented members from around the UK aged 9-25. Our Training Choir is aged 15-18. All members get to take part in inspirational residential courses and outstanding concerts and performances.
The Choir Director is Greg Beardsell, a leading light in music education and performance. His ability to inspire people of all ages to explore new musical horizons whilst sharing his diverse range of musical skills has created new and exciting music-making opportunities, particularly for children and young people. In addition to directing NYCGB Training Choirs, Greg is the Conductor of the London Youth Chamber Choir and Music Director of the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland.
About FeelitLIVE (www.feelitlive.com)
FeelitLIVE is the world’s first all-in-one choir tech platform, empowering choral groups to host events, engage audiences, monetize content, and build lasting relationships with their communities. Built by MIT alums, FeelitLIVE is fast becoming home to choirs across North America. FeelitLIVE provides every choir with the platform to deliver the beautiful and uplifting experiences they have always imagined. The company is also the creator of the rapidly growing Top ChoirsTM franchise that has found great success in the U.S., Canada, and now the U.K. FeelitLIVE is headquartered in Menlo Park, CA, with passionate and talented team members on four continents.
Contact Information
Robert Martindale
+1.858.864.8600
press@feelitlive.com
Ruth Evans
National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain
+447889142546