The Berwick Youth Choir (from left) Jessica Gross, Sarah Paton, Cara McDonald, Christine Robinson, Michael Casey, Leah Bosch, Joshua Roberts, Bethany Stephenson, Kate Quinn, Megan Murray, Caitlyn Bosch, Melinda Stephenson, Merrily Hansen, Ginger Hansen, Emily Dillon, Caitlin Webb, Maddison Williams, Corin Stephenson, Bethany Minter, Samantha Baryla, Laura Godham, Rachel Seskis, Sarah Walker and Emma Morse.CONGRATULATIONS to the members of the Berwick Youth Choir (BYC) for selection in the Victorian Secondary Students’ Honour Choir.
Members of the honour choir are selected out of applicants from all over Victoria.
The choristers will take part in a weeklong workshop in June culminating in a concert at Scotch College, Hawthorn.
Choir administrator Janie Webb said this was the first year BYC choristers have auditioned.
“We are very excited to hear that six choristers from our Senior Performing Choir have been successful.”
Ms Webb said the choir also gained first and second place in the two sections they entered at the Dandenong Festival of Music and Art for Youth, the preeminent music competition for youth in Australia.
“They beat talented singers from around Victoria by singing both accompanied and unaccompanied songs to an appreciative audience.”
The choristers have had a busy time recently – in one day they performed for the Montsalvat Choral Festival as well as the ABC FM Choir of the Year Competition.
The Montsalvat Choral Festival, run by the Melbourne Chamber and Melbourne Women’s Choirs, involved 14 community and school choirs performing in various venues around the artists’ colony in Eltham.
The afternoon finished with a concert tribute to composer Wendy Morrissey.
“The ABC Choir of the Year Competition was a fantastic and unique experience for the choir members, singing their best and most exciting repertoire and hearing the best of other young choirs,” Ms Webb said.
“Choirs will hear within the month whether they progress to the state finals, and then the national finals in Sydney.
“Only six from the 38 choirs heard in Melbourne will reach the state finals,” Ms Webb said.
Success is a just reward for the youth choir children who have worked so hard and for those who have supported the young musicians.
Much of the leadership came from that lovable and highly skilled teacher who established the Kodaly method of training in this district, Jean Heriot.
