Hertfordshire County Youth Choir

Director: Cathy Heller-Jones

Required standard: Grade 5+
Age range: 13 - 18 years

The County Youth Choir meets most Wednesdays during the Autumn and Spring terms from 5.30pm – 7.30pm in Hatfield.

Recognised as one of Britain's leading youth choirs, Hertfordshire's County Youth Choir specialises in singing good, challenging and varied choral repertoire. Singers who join the choir come from a variety of musical backgrounds. Weekly rehearsals incorporate specialised tuition in voice production and ear training. The ability to sight-read is not a prerequisite for joining the choir. All singers, regardless of previous choral experience, improve their sight-reading skills rapidly. The boys in the choir meet regularly with the choir's male voice tutor who addresses the needs of changing voices. There are numerous opportunities for solo and small ensemble singing as well as opportunities to conduct

The choir participates in frequent collaborations with guest conductors, composers and instrumental ensembles, as well as with other choirs. In the past these have included concerts with The BBC Concert Orchestra and the Hertfordshire County Youth Orchestra. A joint concert takes place each year with Berkshire's Taplow Youth Choirs.  Guest conductors and workshop leaders have included Ben Parry, Ralph Allwood, Ken Burton, Terry Edwards and Gillian Dibden.

The choir has recently been involved in a collaboration with the BBC Singers which culminated in a joint concert in the Maida Vale Studios at Broadcasting House, London. As part of this project which had an emphasis on extended vocal techniques, music by Ligeti, Poulenc, Whitacre and MacMillan was featured.

The County Youth Choir's reputation leads to unexpected prestigious invitations, sometimes at short notice, so they may not always appear in our yearly plans.

Many of the singers in the choir attend the Eton Choral courses during the summer and belong to the National Youth Choir and National Youth Music Theatre. Many go on to a variety of institutions for further vocal and drama training including the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, Oxbridge as choral and organ scholars, LIPA, as well as drama and music departments in the country's leading universities and colleges.

Contact Information

Forthcoming Events

• Spring term Rehearsals start - Wednesday 4th January
• CONCERT: 3rd March 2012, 7:30pm. Clarendon Muse, Watford School of Music. Joint concert with Cantate Youth Choir as part of the BBC's Music Nation project.
• CONCERT: 4th March 2012, 12:30pm. Voice Now - Music Nation Open Stage, part of the Cultural Olympiad, concert at the Camden Round House.
• 4th March 2012 - Performance in live BBC Radio 3 broadcast of premiere of new work by Orlando Gough 5-6:30pm
• Spring term last rehearsal - Wednesday 14th March
• CONCERT: 17th March 2012. St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Auditions

Auditions for the 2011/12 season have already taken place. Details of 2012/13 auditions will be published in due course.

Recent Events