BBC Radio 3 Youth Choir of the Year 2006

On Saturday November 11th Amabile Girls' Choir travelled to the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, to compete in the BBC Radio 3 Youth Choir of the Year final.
The competition was between the best six youth choirs from the regional heats, who were:
Amabile Girls' Choir
Circuit 16 Youth Choir Bristol
Inverclyde School's Senior Choir.
Melisma, from St. Margaret's School, Exeter
Oakham School Chamber Choir, Rutland.
Tees Valley Youth Choir, Teesside

All the choirs sat in the auditorium to watch the competition, and were taken backstage just before their performance for a few words of encouragement from the host Aled Jones.

The singing was of a very high standard and for the first time in the competition the judges gave their comments to the choirs immediately following each performance.

Amabile Girls' Choir took to the stage and gave a mesmerising rendition of Propheta Mendax and Tiree Love Song. The judges made some very positive comments about the performance: Eugene Skeef said the choir had transported him to a lovely place during Tiree Love Song, and Mary King said the choir was simply stunning, and could not believe that a young choir could make such a rich mature sound.

After an agonising wait of an hour, during which there was a master class with Ken Burton, Amabile Girls' Choir was named BBC Radio 3 Youth Choir of the Year.

The girls then went forward to the grand final of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition on December 10th at the Millennium Centre in Cardiff, which was televised in December.

We now have some wonderful images of Amabile at the competition, courtesy of Kallaway Ltd.

Biographies of the choirs and judges can be found on the Choir of the Year website, www.kallaway.co.uk/coy-site