Well today saw the culmination of a lot of our recent work at rehearsals with what was effectively the Northern Ireland section of the auditions for this year’s BBC Choir of the Year competition held at the Ulster Hall here in Belfast.
There were 8 choirs competing in various sections from children’s choir to adult – thankfully we didn’t have to endure a long wait as we hit the stage for the second performance of the day.
We opened with Frank Ticheli’s Earth Song and followed that with Dering’s Factum Est Silentium (…a firm favourite with the tenor section – honestly – it’s one of those pieces that grows on you, I think…). Orban’s Daemon Irrepit Callidus rounded off the entry with all of it’s usual demonic charm.
Two hours and a few renditions later about Mrs O’Leary and and her cow and the judges re-emerged to put us all out of our misery.
We were awarded Choir of the Day alongside the Open Arts Community Choir in the Adult Section – a great result which moves us into the next section of the National competition where the overall Top 4 Adult Choirs of the Day from all the 7 regional auditions (as chosen by a national panel of judges) will get the chance to perform at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall in October at the Category Finals, with the Grand Finals on London’s South Bank at the Royal Festival Hall later that month.
Here’s hoping that we can get through to that next round, and then the torture can begin all over again…!
DT