Latest News From Masquerade

MASQUERADE TRIUMPH AGAIN AT LLANGOLLEN Masquerade Youth Choir once again beat the best in the world to be proclaimed Senior Children's Choir Champions at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod. Competing against choirs from as far afield as Brisbane in Australia, Kwa-Zulu Natal in South Africa and Cincinnati, USA, Masquerade showed their experience and lack of nerves to beat Kinder Children's Choir from High Peak in Derbyshire into second place and California's Palmdale High School Chamber Singers in third place. Masquerade repeated their 2000 sucess singing one of the pieces that secured victory 8 years ago: Gloria (Missa Brevis Pacem) by Edward Gregson. BOTH CHOIRS IN LIVERPOOL FINALS BBC Radio 3's Brian Kay, presenter at Masquerade's Celebrity Concert on 21st June announced to an enthusiastic audience that both the Masquerade Youth and Junior Choirs had highly impressed the judges in the audition stages of the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year competition to send them both into the finals to be held in Liverpool in November. The Youth Choir will compete against five other choirs in the Youth Category whilst the Junior Choir will have a similar level of competition in the Children's Category. After the announcement, Barry Clark heralded the result as further indication of the level of commitment by both choirs and all involved and showed, once again that both Masquerade Choirs are amongst the top choirs in Britain! JUNIOR CHOIR FOLLOW SENIORS THROUGH TO NATIONAL SELECTION Masquerade Junior Choir followed in their older colleagues footsteps by being pronounced Childrens' "Choir of the Day" at their Area Selection at the Warwick Arts Centre in Coventry. Matching the feat of the more experienced Youth Choir highlighted the high standards that are constantly being set by both choirs in competition as well as in concert. As well as heaping praise on the choir members, Barry Clark was also quick to thank fellow Musical Directors Pam Wright and Judy Tomlinson for their hard work with both choirs. YOUTH CHOIR GO THROUGH IN BBC CHOIR OF THE YEAR Masquerade Youth Choir beat the opposition to be crowned Youth "Choir of the Day" at the first Area Selection event for this year's BBC Choir of the Year competition. The event, held in Basingstoke on Saturday, 1st March attracted many of the top youth choirs and was the first of only five such events being held throughout the UK. All Choirs of the Day go forward to the National Selection Stage in June. A team of adjudicators will listen to recordings made of the choirs at the Area Selections and choose six choirs in each of the four categories to go through to Category Finals in Liverpool in November. In announcing the result, the judges praised the incredibly high standard of entry saying that it was "... more like a National final than a regional one." After the result was announced, Masquerade's Musical Director and founder, Barry Clark said "The choir sang really well and certainly deserved to go through. The level of concentration at the final rehearsals was incredible and it just made the choir a pleasure to work with." BBC CHOIR OF THE YEAR BECKONS IN 2008 The coming year is set to be extra busy for both the Youth and Junior choirs following confirmation that BOTH choirs have secured places in the audition stage of the BBC Choir of the Year 2008 competition. The Auditions will be taking place on Saturday, 1st March 2008 in Basingstoke for the Youth Choir and the following Saturday, 8th March 2008 in Coventry for the Junior Choir. This year there are only 5 audition days, the other three being Sheffield, Edinburgh and Cardiff. An extra concert date has also been announced - Saturday, 17th May. Masquerade having been invited by Kettering Choral Society to participate in their presentation of John Rutter's Mass of the Children. MASQUERADE RELEASE NEW CD A new CD of performances by Masquerade has been released and is now available by mail order. The CD, titled "Masquerade Live" features performances by both the Junior and Youth Choirs and was recorded at their prestigeous concert staged at London's Cadogan Hall in the Spring of 2007 as well as the Llangollen Eisteddfod in both 2006 and 2007. Details of the CD are available on the Gallery & CD page. CHOIR ROUND OFF SEASON IN STYLE Masquerade concluded their season at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod, where they gave a spirited performance, singing Bob Chilcott's "Like a Rainbow" following up with "The Tiger" by Lauren Bernofsky. Such was the quality of the 19-strong field in the Senior Children's Choirs class this year that the top 10 choirs were seperated by only 10 points. Masquerade's performance drew not a single criticism from the adjudicators and yet they were only placed sixth. Video clips to be added to website Masquerade are pleased to advise that selected video streams will soon be available for viewing on these web pages. It is planned that the videos, which will be streamed to your computer rather than downloaded, will be made available in both low resolution (suitable for dial-up users) and high resolution, more suited to broadband users. Look out for the "video gallery" option on the side-bar. MASQUERADE CELEBRATE INDEPENDENCE DAY WITH TOP TEXAS CHOIR In the run-up to Masquerade's annual visit to the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, the choir are hosting a joint American Independence Day Concert with a top American youth choir. Currntly touring the UK and themselves on their way to Llangollen, The Texas Hill County Youth Choir are giving concert goers the chance to celebrate Independence Day the American way when they perform at the Kettering Salvation Army headquarters on Rockingham Road in Kettering on Wednesday, 4th July. The two choirs will be putting on a full and varied programme whilst honing their skills in readiness for the Llangollen Eisteddffod the following week. The concert starts at 7.30pm and has a ticket price of £2.00, payable at the door. BBC TV STAR CONFIRMED AS PRESENTER FOR LONDON CONCERT It has been confirmed that Songs of Praise and former Blue Peter presenter, Diane Louise Jordan will be presenting the concert organised by Masquerade Choir at London's newest concert venue Cadogan Hall on Sunday, 25th March. This will be a special event in the history of the choir, as it is the final year for the last two remaining founder members, Debbie Crawford and Jo-Anne Milson. The concert will feature the Youth Choir, which currently has over 60 members, under the direction of its two conductors, Barry Clark and Pamela Wright, as well as the Junior Choir of 30 members, with their conductor Judith Tomlinson. Cadogan Hall is a former church, now converted into a top-class concert venue. It is the home of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and was the venue for the chamber music evenings in last summer’s BBC Promenade Concerts. The choir are hoping to take a large number of friends and supporters down to London for the day, and coach travel is available, leaving from Kettering's Corn Market Hall at either 9 or 11 in the morning. The hall is just near to Sloane Square, at the top of the Kings Road. Tickets are available from the choir; anyone interested should contact Simon Lindley on 01536 524791. Alternatively they can be obtained direct from the Box Office: 020 7730 4500, or booked online at www.cadoganhall.com Courtesy Kettering Evening Telegraph. 5th February 2007 NEW MUSICAL DIRECTOR FOR JUNIOR CHOIR Following the retirement of Masquerade Junior Choir MD, Julie Cruickshank, we are pleased to announce that Judith Tomlinson will take over the reins from the start of new season on September 1st. Choir founder and senior Musical Director, Barry Clark said: "First of all, we would like to re-iterate the thanks which were expressed to Julie Cruickshank at her final concert on 1st July. Julie was responsible for forming the Training Choir in 2000, since when a large number of children have passed through this group, many of whom are now in the Senior Choir." "We are now very pleased to announce that Judith Tomlinson has agreed to take over the younger group, now known as the Junior Choir. Judith was actually involved in the formation of Masquerade in 1999 and has recently been the pianist for the Senior Choir on a number of occasions. She has much experience of working with choirs at a high level and is keen to see any potential new members." +