National Youth Choir of Great Britain - by Special Arrangement

In what is turning out to be a real youth music weekend (see my previous posts on the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, and on the National Children's Orchestras), the National Youth Choir is performing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on Sunday 12 April 2015. The choir's director Ben Parry (a former Swingle Singer) shares conducting honours with another former Swingle Singer, Tom Bullard. The choir will be joined by the Swedish vocal ensemble, The Real Group for the programme By Special Arrangement. The two groups will be giving the premier of Water which has been written specifically for the National Youth Choir by Anders Edenroth, The Real Group's founder.  Also in the programme will be arrangements of music by Chopin, Mahler, Ravel, Schubert, Bach and Mozart, all of it virtuoso a cappella music.

By Special Arrangement is also the closing event of two South Bank Centre festivals: Chorus (30 March–12 April), their annual festival celebrating the power of singing together bringing together over 100 choirs and thousands of singers to perform, share, learn and experiment; and a brand new festival Strive (10–12 April) a celebration of youth, programmed by and for young people.