Chorister of the Year

[oddoneout]

This has been on R2 for years but is now being televised. This was mentioned in the local rag but even so I would have missed it as it's listed under the Songs of Praise banner, which I don't watch so don't read the blurb. Not sure about the idea of Katherine Jenkins coaching the contestants, and I'm aware that the idea of such competitions is not to everyone's taste, but thought I'd put the info forward. I'll watch this one and see if I want to watch the others.

[ardcarp]

Anything to encourage up-and-coming choristers! A long time ago, whem choirgirl of the year was introduced, my daughter, Joephine, came 3rd and a girl called Joanna came 2nd. Theu both ended up in Gonville and Caius Choir and were known as Jo'B' and Jo'C'. Since then, our Jo has been known in the family as Josie.

[DracoM]

[Nick Armstrong]

Not sure about the idea of Katherine Jenkins coaching the contestants, and I'm aware that the idea of such competitions is not to everyone's taste, but thought I'd put the info forward. I'll watch this one and see if I want to watch the others.

Aled Jones (wrth cwrs...) with the lads next week... Seems a bit of a Welsh lock-out

[jonfan]

Chorister of the Year has been an embarrassment to Radio 2 for years and now it’s obviously an embarrassment to BBC One, being squashed and rescheduled between live sport on Sunday lunchtime. This is a great shame as it focusses on young people who have talent in singing and wish to share it. The rules seemed to have changed as in the past a verse of a hymn had to be offered as well as a solo song. I think this is right as the growth area in church music is in worship groups. This was reflected in one of the candidates yesterday, eliciting the comment from John Rutter that it was obvious she actually believed in what she was singing.
KJ a disastrous choice, not only because she couldn’t offer any better advice to the singers than their teachers, but she was full of self promotion - wasn’t she a judge on a panel assessing potential opera singers when she hasn’t sung in one herself!?
Anna Lapwood or Elin Manahan Thomas as better alternatives, or anybody really!
Five excellent candidates and a superb trio of judges who offered useful advice and encouragement. One stand out winner IMHO.

[DracoM]

And the final result of all this is that gradually, the competition has been squeezed, re-packaged, re-scheduled and devalued and more or less turned into a sort of lower grade 'Strictly' event.

Massive shame.

[cloughie]

Aled Jones (wrth cwrs...) with the lads next week... Seems a bit of a Welsh lock-out

Learned to sing like robins in chapel see!

[jonfan]

And the final result of all this is that gradually, the competition has been squeezed, re-packaged, re-scheduled and devalued and more or less turned into a sort of lower grade 'Strictly' event.

Massive shame.

[oddoneout]

And the final result of all this is that gradually, the competition has been squeezed, re-packaged, re-scheduled and devalued and more or less turned into a sort of lower grade 'Strictly' event.

Massive shame.

I couldn't help thinking it was a tad inconsistent to move Young Musician(very much a primetime terrestrial TV item originally) onto BBC4 and then radio, but move this radio item onto TV. I'm not sure what the competition timeline is but I wonder if this would have happened without Covid disrupting TV programme making and schedules - freeing up airtime?

Oh, and after all that I didn't watch the programme as I was out in the garden and not keeping an eye on the time...

[jonfan]

A very high standard of singing this year, heartening to hear and see; excellent judges as well.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A very high standard of singing this year, heartening to hear and see; excellent judges as well.

Indeed it was. The final joint performance was heartening too, though I wondered why Kathryn Jenkins and Aled Jones felt the need to make their microphones so obvious.

[jonfan]

There were two instances of where Covid 19 had directly affected the candidates, one with a very tragic outcome.
All the singers came over as very nice people who were very humbly glad to be there and without a hint of jealousy between them. Now this is on tv maybe the next step is a more prominent programming slot and with some publicity that it’s actually happening and hard work has been necessary to get there.

[ardcarp]

I'm only halfway through, but how do you compare 'worship songs' with trad church music fare? Is this a first for a counter-tenor?

Afterthought....was any mention or thanks given to the accompanist?

[jonfan]

Afterthought....was any mention or thanks given to the accompanist?

None at all, I didn’t catch his name as the end credits scrolled by too fast. The British definition of a chorister is ‘a member of a choir’ so one could argue that the ‘worship song’ singer was not a chorister. She would be called a chorister in the US.
I suddenly realised there was a bit of competition banter between the two celebrities whether girls or boys were better. For the first time there was an overall winner and a runner up, not a girl and a boy winner. Not good this I think, there should be girl and boy winners as in the past so the competition is not a perceived battle between the sexes.

[Wolsey]

Afterthought....was any mention or thanks given to the accompanist?

Neil Taylor was mentioned at the end of the Radio 2 relay this evening (50' 58"), but not in the TV transmission. There are some differences in the two which reflects the discrete editorial treatment of BBC1 and Radio 2.