Cosmos Choir at ‘Concert on the Close’
On Friday 6 July, a coach from South Bristol brought 18 excited children from our Cosmos Choir to Clifton College for a truly unique experience in their young singing careers! Not at all deterred by the constantly pouring rain and inevitable hanging around, and hugely encouraged by the impressive buffet tea that awaited them in their rehearsal room (thanks, organisers!), they finally entered the pop-star-sized amphitheatre and sang their hearts out, amplified to the skies, accompanied by their new CD as backing track. Their 15 minutes of glory concluded with a rousing rendition of ‘Zip-a-dee-doo-dah’, and my-oh-my what a wonderful day it had been!
NEW FOR 2012! St George’s Golden Ticket
Designed to widen access to some of St George’s most inspiring gigs, Golden Tickets offer a limited number of lucky under 18s free entry to premium promotions – specially selected just for you!
The next batch of Golden Tickets are now ready for release, giving free entry to a spectacular concert on Saturday 19 May starring Charles Hazlewood and the Army of Generals. If you’d like Golden Tickets for your school or students, please let us know. But act fast, as numbers are strictly limited!
Suzi Digby OBE becomes Cosmos Choir’s first ever Patron!
St George’s Bristol is delighted to announce that Suzi Digby has accepted the newly created role of Patron of Cosmos Choir – a young community choir of children aged 8 – 12 from Knowle West and district, supported and funded through St George’s education programme.
Suzi Digby, judge on the BBC’s immensely popular ‘Last Choir Standing’, is a well-known face in the world of music education, having worked internationally with children’s and adult choirs for many years. She is Founder and Principal of The Voices Foundation, the UK’s leading music education foundation that successfully tasks itself with ‘transforming children through singing’, and last year founded Vocal Futures, launched to inspire a new generation of classical music followers. Suzi was awarded an OBE in 2007 in recognition of her outstanding services to music education.
This appointment is a tremendous boost for the Cosmos Choir, in this its fourth year of existence. Directed by Bristol-based music educators Laurie Stewart and Mark Lawrence, Cosmos is living proof that singing is something we can all enjoy, be inspired by and develop through, regardless of our social, cultural or economic background. To date, over 150 young people in Knowle West and district have grown through the experience of singing in Cosmos. Last year alone the choir sang three times at St George’s, as well as at the Colston Hall (‘A World Beyond’) and Bristol’s Harbourside (‘Sing for WaterAid’), and took part in Song-Shares in Southville (South Bank Arts Trail) and in Withywood, South Bristol. Praised for the ‘fresh enthusiasm’ that comes across in its sound, Cosmos has made three recordings to date for Faber Music for the Sing Up website.
Cosmos is St George’s own small contribution to transforming children through singing, and Suzi’s endorsement of this makes us all the more determined to carry on raising the much-needed funds to enable this invaluable resource to continue for years to come.
