Staff member's choir reaches national finals

Graduate Library Trainee Richard Sellens and his choir, Northern Spirit Singers, have reached the last six in the highly-regarded Choir of the Year 2014 choral competition and will be performing in the Grand Final this weekend.

Northern Spirit Singers, established 14 years ago in Durham, will be competing for the coveted title of Choir of the Year 2014 on Sunday December 7 at Manchester's Bridgewater Hall. The event will be hosted by choir guru Gareth Malone, and will be televised on BBC Four on Friday 12 December.

The national choral contest is the biggest of its kind in the UK, and this year over 150 amateur choirs competed for the chance to fill one of six places in the Grand Final. One choir from each of the four categories - Adult, Children, Youth and Open - plus two 'wild cards' will battle it out on Sunday for the prestigious prize.

Northern Spirit Singers won the Adult category in the Regional Finals in May, and proceeded to the Category Finals at the Royal Festival Hall in October along with 15 other choirs, where they won their place in the Grand Final by singing 'With a Lily in your Hand' by Eric Whitacre, 'Christus Est Stella' by Durham composer Will Todd, and 'El Hambo' by Jaakko Mäntyjärvi.

Richard Sellens, Graduate Library Trainee at St John's, has been singing in choirs all his life and joined Northern Spirit Singers three years ago when he was studying for his BA in Music at Durham University. He is now an alumnus member, travelling regularly to Durham to rehearse with the choir.

'Members never leave,' he said. 'But you wouldn't want to! There is something about being in a choir, combining your voice with others and creating a wonderful, and sometimes overwhelming, sound. There is such great camaraderie in this choir; we all get on well, and we are in synch with each other, which is testament to conductor Andy King who knows exactly how to mould us together.'

The Grand Final will see the choir perform three choral pieces which demonstrate a variety of musical styles: 'Kaaki maat, te riemuitkaatte' by Mia Makaroff, based on Psalm 100, the serene 'O Magnum Mysterium' by Francis Poulenc, and a traditional - and dramatic - arrangement of 'The Battle of Jericho' by Moses Hogan.

'It would be fantastic if we won, but we are so proud to get this far,' said Richard. 'It will be such a great evening of music and we are really looking forward to it - and if we can focus and deliver on the day I think we've got a really good chance of winning.'

Choir of the Year 2014 will be televised at 7.30pm on Friday 12 December on BBC Four, with Gareth Malone hosting the event and presenter Josie D'Arby following the choirs during the day. Expert judges include conductor and broadcaster Greg Beadsell, composer Paul Mealor, soprano Angel Blue, and vocal coach Mary King. Highlights of the final will be broadcast on BBC Radio 3's The Choir on 14 December at 4pm.

Northern Spirit Singers performing in the Category Finals