Mount St Mary's choir wins national music award

The jubilant choir

Mount St Mary's College Junior Choir has just won the Voices Foundation Junior Choirs Award for Excellence at the National Festival of Music for Youth in Birmingham.

Mount St Mary's was one of 22 choirs from across the country chosen to perform in the city's Symphony Hall following a regional selection competition and one of just four choirs to receive a music award in recognition of choral excellence.

The choir, made up of 30 Mount St Mary's pupils from years 7 and 8, performed three pieces - the traditional Ave Maria, the contemporary classic Adiemus and the up tempo Get on Board.

It caps off a highly successful school year for Mount St Mary's. The Senior, Chamber and Junior choirs all won their categories at the Worksop Festival of Music, and the Senior Choir also received excellent feedback from the Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year competition.

Lucy Kitchener, director of music at Mount St Mary's, which is based at Spinkhill, Derbyshire, said: "It is fantastic for the Junior Choir to be recognised in the Music For Youth National Festival. We were absolutely thrilled to be presented with one of the four event awards.

"Our students are incredibly talented and they sang beautifully in Birmingham. The judges particularly liked the variety of our programme which demonstrated a range of skills, techniques and sounds. They felt that we had a fresh and vibrant sound and we look forward to developing this in the future."

For more information on Mount St Mary's College see: www.msmcollege.co.uk/msmcollege/