The Concert Choir of the Nanaimo Youth Choir might be small in number by ‘big-city’ standards, but its sound is mighty.
The dedicated group of 10-16-year-olds earned second place at the 2011 National Music Festival. Earlier this month, the choir competed against award-winning choirs from across Canada.
The Nanaimo choir won its spot at nationals at the B.C. Performing Arts Festival, where it was recognized with an award for outstanding performance in the choral classes.
“This result is quite deserving for these kids, they work so hard,” said director Marian Smith.
To compete in nationals, choirs submit a recording of their songs from local competitions, which are then adjudicated at the provincial level. If selected for national competition, the recording is forwarded to those judges.
“Not all provincial winners advance to the nationals, so just going to the nationals is a huge accomplishment in itself,” Smith said.
The Nanaimo Youth Choir is a community choir with programs for youth age five to 19. It was founded in 1992 by artistic director Smith in affiliation with the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music.
The choir consists of two groups: the Junior Youth Choir for children aged 5-14 with little or no musical experience, and the Concert Choir for girls and boys with some musical experience through choir or private instruction.
The Nanaimo Youth Choir was the first-place winner at Performing Arts B.C. Festival in 2002, 2010 and 2011.
For information on how to become part of the choral program, please call the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music at 250-754-4611 or visit www.ncmusic.ca.