UK Choir of the Year 2010: Wellensian Consort

By Fiona Maddocks

Walking into the Royal Festival Hall last Sunday afternoon, it
was as if one had stepped backstage by mistake. In a mood of
pre-show frenzy, the entire audience seemed to be straightening
shirts, brushing down jackets, fixing up hair, combing, smoothing,
pinning, crimping, ready for the big moment when, each with their
choral comrades, they filed on stage to give the performance of
their lives for the title of Choir of the Year 2010.

It was only partly an illusion. The auditorium had indeed become
a kind of vast green room. Sitting in groups, brightly attired and
surrounded by family supporters wearing their colours or waving
flags, the six choirs competing dominated the swarming interior.
They were chosen earlier this year from 150 ensembles involving
6,000 singers. Four were category winners, two were invited as
“wild cards”, good enough as runners-up to earn a place in the
final, which was presented with cheerful grace by Aled Jones
assisted by Josie D’Arby and the BBC Singers.

Perceptions about choral singing have shifted radically since
Bill Kallaway founded the biennial competition in 1984 with
sponsorship from Sainsbury’s. Back then, no one accepted the idea
that stuffy old choirs could be fashionable, as well as socially
inclusive with everything that expression implies. TV activists
such as Howard Goodall and Gareth Malone, not to mention the
American teen hit Glee on Channel 4, have engendered a fresh and
informal, still highly disciplined, enthusiasm.

Another cool advocate, Brian Eno, who sings in an a cappella
group each week, makes it sound obligatory pleasure: “Singing is
the key to long life, a good figure, a stable temperament,
increased intelligence, new friends, super self-confidence,
heightened sexual attractiveness and a better sense of humour.” And
he should know. Think about that as you reach for the latest snake
oil.By