Richmond School and Sixth Form Choir stepped out on stage at the Sage, Gateshead, for a once-in-a-lifetime experience with Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro.
The 29-strong choir of boys and girls, ranging from Years 7 to 12, was chosen for the performance after Stephen Boyd, lead teacher of Music, auditioned for the opportunity by submitting video footage and recordings of the choir.
The choir was selected to sing with Collabro, the 2014 Britain’s Got Talent competition winners, as part of the group’s 51-date tour, which culminates at the Royal Albert Hall in April.
Under the direction of Andy Wardale, music teacher, the choir performed two songs with Collabro, Electricity from Billy Elliott and Faithfully at the start of the second half.
Ahead of the concert, the choir spent the afternoon in rehearsals with Collabro, soaking up the excitement back stage ahead of singing in front of a packed auditorium of 1,500 listeners in Hall 1 of the Sage.
The choir included Max Ferguson, a Year 7 student, himself no stranger to Britain’s Got Talent, having reached the 2018 semi-finals with the band Bring It North.
Stephen Boyd said: “It was potentially a once-in-a-lifetime concert for the students, performing on a professional stage set and supporting such high-level musicians.
“It was a great honour to be selected to accompany Collabro and the effort with extra rehearsals really paid off.
“The students are rightly very proud of their achievements and I would also like to thank Mr Wardale for his work in rehearsing the choir for this performance and his commitment to music-making at Richmond School and Sixth Form College.”
A highlight of the evening was when Millie Aston, Year 11, was invited by Collabro to talk to the audience about Richmond School and then asked to sing a short A Capella solo.
She chose Skyfall by Adele.
She said: “It was a great and unexpected opportunity and it was so incredible to experience the lights and all the action on stage. I was very proud to be singled out.”
