St Swithun’s student sings to the top of choir competition

Natalie W, a St Swithun's student in U5 (Year 11), was part of Farnham Youth Choir’s (FYC) Senior Choir who competed in the Interkultur Hull International Choir Competition. The choir competed in the Sacred Music and Youth Choirs of Equal Voices categories, marking its first return to the competition circuit since its 2019 double gold win at the European Choir Games in Gothenburg.

In the Sacred Music category FYC won a silver award and in the Youth Choirs of Equal Voices category they won gold and became overall category winners.

Natalie, alongside her fellow FYC members, demonstrated their exceptional talent and dedication, which helped the choir achieve success at the competition.

This is not the only event these talented singers were looking forward to, FYC and Natalie have a busy schedule of performances and competitions coming up. In June, the choir will be hosting a Singing Spree event at the Farnham Maltings, which will bring together children from local state primary schools for a morning of joyful singing and performances by the senior choir.

In early July, FYC and Natalie will travel to Provence to compete in an International Choir Competition hosted by Choral Events. This will be the choir's first international tour since the pandemic and is seen as a warm-up for the World Choir Games in New Zealand in Summer 2024.

At St Swithun’s Natalie sings in the main school choir and the Chamber Choir. She also performs in one of the school rock bands on keyboard. She is studying music GCSE and will be taking music A Level next year. Natalie is also a member of the National Youth Training Choir of Great Britain.

St Swithun’s Head Jane Gandee said of Natalie’s success: “Natalie's talent and dedication are a wonderful example to all of us. It is wonderful to see our students thriving beyond the classroom and representing our school community in such a positive way.”