Naomi Simon (16), the winner of the prestigious BBC Young Chorister of the Year Award 2022, has agreed to sing at her home city's very special Community Choir Festival on the evening of Saturday 11th March at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Naomi Simon (16), the winner of the prestigious BBC Young Chorister of the Year Award 2022, has agreed to sing at her home city's very special Community Choir Festival on the evening of Saturday 11th March at the Joseph Rowntree Theatre.
Naomi was previously a chorister at York Minster before taking up a scholarship at Rugby School to pursue her love of music. She is the daughter of one of Joseph Rowntree Theatre's Patrons, Frances Simon, the York based Speech & Drama Coach.
Joining Naomi will be one of the other finalists, Bootham School pupil, Sam Brophy. From the age of 7 Sam has sung in choirs across the country, and now that his family are resident in York he sings with York Minster Choir. In December, he was the soprano soloist for “Walking in the Air” at the York Minster performance of Carrot Productions’ “The Snowman”.
Sam Brophy
Naomi and Sam will each sing solos and then perform a duet.
The York Community Choir Festival was started by Graham Mitchell, one of the theatre's trustees, seven years ago and it has grown from small beginnings to eight concerts and 33 choirs - of all ages and singing styles running over seven days.
Graham says "The organising group is absolutely thrilled that Naomi and Sam are able to perform for us on the final Saturday of the week-long festival. Naomi's performance in the BBC live final displayed a wonderful maturity and understanding of the carol that she chose to sing Mary, Did You Know?, which wowed the three judges.
"Naomi has a busy schedule and we are extremely fortunate that she is able to be in York when the festival is on. The festival itself is a celebration of music making regardless of age, ability or genre. Any choir based in the York area can apply to join in; this year in addition to the vast range of adult choirs, we will have two primary school choirs performing in different concerts and about 100 young people from Huntington School who will sing in four different choirs run by the school - all on the Thursday night alongside three other adult choirs. The variety of song, genre and singing styles is absolutely marvellous - and no repetition in any concert".
To confirm the variety of music on offer, on the night Naomi and Sam will be singing, we will have The York Philharmonic Male Voice Choir, ladies close harmony group, Track 29, the mixed voices of The Celebration Singers and Robert Wilkinson Primary Academy."
Tickets are available online at josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk or via the box office on 01904 501935 during opening hours.
The festival runs from Sunday 5th to Saturday 11th March, with at least four choirs singing in each concert.
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