CHILDREN of Coventry – your local choir needs you.
As part of its latest recruitment drive, AC Academy choirs across the city are offering local schoolchildren the chance to perform on the world’s most famous stages alongside special celebrity guests.
The choirs, run by Warwick-based music charity Armonico Consort, are encouraging boys and girls aged seven to 14 to sign up this September to not only receive vocal training but to join Strictly Come Dancing stars Kevin Clifton and Karen Hauer onstage at the Royal Albert Hall.
Earlier this year, the dancing duo were joined onstage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford by members of the AC Academy choirs and were so impressed they invited the younsters to sing the first dance at their wedding.
And this year’s choirs will also have the chance to join Kevin and Karen onstage as part of a performance at London’s world-famous Royal Albert Hall in June 2016.
AC Academy is one of the largest providers of music and arts education in the UK – offering professional training to 15,000 children across the country each year with hubs in Coventry, Solihull, Worcestershire, Telford & Wrekin, and Dorset.
But alongside the sense of fun and achievement that comes with learning music, Christopher Monks, Artistic Director of Armonico Consort and AC Academy, says research has shown singing has social and educational benefits too.
He added: “We’ve seen children grow in self-esteem, the breaking down of social barriers and an improvement in other areas of education thanks to regular singing in a choir.”
AC Academies will all restart after the summer on the week commencing Monday, September 14 and will meet weekly during term time – welcoming all children aged seven to 14 of all abilities with no auditions.
AC Academy Coventry West meets on Mondays from 5pm to 6.15pm at St John’s Primary School.
AC Academy Coventry East runs on Wednesdays from 4.15pm til 5.30pm at St Mary & St Benedict Primary School.
AC Academy Warwick is on Tuesdays from 4.45 until 6pm at Coten End Primary School.
More information can be found online at www.armonico.org.uk/ac-academy by clicking on ‘After School Choirs’, or by contact Laura Bree at [email protected] or by calling 07587 700740.
