Our Year 6 Prep School choir recently travelled to Warwick to compete in the finals of the prestigious GSA National Choir Competition 2025. Departing school at 7am, our young performers set off on a day filled with musical excellence.
We are immensely proud of our girls for reaching the finals – a fantastic accomplishment considering only six choirs were selected from across the country, many including girls up to Year 8. Our school was the only non-auditioned choir in the competition and we proudly included every single girl in our Year 6 cohort, regardless of previous choral experience!
The esteemed competition, introduced by lead adjudicator Charlotte Exon, showcased a diverse repertoire including “Jabberwocky,” “Caledonia,” and “Defying Gravity.” Our choir performed “God Help The Outcasts” from “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” featuring beautiful solos from four of our talented girls, followed by “Do Re Mi” from “The Sound of Music,” which included another superb solo and was expertly conducted by three of our Year 6 girls. The musical quality and confidence displayed by our young performers was truly exceptional.
Following the competition performances, all choirs united under the direction of judge Katherine Dienes-Williams, with Tori Longdon accompanying on piano, for an engaging choral workshop. The girls enthusiastically learned “I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free,” arranged by Tori herself. The workshop culminated in an exhilarating final performance where audience members were encouraged to participate by clapping on beats 2 and 4!
The judges’ comments highlighted the strengths of our performances:
For ‘God Help The Outcasts’
- “Lovely introductions and a great start, with lovely tone and intonation. The strength of all the soloists and the sharing of the solo gave variety and interest to this performance.”
- “The forte in the final refrain was really powerful and moving.”
- “The fact that you were able to continue despite the audience interruption just before the ending was testament to how well your singers were rehearsed, and their unshakeable confidence.”
For ‘Do Re Mi’
- “Lovely introduction from soloist which kept tempo very well with the octaves in the piano.”
- “Nice whippy pace and loved the solfège actions, which were really well handled by the whole choir. Admirably led by student leaders.”
- “Lovely warmth of tone throughout, evenly balanced across choir. We would have liked to hear some more harmonic complexity to really make this choir stand out. The final chord showed that this choir would be ready for such a challenge.”
St Mary’s School Cambridge was ultimately awarded first place, delivering outstanding choral performances with impressive unison and harmony singing.
This was truly an uplifting and fulfilling day for all involved, and we congratulate our girls on representing Burgess Hill Girls with such distinction as finalists at the 2025 GSA Choir of the Year competition!