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Founded in November 2007 by musical director, Angela Renshaw, supported by the Cornwall County Music Service and Cornwall International Male Voice Chorale Festival, Cornwall Boys’ Choir aims to be the premier youth choir in Cornwall and one of the leading boys’ choirs in the country.
The choir rehearses at Truro School Prep’s Assembly Hall, by kind permission of the Headmaster and Governors of Truro School, on Tuesday evenings and on every fourth Saturday.
Angela Renshaw, as musical director, has a clear vision for the choir:
To foster the boys love of singing and music.
To train the boys singing and vocal skills to a high standard.
To develop music reading and music theory through singing.
To challenge the stereo-types that “boys don’t sing”& “it’s not cool to sing”.
To create the finest choir of its kind in the country.
A committee of parents has been formed to actively support the choir and assist Angela with the logistics and administration. The committee, under the chairmanship of Matthew Lovett, has been set the task of fundraising for the choir, so that when the choir goes on trips, the cost for parents is kept at an affordable level.
The festival has demonstrated ongoing support and commitment to the boys’ choir through its new director, Peter Davies, who has provided both advice and practical support at rehearsals and meetings. His experience of running several choirs including a youth choir has been invaluable.
The importance of developing boys’ singing within the county is strongly recognised by the Cornish male voice choirs, for whom today’s boy choristers are tomorrow’s members. Cornwall has a unique tradition of male voice choirs, with 35 in the county alone and the largest choir festival of its kind in the United Kingdom. The enthusiasm with which both the festival and the individual choirs have supported the development of boys’ singing in the county has been tremendous. At a concert in February last year to raise funds for the festival, Truro Prep’s Boys’ Choir received a standing ovation from the three male voice choirs with whom they were sharing the concert, and invitations to participate in further concerts followed as a consequence.
The legacy of this wonderful experiment is the foundation of the Cornwall Boys’ Choir, a new choir for boys between the ages of 7 and 13, drawn from schools across Cornwall. It was founded in November 2007 under the leadership of Angela Renshaw, with support from the festival, and the County Music Service, which pays for an accompanist, the conductor and a voice coach. Following open auditions, some 40 boys from schools as far apart as Penzance and St. Austell meet regularly on Tuesday evenings and every fourth Saturday to rehearse in Truro Prep’s Assembly Hall; facilities provided for free by the school. Matthew Lovett, Headmaster of Truro Prep, was invited to join the Festival Board specifically to help support the establishment of the choir.
One novel aspect to the choir is that when the choir meet to rehearse on Saturday afternoons, the hour-long rehearsal is followed by an hour of activities, organised by the parents, making use of Truro Prep’s swimming pool, sports hall and hall facilities. So far the boys have had activities such as volleyball, badminton, and drama. It is hoped that in the future the boys will be given “tasters” in judo, fencing, water polo and samba playing.
The choir’s inaugural concert was held on March 1st with the St. Stythian Male Voice Choir at Stithians Methodist Chapel. A programme of both formal and informal concerts is being organised that will give the choir performances in each month up to July. We are also aiming to take the choir on a five day trip to Prague to give two concerts and share a workshop with Bona Pueri, the Czech Boys’ Choir from Prague that performed at the festival last year.
The 2009 International Male Voice Chorale Festival will open on April 29th with a concert in the Cathedral featuring the Cornwall Boys’ Choir and other foreign guest boys’ choirs, placing youth at the very centre of the next festival and demonstrating the committee’s ongoing commitment to developing the choir members of the future.
