“The boys are fully engaged and possess a high level of expertise and skill. The audience are left in awe as the concert unfolds – a unique emotional experience and interaction with the performers”. Philip Elgie, 2019
Over the years, the boys have toured in Provence, the Netherlands, Malta and in England.
Recent tours have brought them to Paris (2013 &2017) and Cornwall (2015 & 2017) where they won the prestigious ‘John Langdon Award for Youth Choirs‘ at the Cornwall International Male Voice Choral Festival in 2015.
“Lovely tone, very well articulated…very musical througout…an accomplished
choir with great potential…you have everything!”
Alan Simmons, adjudicator – Cornwall Male International Voice Choral Festival
ON THEIR 2017 TOUR to Paris they performed at Notre Dame Cathedral by special invitaton, La Madeleine and Disneyland and celebrated their 40th Anniversary with the World Premiere of Special commission ‘Broadside Ballads’by James Lark, a work they re-visited at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in 2018. In October 2019, they will tour Belgium including a performance in d Ypres (Menin Gate).
They have recently performed with Dame Emma Kirkby at St. John Smith Square with Bob Chilcott at The Royal Albert Hall and with The English Baroque Choir, Concordia and Lewisham Choral Society. The boys also regularly take part in The Brandenburg London Choral Festival.
THE BBS EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME
Travis Baker has been our Musical Director since 2005. In that time he has built up the choir both in numbers and competence and subsequently, the choir’s reputation as quality performers and musical interpretation preceeds them.
There are now over 60 boys aged 5-21, organised into four different choir groups with the Concert Choir taking the lead alongside the changed voices group VISTRA, in most public performances.
Travis’ skills as a vocal coach (Head of Voice at Millennium College, Teacher at Westminster Abbey Choir School, Glyndeborne and Vocal Coach at feature films such as ‘Quartet’ ) and the assistance of the highly qualified BBS staff have ensured that the quality of the singing continues to improve year on year.
Rehearsals are not just about learning music, there is a strong emphasis on vocal technique and musicianship which results in a quality of sound rarely heard in a children’s choir.
The boys are also given the opportunity to receive individual coaching at residential courses and from guesting voice specialists such as Mary King and Judith Colman and the many tours and performances are designed to also develop their performance-, life- and leadership skills.
