7:00am Friday 4th June 2010
Young singers from Devizes are hoping to present their talents at the 2012 London Olympic Games.
First Stages musical theatre group for young people is to record a song to be submitted as a possible anthem for the Games.
Twenty original compositions will be selected to be performed at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012.
The First Stages song, called Salute, was composed by Nick Bryan, parent of the one of the founder members of the group. The music was inspired by the British athletes’ performances at the Beijing Olympics.
The song is produced and directed by Carole Berry, founder and artistic director of First Stages.
Mrs Berry said: “This is the most exciting project First Stages has undertaken since its inception in January 2008 and the young members are absolutely thrilled to be part of it.”
Mrs Berry said the group, comprising eight to 14-year-olds from local schools, had been practising hard with vocal coach and local young musician Naomi Ibbetson.
They had also been helped by Peter Gabriel’s recording studios, RealWorld, in Box.
Mrs Berry added: “With 25 lovely voices it has been a joy working out harmonies and creating the right orchestral sounds.
“They have all been workisng hard. We think that it’s a fitting theme to put forward as representative of the wealth of talent to be found in the Devizes area.”
First Stages has been given grants from Devizes Town Council and from Devizes Carnival for the project.
The song will be recorded on June 16 and will be available for download on the Internet.
The song will also be showcased at the group’s summer concert, called Cats & Queen, at Devizes Town Hall on July 24.
It will then be featured at the Devizes Carnival concert in the Corn Exchange on September 22 when the group will be performing with Simon May, the Devizes born composer who wrote the theme tune for EastEnders.
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