SEBASTIAN CARRINGTON
Junior RBC piano and vocal student Sebastian Carrington has made it through to the Semi-Finals of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition. Sebastian has had the opportunity to participate in a masterclass with Aled Jones and has been selected as one of the last three boys in the competition. The prestigious event will be broadcast live on BBC 1 on November 29th.
Sebastian has been a student at the Junior RBC since the age of six, when he became the youngest child to be accepted onto the Classical course. He studies Piano, Advanced Music Theory, Chamber music and sings in the Senior Choir and Vocal Ensemble.
Besides studying music at the Conservatoire, Sebastian has been a chorister at Coventry Cathedral for the past six years. He made it to deputy head chorister, just before his voice began to change.
Whilst singing at the Cathedral, Sebastian became interested in learning the Organ. Within three years of learning the organ he had achieved ABRSM grade 8 with distinction, by the age of twelve.
He has made a CD called The Voice of Joy, with Kerry Beaumont aged 12.
Sebastian has given many solo recitals – singing, playing organ and piano. He has raised hundreds of pounds for charities and the church.
He is assistant director of music at BACSS, where he plays organ and he directs a children’s choir that he set up at the beginning of this year. He trains children from the local area aged 7 – 13.
It has been a traumatic year, exams cancelled, choirs cancelled etc, plus looking after his father who was suffering from Alzheimer’s dementia and sadly passed away this year.
Ten days after his father’s death, Sebastian decided to enter the BBC Young Chorister of the Year Competition. The deadline was midnight on the 20th July.
Sebastian announced to his mother (Denise) at 10.30pm that he was going to video himself and send in the application. She sat up filling in the online forms and it was all sent at 11.30pm! Half an hour before the deadline.
The Young Chorister competition is being run in conjunction with BBC Songs of Praise this year and is going to be broadcast on BBC1 and Radio 2.
Aled Jones will be presenting the boys’ semi-final of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition from Gorton Monastery in Manchester. Five of the best boy choristers in the UK compete to impress judges John Rutter, Laura Wright and Carl Jackson and win one of three remaining places in the final.
Sebastian was given a call to say that he had been chosen as one of the best 5 boys’ in the Country and was through to the semi-finals! So, it has been an exciting time, receiving a masterclass from Aled Jones and spending time recording for the semi-finals. The following week will be the Finals 6th Dec…
The BOYS semi-final will be broadcast on 29th November 2020, 12.20pm.
Sebastian has also been nominated for the Leicestershire Live Education Awards, in the Musical Excellence category. The website says:
“This award will be awarded to a student who shows outstanding promise in music. This is an individual who has progressed within the music realm, whether that be through lessons in their school, college or university or through personal development with their own musical endeavours outside of their educational institution. For example this could include someone achieving top grades at exam level or perhaps someone using their passion to set up a band at their school. Maybe this is an individual who has played an instrument professionally despite still attending school.”
Sebastian is through to the Finals – the last three! This event is being streamed live on the 25th November.