High praise for Alice in BBC Young Chorister of the Year final

Norwich Cathedral chorister Alice Platten received high praise from the judges in the final of the BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition run by BBC Radio 2 and Songs of Praise.

Sixteen-year-old Alice narrowly missed out on the coveted prize after she reached the final six in the national competition which celebrates some of the best young voices in the world of sacred music.

She was called the ‘Princess of Pianissimo’ by judge David Grant after her stunning performance of Angel’s Carol by Rutter, and renowned singer Aled Jones, who was presenting the show, praised Alice’s ‘gorgeous soaring notes.’

The final, which was broadcast on Sunday 11 December, also saw Alice and her fellow competitors enjoy singing workshops with Aled Jones and sing the carol O Come, O Come Emmanuel together to conclude the competition.

In the girls’ semi-finals, broadcast on Sunday 4 December, Alice also impressed with a performance of Rutter’s A Gaelic Blessing which Mezzo Soprano Katherine Jenkins, one of the competition’s three judges, described as a “really, really beautiful performance.”

She told Alice: “I felt like you were enjoying the words, enjoying the music and I could see that in your face and that was really lovely, and then, gosh, that top note was just amazing. I love that. Congratulations. It was a really, really beautiful performance.”

Alice also spoke with one of the show’s presenters, the Revd Canon Kate Bottley, about her love of singing, saying: “It’s like a different feeling from anything else. It’s otherworldly really, just really special.”

Both the final and semi-final were filmed in Manchester in October, and it was the second time that Alice has impressed the BBC judges as she previously reached the BBC Young Chorister of the Year semi-finals in 2020.

Norwich Cathedral's Master of Music Ashley Grote said: “We are all tremendously proud of Alice’s achievement in reaching the final of BBC Young Chorister of the Year. She really does have a beautiful voice and her performance in the final was outstanding. To stand up and perform as a soloist on television, under that kind of pressure, takes great courage and confidence, but Alice takes it all in her stride with great modesty and humility: she has a great gift. She is also very much a team-player amongst our group of choristers at the cathedral, all of whom demonstrate such talent and enrich the lives of so many people through their singing”.

The Norwich School pupil, who is the daughter of Norwich Cathedral’s Canon Precentor, the Revd Canon Aidan Platten, has been a Norwich Cathedral chorister for the last five years and previously sang in the choir of St Mark’s Hamilton Terrace, London. She also plays the violin and piano. She is studying A-levels in music, English and history. As well as enjoying music, Alice loves drama, reading and the outdoors.