Mid Sussex-based Coro Nuovo celebrate the Magic of the Movies

The concert will be in the church on Sunday, March 17 at 2.30pm with tickets available on https://bit.ly/magic-of-the-movies.

Chairman Catherine Kent said: “The Friends of Holy Trinity are responsible for the fabric and they are always fund-raising and we are going to be doing this fund-raising concert for them.”

On the day, the choir will be joined by Rebecca Leggett, a mezzo-soprano originally from Haywards Heath, who will be singing some well-known musical movie pieces contrasting with the more classical choral pieces from Coro Nuovo.

Rebecca won the Sussex Young Musician Competition in 2018 (a competition run by Coro Nuovo) and now enjoys a freelance career singing with The Sixteen, The Marian Consort and Ensemble Pro Victoria.

“We did a concert at Cuckfield last year and it sold out and Rebecca sang then. They asked for Rebecca to come back. She quite likes the opportunity to sing something non-classical and she's going to sing some Barbra Streisand and some ABBA. She is a wonderful singer and very engaging. She is a lovely communicator. She really communicates with the audience and brings them in, and I think that's really important when you are thinking about star quality. She's got a lovely tone to her voice as well and I think that's why she has gone on in the way that she has.”

All of which leads nicely to the 2024 Sussex Young Musician Competition which has now launched, with a closing date for entries of Friday, April 26.

“We are thrilled that we have been able to double the competition prize money and are very grateful to our sponsors and donors. First prize will be £2,000 with a runner-up prize of £1,000 and a £500 finalists prize.

“The final will be held during our summer concert on Saturday, July 13 at St Andrew’s Church, Burgess Hill. This year's competition adjudicator will be repetiteur and recitalist Ashley Beauchamp. If you know anyone interested in entering the competition, all the entry details can be found at: https://coronuovo.org.uk/2024-sym.

“The competition has been going eight years. We ran the competition online during Covid. We didn't want to stop it happening and actually it changed things for us. Instead of physical auditions and then the final in person we have now gone hybrid. We do online auditions which is what music students are used to anyway.

“The closing date is the end of April and we've got seven applicants so far but people do tend to apply at the last moment and we expect to get double that or maybe triple that by the time the competition closes.

“The whole competition is going well, and it's lovely that the winners continue their association with us. We keep in touch and we always invite the winners back. They always do a gig with us and we pay them as a professional. The winner this year will get a spot with us at Christmas or next March and that's very special. We love to hear about them. We love to hear their news and see how they develop.”