London Youth Choirs: ten years and counting

LYC at the Royal Variety Performance 2022, with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Gary Barlow, conducted by honorary patron Gareth Malone

Like many enduring organisations, the London Youth Choirs (LYC) owes much to timing, demand and a small group of well-motivated individuals. In Staunton's case, the idea for a choir came while spectating at the 2012 London Olympics, watching handball. ‘I was thinking how I love London at this time,’ she recalls, ‘because everyone was chatting on the tube and it felt different. Sport had really brought people together.’

At around this time, Staunton was getting to know Suzie Digby OBE, a trailblazer for singing and the Voices Foundation. She too saw the galvanising effect sport was having on young people of every background. In another part of London, Digby's friend David Symondson, a financier, was having thoughts about connecting young people after staring at a hospital wall on which ‘hello’ was painted in 50 languages. ‘We had this dangerous coffee in Covent Garden,’ Staunton recalls, ‘where we decided just to crack on with the idea.’ Symondson was to provide the seed funding, while Staunton and Digby developed the musical model. The three could have spent a year planning and raising money, but September seemed as good as time as any with the start of the academic year. Symondson funded 150 auditions and Staunton enlisted venues across London, including The Wigmore Hall, when searching for singers.