City to get new show choir

According to Diane Guthrie, from Kilfennan, the idea of forming a show choir came to her while watching TV shows like ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ and ‘Glee’.

“I love singing and until recently I was a member of Londonderry Musical Society, in fact, Eden my daughter is still a member,” said Diane, adding: “We are a very musical family anyway. I’ve been singing and performing in shows since the age of seven and sang with the church choir from the age of 13.

“My husband John was also in the Musical Society – that’s where we met. All of our sons have sung at some stage in their lives, unfortunately they don’t any longer. Both of our daughters have been performing since they were three years old. They both started out in Mary Hill’s School of Ballet and then went to the Rainbow School of Dance in Eglinton under Vanessa Chapman who put them through exams in ballet, tap and modern and taught them stagecraft.

“They both belonged to their respective school choirs and both have sung in church, either as part of the choir or as soloists. Chloe is pursuing a career in Performing Arts and Eden is currently waiting for her GCSE results, one of which was music. She will also be singing at our eldest son’s wedding in October this year. Currently she is under the tutelage of Mrs Diana McLaughlin from Burnfoot.”

At the moment the ‘show choir’ is the working title for the group they are hoping to form, and the official name will be decided upon by the members once it is formed.

Anyone who thinks they might like to join the fledgling choir is asked to telephone for an audition on 07840890258 or 07784530569.

“Please leave a message with your contact details if the line is busy and we’ll get back to you as quickly as possible,” said Diane.

Those who get through the auditions will receive expert tuition from Diana McLaughlin.

Born and raised in the United States, American soprano Diana grew up with music as the centre of her life. She began piano lesson at the age of seven, followed by voice at the age of 11. As a successful young singer and pianist, she competed in and won various competitions and honours including first place in classical voice in the mid-Atlantic regional NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Competition in 2003.

Shehas studied many languages such as Spanish, French, German, Italian, Latin andNorwegian. She has also studied acting, dance, yoga, Tai Chi, meditation and Alexander Technique.

During her last year in university, Diana began a studio in Washington, DC with Studio Papillon. She maintained a full studio of voice and piano students from age three to 40. During that summer, she taught Vocal Performance at SIFTA (The Summer Institute for the Arts) in Hagerstown, MD. There she had the opportunity to work with 84 children and ACT (Authentic Community Theater), a company that produces its own musicals. She really enjoys teaching and has a great rapport with her students.

“I like a wide variety of music and I thought that a show choir would have the ability to do this, whereas other choirs in the city are very much classically orientated or have a ’set’ type of music.

“Already we have had expressions of interest from friends who already sing, or have previously sung, with other choirs and groups and this is an encouraging sign. We would also like to welcome anyone along to audition who simply enjoys singing along to the radio. There will also be some choreography, but again this will be tailored to everyone’s ability, we won’t be expecting anyone to be able to dance like Diversity, but if they can, that’s even better,” she said, adding: “We think this is an ideal time to start up a choir like this, given that the city has just been awarded UK City of Culture for 2013, plus the interest in the likes of ‘Glee’ on Channel 4 and ‘Don’t Stop Believing’ on Five. I think the city has space for a show choir and we want to fill that space.”