Biography

Alice Halstead, a 16 year old choir girl at St Alphege Church, Solihull, won the coveted title of “BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year 2008”. On Friday 31 October 2008, four boys and four girls competed in St. Paul’s Cathedral, London, after being successful in reaching the competition final by coming through a rigorous selection process from hundreds of entries, representing the finest religious choral talent from across the United Kingdom.

Since her win, Alice has appeared on BBC One Songs of Praise, recorded excerpts from the Messiah for BBC Radio 2 in St. Paul's Cathedral with the BBC Concert Orchestra in front of an audience of over 2,000 people, recorded for BBC Radio 2 Sunday Half Hour in Belfast, Manchester and Wells Cathedral, performed in a celebrity concert in the Royal Hospital Chapel, Chelsea, helping to raise £75,000 for the Institute of Cancer Research, led the singing twice for BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service, sung live on BBC Radio WM from Birmingham Symphony Hall for Ed Doolan on the same day as taking part in Friday Night is Music Night from London live on BBC Radio 2, been interviewed by Aled Jones on Good Morning Sunday and recorded for Fr Stuart Windsor’s programme "Christmas Solidarity Worldwide" on Premier Christian Radio on Boxing Day. She sang "O for the Wings of a Dove" live in Birmingham Town Hall as part of BBC Radio 3's Mendelssohn weekend in May 2009.

Alice is a pupil at King Edward’s VI High School for Girls, Birmingham and a student at the Birmingham Junior Conservatoire where she studies singing with Alison Chamberlain, the cello with Ed Smith and piano with Magdalena Nasidlak.

Alice is one of the youngest members of the National Youth Choir of Great Britain. She attends her first course with the senior choir at Easter 2010, culminating in a concert in Salisbury Cathedral on Friday 16th April at 7.30pm. In Summer 2010 the course culminates with a concert in Coventry Cathedral on Saturday 28th August at 7.30pm. See www.nycgb.net

Alice has recently joined Ex Cathedra’s Academy of Vocal Music and performed in the choir's 40th Anniversary celebrations-www.excathedra.co.uk