Conductor Gareth Malone has won an International Emmy Award for his TV series Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne.Picking up the prize for best Arts Programming at a ceremony in New York on Monday (November 21st), it marks global recognition for the man who aims to bring classical music to a wider audience.
The awards recognise the best TV programmes made outside the US and Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne was one of five British winners.
It saw Malone recruit 50 untrained teenagers take part in a new community opera, Knight Crew by Julian Philips, at renowned opera house Glyndebourne. They had to be brought to performance standard in just seven months.
Many of the young singers had never sung before, let alone tried their hand at opera. And as the play was about youth gang culture, Malone sought out young offenders, as well as troubled teenagers from some of the poorest estates in the south-east, just a few miles from Glyndebourne.
It comes as Malone’s latest project has just finished airing in the UK. The Choir: Military Wives saw Malone create a group of wives and girlfriends at Chivenor military base in Devon, who have been left behind while their partners take a tour of duty in Afghanistan.
They went on to perform at the Royal Albert Hall and now, Radio 2 DJ Chris Evans has launched a campaign to get the choir’s performance of Wherever You Are to Christmas Number One.
The young choirmaster has now taken an interest in being part of the BBC’s new talent contest The Voice.
Speaking to Reveal magazine, he said that he is keen to be a judge on the TV show. However, he hinted that he would be a Mr Nasty on the show.
“I would like to be more brutal,” Malone told the magazine. “I’ve been very encouraging on The Choir so I quite fancy the idea of saying to someone, ‘no, I’m afraid you’re not good enough’.”