Category: Presenter Biography

Dr Kate Wareham is a passionate advocate for access to opportunities to sing together. Over many years, she has sung in numerous choirs, led singing groups in communities and offices, and championed collaborative vocal experiences for all. Her conviction that music-making can foster belonging and connection led to her connection with the Choir with No Name, recognizing its impact in giving people who have experienced homelessness or marginalisation the opportunity to sing as part of a community. The Choir with No Name now runs seven choirs across the UK from Brighton and London to Sheffield and Liverpool.

As a music psychologist with a PhD from the University of Sheffield, Kate brings both academic rigor and personal experience to her understanding of singing’s benefits. Her research explored the role of music listening in the lives of young people in temporary accommodation, examining how music can be an important tool in creating a space that has aspects of ‘home’. She is now supporting a PhD student based at the University of Leeds who is researching the impact of singing together for members of Choir with No Name. Kate is a keen musician and is a member of Abbeydale Singers, Crookes Brass Band and Sheffield Philharmonic Orchestra. Prior to her current role, she worked with major charities including Depaul UK, The Children’s Society, St John Ambulance and Home-Start.

BYC is an award winning organisation that was established in 2009 by Mat Wright MBE and Keith Norton. It is a registered charity run by volunteers that seeks to provide outstanding opportunities for young people who live in Barnsley, and has developed a reputation for excellence. The choir is currently the highest ranked choir from Great Britain in the Interkultur World Rankings. Barnsley Youth Choir was presented with the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (MBE) in January 2018, the highest award given to volunteer groups across the UK, and this was in recognition for the outstanding support and dedication shown by the volunteer team that runs the choir.

‍BYC is highly inclusive and the choir’s ten sections consist of around 700 singers aged 0-24 years old. The choir also helped to establish a community adult choir, Barnsley Singers, that now has around 150 members. The choir has released two albums, performed on National TV and Radio and has raised a significant sums of money for local charities.

The use of the Kodaly system, through a close association with choirs from the Kodaly School in Kecskemet and Laszlo Duranyik, has been significant in developing young people with little prior experience or formal training. The choir has had the opportunity to work with some of the world’s finest conductors and choirs in this country and abroad, and has appeared in outstanding international venues. The choir is unusual in that it maintains a wide and diverse repertoire including Popular, Gospel, Spiritual, Folk, World and more Classical genres, and audiences appreciate the variety of music performed in concerts. BYC has developed a significant international reputation and has represented Great Britain in nine major competitions including the European Choir Games and World Choir Games, winning eight of them, including three Grand Prix titles. BYC regularly tours internationally and connects without standing international partners. This is reciprocated with a number of outstanding international choirs and choral leaders who visit Barnsley each year to work with BYC.

The choir has developed close associations with the Aurin and Miraculum Choirs from Hungary, Tuks Camerata from South Africa and choirs from the Adolf Fredriks School in Sweden. It has also performed with outstanding choirs from this country including The Sixteen, Farnham Youth Choir and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain Fellowship. BYC has worked with high profile soloists and has been conducted by and received training from some of the world’s best choral leaders. The choir has commissioned new music from important composers including Paul Mealor and Jake Runestad.

BYC prides itself on providing exceptional experiences for young people and engenders a sense of aspiration. Barnsley is an area of significant deprivation and being a member of BYC helps young people to develop skills and qualities that will support them throughout their lives. The choir remains steadfastly ambitious; its mission is to provide as many children as possible with extraordinary experiences and ensure that no child is left behind. It seeks to inspire and change lives through music and provide life-changing opportunities for those involved.

Kerensa Briggs is an award-winning composer specialising in choral music. Described as “poignant, ambivalent, quietly devastating music” in the New York Times, her works have been performed internationally at venues including St Paul’s Cathedral and the Sistine Chapel. Her music is regularly performed or broadcast with groups such as Voces 8 and The Sixteen. Her portrait disc Requiem (2023) on Delphian Records placed in the top 30 classical charts and was described as “alluring and heartfelt music” by BBC music magazine.

Kerensa was winner of the National Centre for Early Music Young Composers Award 2014 and is an alumni of the TheoArtistry Composers scheme at St Andrews’ Institute for Theology and the Arts. She was Composer in Residence for St Louis Chamber Chorus between 2023-2025. Her love of choral music emanates from her choral background, singing in choirs including Gloucester Cathedral Youth Choir and the choir of King’s College London, where she held a Choral Scholarship and undertook an MMus in Composition.