WILL Miles-Kingston has been named as one of BBC Radio 2’s Young Choristers of the Year 2019. The 13-year-old won the title as this year’s boy chorister.

Will has strong family ties to Winchester. His grandmother Carole Miles-Lovelock is a local resident and a well-known singer and his father, Paul Miles-Kingston, was Head Chorister at Winchester Cathedral in the 1980s. Paul was the treble soloist on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem album, which won a Grammy award in 1986 . Paul is now director of music at St Peter’s School in York. As well as this, he is Will’s singing teacher!

To win this prestigious accolade, Will competed with boys nationally, joining three finalists at MediaCityUK. After a day of rehearsals and interviews, Radzi Chinyanganya hosted the final competition in the BBC Philharmonic Studio. Will was the last boy to sing and treated the audience an exquisite performance of Holst’s In the Bleak Midwinter and The Sussex Carol. The judges said that Will “sang so musically and had a definite spark”.

Will began singing at York Minster in 2014. As a chorister, he had singing practices as part of the school day and sang up to four services each week. He has performed a wide range of solos from Allegri’s Miserere to Mendelssohn’s O for the Wings of a Dove to Blake’s The Snowman. These opportunities helped build in him a level of focus and courage that was clearly visible in the final.

Will finished his choristership in July 2019 and has continued to develop his singing and performing at St Peter’s School, York, where he is a music scholar.

As BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year, Will will record with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. He will also sing with the St Peter’s Chapel Choir, who will be accompanying the BBC Radio 4 Sunday Worship programme to be broadcast on January 26.

Will: “I am really happy to be the BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year, especially knowing how talented the other finalists were. Taking part was an amazing experience and I am looking forward to singing for the BBC during the year.”