Voice of youth is captured on CD

Dec 5 2008 by Our Correspondent, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

AT a time of year when established recording stars traditionally aim for top spot in the seasonal charts, Perth is witnessing the emergence of a young singer whose debut CD could prove attractive on the local scene.

Inspired by the example of outstanding boy trebles such as Ernest Lough and Aled Jones, 13-year-old Perth High School pupil Liam Bonthrone has been encouraged to make a professional recording of songs from his varied repertoire.

It was a decision which had to be made before his voice changes, a process which could begin any time now.

With the 10-track CD now ready for release through local outlets, Liam is content that, irrespective of how his voice develops in the future, he and his family now have a permanent record of an exceptional period of musical activity. And who knows – should his mature voice propel him to eventual stardom, these limited edition CDs could become collectors’ items!

But with commendable wisdom for one so young, Liam resists the temptation to look too far ahead. If he harbours an ambition to be a professional singer he’s not admitting to it, knowing all too well that once the voice breaks it needs careful nurturing and time to settle. Under the on-going guidance of his singing teacher Fiona Brownsmith he knows he is in safe hands

He first came to Fiona’s notice as a member of Perth’s adventurous Jambouree Choir, where she is one of the vocal coaches, and with her help quickly overcame technical defects which were preventing his voice realising its full potential.

From occasional solos with the choir Liam progressed to competitive singing and in the 2007 Perform in Perth arts festival came first in a duet class, along with fellow chorister Christopher Lumby.

Perform in Perth 2008 saw Liam enjoy further competiton success, and he was then accepted for the Oxenford International Music Festival in St Andrews, where he received instruction from Malcolm Martineau, one of Europe’s foremost accompanists, as well as from voice specialists Fiona Dobie and Joan Busby. Among his treasured memories of that week were performing at a concert with Martineau as accompanist, and singing ‘Panis Angelicus’ at a candlelit concert in the campus chapel with Simon Over providing the organ accompaniment.

Last month he was invited to sing ‘Panis Angelicus’ at the Communion service in St Leonard’s-in-the-Fields Church with resident organist John Scrimger as accompanist.

John, who holds the MBE for services to music in Scotland, provided the accompaniment for six of the tracks at the recording session for Liam’s CD.

Liam recalls with a grin: “Everything went pretty well until someone rang the church doorbell halfway through one track. So the whole song had to be done again”.

To make full use of the available disc space Liam added four unaccompanied songs.

The CD is available now, or to order, from various outlets including The Concorde, Wilkie’s Music House and Smith Mearns Productions.