POP Idol pundit Pete Waterman is one of the men the King's School's Foundation Choir will have to impress if they are to win the BBC Songs of Praise School Choir of the Year competition.
The star maker has been chosen to lead a panel of distinguished musicians in Auntie's search for the best school choir in the country.
King's Foundation Choir of 120 boys and girls aged from 11 to 18 reached the final six, comprising three secondary and three primary schools, after sending in an audition tape featuring both a traditional hymn and an up-beat inspirational song.
They then faced a three hour workshop from BBC choral music guru Douglas Coombes before gaining selection for the final televised contest, which will be featured in a BBC 1 spectacular - Celebration to be shown on March 9.
From hundreds of initial entries, King's will test their singing mettle against St. Margaret's High School, Exeter; Matlman's Green Junior School, Gerrard's Cross; Ballyhoke Primary School, Northern Ireland; St. Aidan's Church of England School, Harrogate and Oxford High Junior School.
Choir conductor Mrs Jo Beesley believes that the love of music in the Macclesfield school was nothing short of infectious. "The spirit that gels in the choir is so strong and joyous that it almost feels tangible."
Mrs Beesley added: "We have a mixed choir with pupils coming together from both King's Boys' and Girls' Divisions and our Sixth Form and I am sure the social element is a strong part of the success."
She added: "We rehearse for 90 minutes every Friday after school but gear our work to performance making sure that we perform regular concerts both in the local community and nationwide. This year we have also toured the splendid cathedrals of Barcelona giving a series of concerts to highly appreciative Spanish audiences."
The choir will now be working flat out to achieve their best ever performance. They have chosen to sing Praise, My Soul, The King of Heaven as their hymn with a choice between Howard Goodall's Love Divine and Up Where we Belong from the Hollywood film An Officer and a Gentleman as their selection in the category 'inspirational'. Last year King's pupil Rebecca Lea won the Top GCSE Music Student of the Year award.
