Faryl Smith

[nicola]

UCJ are a bit of an annoying prescence on Youtube. They scarcely publish full songs and when they do, they disable embedding. Probably not noticable for most people, but for me, who embedds youtube on almost every single page on my site, it is VERY irritating. It was difficult to find *any* decent video for Faryl. I wouldn't have even minded the minute commercial, but no cigar.

I noticed in the video I embedded, just how pretty she is becoming (her teeth look like they have been straightened? I liked them the way they were, quite adorable!) I mention that, because it will be, of course, a big factor of Faryl becoming bigger than Katherine Jenkins. :/

[mihizawi]

Yes,, true, Nicola, in that video she is just gorgeous. And, yeah, although I hate things being this way, look is quite important in the way to fame, even in Classical music. And, by the way, Faryl, besides becoming beautiful, is quite a giant, lol, at the age of 14 she is almmost as tall as most adult people

Michal

[Elliot Kane]

Have to admit, Wonderland was my favourite album from last year. Nice review, Nicola

mihizawi - I thought Faryl was better than Katherine in that duet, too.

[theoldie]

Faryl has been nominated for the classical album award at the Classical Brits. I have voted for Faryl. Who are you voting for?

[martindn]

I would have voted for Faryl, but the whole process of voting was so complicated and fraught that I gave up trying. I think they need to address that!

Martin D

[Richard]

Hello folks!

Here's an interesting article from The Huddersfield Daily Examiner:

Concert: Faryl Smith with Skelmanthorpe Band

Feb 26 2010 by Val Javin, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

LIFE just seems to go on getting better for teenage singing sensation Faryl Smith who will be in Huddersfield next month.

Faryl has just been nominated for the Classical Brit Awards and will be heading for a glamorous night out at the Royal Albert Hall in May for the industry’s major awards hosted by Myleene Klass.

Before that though, she will be singing in Huddersfield Town Hall, the latest in a line of big name singers who have guested with Skelmanthorpe Band.

Not surprisingly, the band is delighted that Faryl has agreed to headline their concert on March 27.

“We are very fortunate to have Faryl performing with us,” Concert Secretary, Graham Crossland said.

“We always try to find an emerging but proven talent as our special guest for the annual concert.”

And she certainly follows in the footsteps of some big name singers who have appeared with the band including Aled Jones, Hayley Westenra and Katherine Jenkins, who described Faryl as having a “breathtaking voice, simply stunning.”

The public agreed with that view when two years ago, Faryl, who is still only 15, sang her way into people’s hearts all over Britain during the final round of ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent.

And talent Faryl has. One minute Faryl Smith was a schoolgirl from Northamptonshire who liked to sing in the choir, play football and shop with her friends – the next minute Simon Cowell was praising her in front of a national television audience, calling her “literally one in a million” and “the most talented youngster I’ve ever heard.”

Faryl will sing about eight numbers at the Town Hall concert and will join the band for Finlandia in which she will sing the Finlandia hymn, Be Still My Soul.

The teenager’s parents, Tony and Linda, think she inherited her musical genes from her great-grandmother, who “used to sing on the Welsh radio and won a lot of competitions.”

“My grandfather’s Welsh, so there’s Welsh blood in me,” says Faryl.

“And the late Harry Secombe is in our family tree. I think the musical thing just missed a couple of generations and came down to me. It certainly skipped my parents,” she said.

Those musical genes aside, Faryl gives some of the credit for her skills to the experience she has had singing in choirs.

In addition to being a chorister in her local church choir, she appears regularly with Kettering’s Masquerade Youth Choir.

These days, Faryl is much in demand but she is thrilled to have been invited to join a team of performers from the world of classical music who will be performing in London in April to aid relief work with children in earthquake-hit Haiti.

Aled Jones will co-host the concert at the Royal Albert Hall with GMTV’s Emma Crosby. Also on the billing are: Amy Dickson, All Angels, Blake, the Brighton Festival Chorus, Camilla Kerslake, Escala, Jennifer Pike, Paul Potts, Raven, Rhydian and the City of London Sinfonia conducted by Carl Davis.

As for the Skelmanthorpe Band concert, tickets are now available on 01484 223200 and 01924 324501 or you can download a booking form at www.skelmanthorpeband.co.uk.

The concert date is March 27, starting at 7.15pm.

Richard

[Martin]

Faryl is certainly getting about at present and getting invaluable experience. In addition to appearing at the Albert Hall on 3rd April in the Classic Response concert, she is also a guest in the Soldiers concert on the following day.

Martin

[theoldie]

Here is a link to a newspaper interview with Faryl's singing teacher.

www.express.co.uk/posts/view/158798/Faryl-Smith-Meet-the-woman-behind-Britain-s-Got-Talent-opera-star

[mihizawi]

Hmm... I was tempted to post this on the miscelanous thread...

Just found this interview with Faryl Smith... It must be from somewhere before Christmas, as she is talking about releasing Wonderland soon. And then, OMG, singing part of Prayer a capella, absolutely stunning, and quite Hayyley-sque, gosh, that girl is already SO BIG. Can't help thinking she follows Hayley's steps.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OjaYo8tjbE&feature=related

Oh, and she mentions duetting witth Hayley at an England-New Zealand match in Twickenham... Has anyone heard of that? When was it supposed to be? Those two voices together must be absolutely stunning. Also, Faryl is considered a mezzosoprano, so it wwuld be nice if they were given more chances to work together, I am sure that would be an awesome mix.

Michal

[Dave]

Apr 2, 2010 17:53:57 GMT mihizawi said:

...she mentions duetting witth Hayley at an England-New Zealand match in Twickenham... Has anyone heard of that? When was it supposed to be?

Hi Michal,

It was on 21 November but TV only broadcast the separately sung National Anthems. However, I recorded and uploaded part of the commentary and you can hear Hayley and Faryl singing the final part of "Jerusalem" in the background. That's all we have - link below - you'll probably need to download the file before trying to play it.

hwi.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=Media&thread=5104&page=2#107532

Cheers, Dave

[mihizawi]

Thanks Dave, it must have been a thread from the time I joined HWI, that's why I missed it... Hmm... From those videos we can only have a vague idea of how great they sounded together, must have been truly great. If Jonathan's tweet is right, we may see them sing get them singing together soon... I quite think they can do great thngs together.

Michal

[mihizawi]

May 5, 2010 18:22:15 GMT Elliot Kane said:

Back on topic, yeah, I agree entirely about Faryl. For me, she's actually been the biggest surprise and the best find out of all the BGT series'. I like Paul Potts (who is very talented and who I hope to listen to for many years) and Susan Boyle (Which is buying into the fairytale as much as the voice, I know. She can sing, but she's not THAT good). But, there's just something about Faryl's voice. With training and a lot of hard work, she MIGHT one day rival Hayley in terms of ability (Though she'll never have that ethereal sound, of course). She's the only other singer I've ever heard who might one day reach that height. Faryl has a different sound to Hayley, but the one thing they have in common is that each has an incredibly distinctive and unique voice that you could never mistake for anyone else.

No wonder Simon was so miffed at losing her to Decca. I'm sure he must know that Faryl is his best find so far.

Absolutely agree. Faryl's got a gift of a voice. There are many adult classical (including opera) mezzosopranos who sing better and has more vocal skills and techinque, but, even forgetting how amazing it is at her age, and comparing only the voice, I think really few have such a beautiful mezzosoprano voice. And in Classical Crossover area, I honestly think she IS the most beautiful mezzosoprano voice and probably ALREADY IS the best one in skills and vocal abbility (the only relevant CC mezzosoprano I know is Jenkins, and I honestly think that Faryl do sing better than her).

And, of course, for her age, her techinique and vocal skills are beyond amazing, truly incredible, in many aspects a little worse but in some better than Hayley at her age (specially in the use of vibratto...). And, well, as far as I can tell, in terms of working hard and improving, she seems to be following the steps of our Hayley, which are certainly very good steps to follow. She has true potential to do amazing things. She'll certainly do whatever she wants, and it will be fine for me, but I can so easily see her jumping into true opera someday relatively soon... I am sure if she wanted, she could "easily" reach the high opera standards. I think it would be very, very interesting to see a Classical Crossover massive star jumping to proper opera while keeping the Classical Crossover identity (many opera singers occasionally do Classical Crossover, but the opposite thing would be very interesting, although harder to achieve).

Michal

[Elliot Kane]

I think we agree entirely on Faryl, Michal. She has that added quality that turns a good singer - one that can hit every note perfectly - into a great singer. I'm not entirely sure I can describe what that quality IS, but Hayley has it and so does Faryl. They don't just hit the notes, they somehow bring the song to life while they're hitting the notes in a way most singers can only dream of. I'm not sure I can put it better than that, but hopefully you'll get what I mean

I know that quality, whatever it is, is the deciding factor when it comes to Classical singers, with me. I have heard some really beautiful voices that leave me cold, no matter how pitch perfect they may be. They just lack that quality of specialness that makes them stand out from all the rest.

I think the comparison with Hayley in terms of personal behaviour is also a good one. Faryl always strikes me as incredibly sensible and down to Earth, and in that she could have no better role model than Hayley, who has always been beyond reproach in her personal qualities. I just hope that Faryl can stay on that path as she moves through the difficult later teen years in the public eye.

Either way though, I hope to be getting Faryl albums for a very long time to come.

[mihizawi]

May 5, 2010 22:42:04 GMT Elliot Kane said:

I just hope that Faryl can stay on that path as she moves through the difficult later teen years in the public eye.

Well, Hayley proved that it is possible.

Michal

[Elliot Kane]

Indeed, Michal.