A TALENTED young singer has been crowned the BBC's Young Chorister of the Year.

Emilia Jaques performed her way through two preliminary rounds before showcasing her talents in the final in the studio of the BBC's Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester.

The Ripon teenager worked with her singing teacher, Anna Bleiker, and Head of Music at Queen Mary’s School, Sarah Holloway-Lloyd, to choose her repertoire for the final and sang ‘Come thou long expected Jesus’ by Stainer and Handel’s ‘Blessed are all they that fear the Lord’.

The 15-year-old said: “I can’t believe it. It's been so exciting to be part of this important competition. In the week leading up to the final I was doing everything to make sure that my voice was in tip-top condition. On the morning I woke up with butterflies in my stomach but very much ready to perform.

"The BBC Philharmonic Studio has fantastic acoustics and I enjoyed performing my pieces in front of the judges, who were really encouraging to all the choristers who took part, and an audience including my family, and Mrs Cameron and Miss Lloyd from Queen Mary’s. Thank you to BBC Radio 2, it’s been an amazing experience so far and I look forward to many more.”

The final was hosted by Blue Peter’s Radzi Chinyanganya and composer and conductor, Bob Chilcott, was chair of the judges. He was joined by organist, composer and musical director, Simon Lole and the founder and director of the Rock Choir, Caroline Redman Lusher.

Since the final was recorded Emilia, alongside the winner of the boys section, Cassian Pichler-Roca, have already taken on their first commission - a CD recording with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. She will now go on to appear on various BBC television and radio programmes in the next 12 months including BBC Radio 2’s Good Morning Sunday, BBC Radio 4’s Daily Service and Sunday Worship.