Kavana, Freddie & Robert Prizeman Interview

Classic FM radio aired an interview with Kavana, Freddie and Mr. Prizeman. Click here to listen.

Kavana and Freddie do a really good job speaking in the interview. And if they think their singing is easy and fun, it just shows what a great choir director Mr. Prizeman is!

In case the interview is removed or to help those who don't understand English, I typed out the introductory article and what they said in the interview.

UPDATE: The interview has now been posted on YouTube, which is helpful in case Classic FM ever deletes it. Click here for the YouTube "video."

Libera Conquer the USA
Friday, 26 November 2010 14:28


As it gets colder outside, could the heat be rising on the quest to crown the UK’s best young singers? With Isabel The Choirgirl on the hunt for a Christmas number one, Libera could be facing stiff competition in an outstanding field of artists.

It’s heartening news for young British singing talent, with quality and depth in the rudest health for years. Libera, the young singers from south London, have been leading the pack for some time now and continue to scale incredible heights.

When Classic FM spoke to them, they told us about their amazing feat of conquering America and how they’re coping with the enviable pressures of performing to the Pope.


Kavana: Hi. I’m Kavana. I’m 11. I’ve been in the choir 4 years now, and I origin from Thailand.

Freddie: Hello. I’m Freddie. I’m 10. I’ve been in the choir for 3 years. We all live in South London.

Kavana: At a younger age I very much enjoyed singing. And either most of the boys join through relations or even school. In fact I was at my primary school, and my music teacher called in, and I went for an audition, and they pick you. Well, not really, but it’s more like you get chosen. But it’s very good, because they let you use the most of your ability, and they make you turn into such a really good singer.

Interviewer: Now Libera have got quite high profile, so I guess this is a taste of being a rock star almost.

Kavana: (laughs) Yeah, it is. I mean we have fans, but it’s more the enjoyment of singing than the enjoyment of fame. I’m pretty sure both of us love going to Libera. I mean we get to see all our friends, we get to travel with our friends, and we get to have like something to do after school.

Interviewer: Now is it very hard work?

Kavana: Not really. I mean it does require a lot of effort, but I mean it’s like a lot of fun, if you understand. So it’s not boring at all. I mean it’s fun, even if it is long, it’s fun, it’s enjoying. It’s a hobby, do it with all your friends, and yeah, so it’s not an effort much at all.

Interviewer: And your plans for the future. Is this something, do you want to make a singing career of your life?

Kavana: When you are in Libera, you do think forward. You do think of, “Should I become a singer,” but most boys in the choir do want to become singers, because they’ve already had all this experience. And it just changes your thought in music.

Interviewer: And Freddie, was it the same with you? At what point did you start singing?

Freddie: I started singing 3 years ago in 2007.

Interviewer: And was it something that you’d always wanted to do?

Freddie: I did want to get better, but I never thought I was very good at singing. We do meet up a few times a week, but it’s not too hard to learn to sing with a group. If you’re taking on from someone else, it’s not too hard.

Interviewer: What do the other people in your class think about you being part of Libera? Do you tell them for a start? I guess there’s no hiding from it, is there?

Freddie: Not really.

Interviewer: Because they probably spot you on the television.

Freddie: Yes, they spot me on the television. Whenever there’s anything to do with Libera, they’re always watching. They always come to concerts when they can, and they think that I’m doing really well.

Interviewer: What do you like most about being part of Libera?

Freddie: I like doing the concerts, because you have the enjoyment of hearing all the music and the parts in harmony.

Interviewer: And Kavana, can I ask you again, because you’ve got a tour coming up, haven’t you, of cathedrals. Is that quite daunting if you have to perform in a place like that?

Kavana: It’s never daunting. I mean if anything it would be very much fun. I mean we get to travel at so many different places, get to see so many historic churches. I mean some people would think, “Oh, that’s boring.” But trust me, if you go into a really big church, you’ll stand by the architecture, and the accoustics sometimes, when you sing in it, it just sounds heavenly.

Interviewer: And of course you’ve got a CD as well. It must be great to be looking along the CD’s in you’re home and thinking, “Well, actually that one there, that’s mine.”

Kavana: (laughs) Yeah, it’s great to have a feeling that you know that you’ve got something to show of all this achievement. And it’s great to hear yourself on a CD singing. Yup, that’s me.

Interviewer: Robert, can I ask you, are they talking it down? Because it is a lot of hard work, isn’t it? I mean they all sound very confident.

Robert: Yes, I mean the thing about it is that they are all doing it of their own free will. It’s their hobby. They don’t have to be there. And so we have to honor that. It’s the only way I’d want to run it anyhow is that everyone actually enjoys the process of doing it. It is a lot of hard work. I mean they learn to read music properly. They sing quite a range of full choral music as well as all the Libera music. So they’re doing an aweful lot of different types of musical activity. And obviously when they go on stage, they know everything by heart. And they learn all of the harmonies. And they even move around on stage. I mean they don’t dance, but there is choreography involved. They might sing the Mozart’s “Requiem” or the Handel’s “Messiah” or something like that as well in a different context. So they have a fantastic range of musical activity, so we try to make it fun and also very varied really.

Interviewer: You travel the world. You appear in some of the biggest venues that can possibly be. So I guess you must have to pinch yourself because you’ve created something amazing.

Robert: Yeah, it’s funny that, isn’t it? I suppose that most things happen gradually. It sort of moves one at a time really, and then you suddenly think that it didn’t do it in one step, if you know what I mean. As you say, it is surprising sometimes. And like a couple of years ago we were out in the Yankee Stadium singing when the Pope visited New York. And there was about 70,000 people in the stadium, and we were actually the only British act that was performing at that. And you do think it’s a great honor, but you never perceive that that sort of thing could happen when we first started. And similarly with the sort of going around all the different churches and concert halls around the world where we do get an amazingly reassuring, a very warm welcome. It’s fantastic.