National Youth Choir Alumni

Welcome to the National Youth Choir Alumni community!

If you are a former member of any National Youth Choir ensemble or emerging professional artist programme, then you still part of our National Youth Choir family! We’d love you to stay connected to our work and the ever-growing community of talented National Youth Choir graduates across the UK and abroad. Whether you’ve recently been a member or were involved back in the early years – you are very welcome.

We are so proud that our alumni have gone on to achieve such wonderful things. National Youth Choir alumni are graduates from across the choir’s 40-year history, including doctors, nurses, teachers, conductors, CEOs as well as professional singers from The Swingles, BBC Singers, The Sixteen, Tenebrae, Gabrieli Consort, Monteverdi Choir, Glyndebourne, Scottish Opera and Royal Opera House Choruses and come together from as far afield as America, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Germany.

Whatever your journey, we’d love each and every one of you to stay in touch.

There are a number of ways you can choose to get involved. To be part of our supportive online network, join our Alumni Facebook Group; come together to sing with other alumnus by taking part in concerts and events or be part of the National Youth Choir's future by getting involved in fundraising initiatives to support more young people to be part of its life-changing programmes.

Join our alumni communities on on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter

Ben Thapa Memorial Fund

Donate Fundraise

The extraordinary singer, Ben Thapa, sadly died at the age of 42 on 8 September 2024. Ben was a National Youth Choir alumnus and rose to fame during the first series of the X Factor with the group, 'G4'. An incredible talent, Ben forged an operatic career working with the Scottish Opera, Chelsea Opera, the Buxton Festival, the Royal Opera and more.

The Ben Thapa Memorial fund has been created by alumni for alumni. It is an opportunity for alumni like yourselves to support young singers across the UK while honouring Ben's memory. All the money you raise towards the fund will go directly to disadvantaged young singers who require financial assistance in order to participate in incredible music-making opportunities.

He was one of a kind beauty, who gave and gained in equal measure. All of us who were there, were privileged to be in the garden at the same time as him.

For me, Ben is a shining example of what National Youth Choir can do. It’s not over the top to state that the organisation gave him some good soil at a time when he needed it. In turn, he certainly added to the nutrients for the rest of us.

- Tom Appleton, Alumni Champions Committee member.

Read more from Tom about what Ben meant to National Youth Choir and the alumni

Raise money for young singers in Ben's name

1. First choose your fundraising activity. This can be anything you fancy, like:

Taking part in a challenge event such as running, cycling or climbing
Putting on a singing event, perhaps with your local choir
As a fundraising venture for a birthday

2. Next, set up your own fundraising page on our website with some details about your fundraising activity. By creating your fundraiser on our website, you'll save on transaction fees and ensure any money raised goes directly towards this alumni appeal in Ben's name.

Set up your fundraising page

3. Once your fundraiser has been 'approved' by us, feel free to share you new fundraising page far and wide with friends and family in order to collect donations. If you're planning to post about your activities online, please tag National Youth Choir so we can share your efforts with our followers!

If you would like any further information, please get in touch at [email protected].