Award-winning tenor Laurence Kilsby is to return to his home county to perform at the Cheltenham Music Festival on July 11th.

Laurence has just finished his first year at the Royal College of Music in London, studying under the tutelage of renowned vocalist Timothy Evans-Jones. The opportunity to perform at the Cheltenham Music festival, which runs from 30th June to 15th July, was one that Laurence was pleased to accept. He said: “I’m tremendously excited to be asked to perform at the Cheltenham Music Festival. Any chance a performer gets to play to a big crowd is always exciting. I’ll be performing a 30-minute set, it will be a mixture of songs, maybe a bit of opera and some of my favourite pieces. I’ll also be accompanied by a close friend of mine, Jason Richards – currently the organ scholar at Windsor Cathedral – who recently performed at the royal wedding.”

The former Dean Close pupil has achieved an enormous amount in his fledgling musical career, that took off when he joined the choristers at Tewkesbury Abbey. Laurence continued: “I’d been involved in a few school productions when I was at primary school but it was only when I became a chorister at Tewkesbury Abbey that I started taking things a bit more seriously. After attending regular singing lessons my confidence started to build from there. I was given so many opportunities through the choir and was lucky enough to win BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year in 2009. I did a lot of musical theatre at Dean Close school which has a fantastic drama and musical department. I learned a great deal from my teachers who really pushed me on to fulfil my potential.”

Since those early days Laurence has earned a lofty reputation for his superb vocal range. His singing has taken him to many prestigious venues, none more so than the Royal Albert Hall, a stand-out memory for the young singer. Laurence continued: “I’ve been so lucky to have performed at some incredible places but the Royal Albert Hall sticks in my mind the most. In 2012 I sung with Lesley Garrett there, I was only 14 and when I look back now I realise how lucky I was. It was absolutely terrifying but you gain so much inner confidence from a performance like that. The following year I performed at a Christmas concert with Aled Jones that was broadcast on television, that was another great memory. I also did some recordings with the Gabrieli Consort, which was a Handel piece that ended up being nominated for a Grammy, that was something to be proud of.”

Laurence has built up a remarkably thorough musical CV for someone so young, although he admits he still gets anxious before a performance. He said: “Nerves are always there. I think it would be very strange if you didn’t get them before going on stage. Whether you’re performing in front of an audience or an audition panel, you want the people watching to respond to the emotions you put across. I’ve built up a lot of confidence over the years, but I still always get a bit nervous before a show.”