THE Manchester Arena has been renamed The ‘Young Voices Arena’ for one-day-only in honour of foundations 20th anniversary.
Manchester’s 21,000 capacity arena has undergone many names in its lifetime, the most recent will be in honour of Young Voices as they enter their 20th anniversary.
The brain child of one man, David Lewis, began the popular children’s choir 20 years ago. Continuing the legacy, son Ben Lewis, said: “My father started Young Voices 20 years ago, I can’t believe how much we’ve grown. Having the Manchester Arena named ‘The Young Voices Arena’ for the day is a real honour.”
Ben also went on to add: “We are proud that we have brought Young Voices to the Arena 27 times since we landed in the UK. The venue hosted our first concert so it seems fitting that we will end our 20th anniversary there and have the arena named after us for one day is fantastic!”
Young Voices is the world’s largest children’s choir and is currently touring the UK including five nights at London’s O2 as well as Manchester’s newly named ‘Young Voices Arena’. Soprano singer Laura Wright, will be but one of the large collection of artists leading a local choir of 130,000 singing school children aged between six and 13.
The name change also celebrates over 1.5 million local school children to be a part of Young Voices since the popular choir began.
Today’s name change marks the first of four nights at the venue which will see more than 30,000 local children perform venue.
Alongside Wright, artists due to perform at the Young Voices Arena today include The Beatbox Collective and Tom Billington, with X-factor finalist Alexandra Burke closing the show on Thursday with a one night only appearance.
Speaking on the unique opportunity of February’s extra day thanks to it being a leap year. James Allen, General Manager for Manchester Arena, said: “February 29 is a special day and it’s great timing that Young Voices’ first Manchester show falls on this extra day. This presents the perfect opportunity to celebrate their anniversary by renaming the arena on this special day.”
By Nathan Smith
@NayfSmith
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