Alumna Rachel Walker heads to Hollywood with award winning show choir

Rachel Walker graduated from the School of Music in 2003 and has enjoyed a career which has seen her perform across the UK, Austria and Prague.

She holds a diploma in Musical Theatre teaching, has a 100% pass rate with her singing students, is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, an international judge for Show Choir championships across the world, and a mentor for Canadian Show Choirs. Rachel is also currently taking her Masters in Songwriting. With all of that going on you'd think Rachel wouldn't have time for much else, but she is also the Musical Director of the award winning Euphoria Show Choir.

In 2010 Rachel, along with dancers Emma Mason and Tina Kelly, established Euphoria. Initially comprised of six members the choir, inspired by the American television show Glee, gradually grew in number until their first public performance saw them perform with 13 members in December 2010.  In a twist of fate usually reserved for TV shows they were seen by the PR company behind Britain's Got Talent winners, Spelbound's, UK tour. Euphoria were asked to perform on the tour and received rave reviews following their run in April 2011. This was the catalyst which has seen the choir grow in both numbers and notoriety.

Euphoria are the UK's top show choir and have gained international press attention, performed live on BBC Television and Radio and in many public performances across the UK, including at the world famous Royal Albert Hall. It was following this performance they were invited to the National Show Choir Championships of America.

Euphoria travelled to New York for the competition after 18 months of preparation and were the only competitors to get a full standing ovation of the night, outstanding scores from the judges and due to an exceptional performance, were given the FAME award.

Rachel says of Euphoria's success: "None of us could ever have imagined how much we'd achieve in a relatively short amount of time. Receiving standing ovations in New York and becoming the first International Show Choir to receive the FAME award in the National Show Choir Championships felt absolutely phenomenal"

The choir has since been invited to perform as guest stars in the National Show Choir Championships of Ireland and also performed for the BBC Strictly Come Dancing Tour. Euphoria are ambassadors of the charity BeatBullying for which Rachel wrote the song Body On Mute, the charity's anthem.

The international requests continued to come in. Rachel is judging competitions in Singapore and Hong Kong next year and Euphoria have been asked to perform in Hollywood, where they're already scheduled to perform at Disneyland and once again at the National Show Choir Championships. It's an offer they simply couldn't refuse so Rachel, Emma, Tina and the choir members are preparing for this once-in-a-lifetime trip next year. Rachel has also been commissioned to write a song for Euphoria to perform with the American John Burroughs High School choir "Powerhouse" when they visit.

Rachel continues: "Being invited to perform in Hollywood is a huge honour and we're really excited. We're especially excited about collaborating with Powerhouse. They've performed on Oprah, for the President and on the Shrek soundtrack as well as winning every show choir award possible. It'll be such an honour to perform my original song with them – it's already garnered interest from the American press! We know it will take a lot of hard work and fundraising to make this amazing trip possible but if support continues the way it has in the past then I don't doubt we'll do it".

To find about more about Euphoria and to follow their journey please visit the choir's website. You can also see some clips of Euphoria performing on their YouTube channel.