People in Hull are being invited to join a free giant city centre sing-song in conjunction with Last Choir Standing, BBC One’s new Saturday night search to find the nation’s favourite choir.

Offering viewers of the BBC One singing show the chance to have a go themselves, the event will involve a mass singing workshop for the audience, along with performances from local choirs.

World-class choral trainer Mike Brewer OBE, a leading figure in the choral world, director of the National Youth Choirs of Great Britain and musical director of award-winning chamber choir Laudibus, will lead the mass singing workshop at The Big Screen, Queen Victoria Square, Hull on Saturday 9 August at 3pm.

The workshop, involving the audience and local performing choirs, will be interspersed with performances given by the local choirs. The whole event is expected to last about 90 minutes.

BBC event producer Simon Ashwood said: “We’re delighted that Mike has agreed to come along and lead the workshop, he is a world-class choral trainer and has the ability to create incredible, participative singing experiences.

“I really encourage everyone to apply for free tickets and pop along to enjoy the event, which promises to be a lot of fun.

“During the workshop Mike will work with the choir and audiences, teaching them at least two contrasting songs, an African chant and a gospel song.”

The event will be hosted by BBC Look North presenter Peter Levy and will be relayed on to the Big Screen.

Highlights will be posted on bbc.co.uk/lastchoirstanding, and an audio recording of the mass sing-along will be made available to download.

Five hundred tickets for seats at the event will be available from 7am on Friday 11 July until midnight on Sunday 27 July. To be in the seated audience, members of the public will need to register for tickets either on the Last Choir Standing website or by telephone on 03700 100 150 (calls cost no more than calls to 01/02 geographic numbers).

In the event that more people apply for tickets than are available, a lottery system will be used to select successful applicants.

Queries about the events and application process for tickets can be sent to lcs-events@bbc.co.uk.

A talented presenter, Nick Knowles is well known to TV viewers as the host of DIY SOS, City Hospital and Who Dares Wins. Nick has presented a range of programmes across news, sport, quiz shows, documentary features and entertainment in a TV career that has spanned Sydney, Phoenix, Arizona, and Maidstone.

Recent travels have included a visit to Nairobi for Comic Relief and he presented a heart-rending report from Zambia for Sport Relief. Equally at home fronting a series of wedding programmes, BBC One’s The Big Day, and highlighting the plight of Orang-utans in Borneo for the BBC’s Saving Planet Earth series, Nick will be bringing the versatility and zest he brought to his singing on Fame Academy to his co-hosting duties on Last Choir Standing.

Nick is mad about music and, before he got into television, he played in several bands – teaming up with his brother at various bars and clubs in London and the Midlands.

How did you get involved in the show?

Well, I’ve always had an involvement with music. Oddly enough, all my family have been involved with either dancing or music – my three sisters are dancers, my brother’s a musician. I played in bands when I left school, I play guitar myself and my brother writes musicals and I’ve been involved with producing, helping him produce those.

I have a general love of music but without having ever had any proper training or technical ability. And I think they decided that with the fantastic wealth of technical ability that is on our judging panel – and with Myleene presenting who is, of course, fabulously talented and well trained, too – that they needed the man on the sofa’s view. I think I’m the guy at home who doesn’t necessarily have any particular training but loves music, and I think that my job is to be there from that point of view.

What can viewers expect from Last Choir Standing?

I think that the first thing that viewers can expect is the unexpected.

I wasn’t aware that it [being in a choir] was the second greatest participation activity in this country – after sport comes being a member of a choir, which is amazing. And choirs aren’t what I remember when I was at school, singing Ave Maria, or whatever it happens to be. It is that, of course, and it is male voice choirs and it is traditional but also now you’re getting young choirs that are almost doing choral versions in the way you might put mixed tracks together and DJ-ing where you’re taking different sections of songs and putting them together to create amazing sounds. Some of the arrangements have been gob-smacking. It’s full of surprises. It’s a genuinely amazing, amazing experience.

What are you looking for from the choirs taking part?

What’s nice is how it actually affects you, that’s all it is. I have no specific musical training, I can’t tell whether the three-part harmonies aren’t quite matching right or whether the tenors are pushing the sopranos too hard. None of that makes any sense to me. All I do is sit there and whatever makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, whether it makes me feel emotional, whether it makes me proud.

There are times when you sit there listening to the choirs and you think alright and then all of a sudden they move into a different rhythm, or they do something and the sound just makes you smile.

From what you’ve seen so far what’s impressed you about the choirs which have auditioned?

There’s one particular choir where I got to know the people – this is the great thing about this show, you get to know the people involved. You get to know why it’s important to people and when they do well it just changes your whole view. You feel connected to them, you want them to go through, you want them to go through for their community. You know that it will make a massive difference to them.

I think people will go looking to join choirs after this because the other thing is a lot of these choirs – some of these choirs are full of professional singers and some of them really aren’t – they’re people who work in a library, a maths teacher, a doctor, or whatever, and they all come together to make this amazing sound. There have been many moments where I’ve had a lump in my throat and got up and danced – bad uncle dancing. Myleene accused me of dancing like a bad uncle at a wedding, which I think was a bit harsh, especially when I was busting some of my best shapes.

Have you got any advice for the choirs taking part?

Enjoy it! The great difficulty is that some of these choirs have only sung in front of 30 or 40 people and suddenly they’re in front of a studio audience, in front of television cameras, they’re in front of a television audience.

Fear does a strange thing, it strangles your breath. Your mouth goes dry and you breathe shallow. I know that from when I work, and I have an exercise I go through before I go live on a programme that puts away my nerves. Once I get into it I’m fine, and I’m good because I can get through the first five minutes and then I don’t even think about it. But I can afford to be slightly breathless because I can smile and laugh and do things and play with it when I start a programme, but these guys can’t. They can’t afford to be breathless for the first second because that first note is all important. They’ve got to find a way to control their breathing and be confident and enjoy it, because if the joy doesn’t come through it doesn’t matter how good you are. If there’s no joy, if you don’t connect with people they aren’t going to vote.

What’s your singing voice like, have you ever sung in a choir?

There’s currently a restraining order on me ever singing in public! No, my singing voice is alright, it’s not bad, and for particular types of song it’s fine, but you know I’ve done nothing to look after my voice so as long as I’m singing Tom Waits’s songs or rock ‘n’ roll songs then I’m alright but I haven’t got a pure voice.

I sang in the school choir. I used to have leads in the school choir but basically my voice broke and went down right into my boots, and that was the end of my singing career. You don’t find many basses singing in school choirs.

You’ve presented a number of popular shows from factual series to Saturday night entertainment, which do you prefer?

I very specifically don’t do two types of shows the same. So, for example, I would never do a different type of building show, I would never do a different quiz show. I specifically try and change every time.

Are you looking forward to working with Myleene on the show?

She’s great Myleene, I love Myleene. We got together and worked at New Year and it was really lovely. She’s great to work with – very generous, very funny, not in the slightest bit diva-ish – she takes the mick out of my dancing and does rabbit ears behind my ears when we do photos. She’s just lovely and she’s beautiful and she’s talented, so what’s not to like?”

Musician and TV presenter Myleene is no stranger to national talent searches, having beaten thousands of hopefuls to be a finalist in ITV1’s Popstars, going on to be a member of the band Hear’Say.

Myleene’s passion for music started early – she began playing the piano and the violin when she was four. She went on to study voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she later graduated.

Since splitting from Hear’Say, Myleene changed direction in 2003 releasing Moving On, her debut solo classical album ,which went to No. 2 in the classical charts. In the last year, she has released two classical No.1 albums, Myleene’s Music for Romance and Myleene’s Music For Mothers. A versatile television presenter, Myleene’s credits include both BBC One’s The One Show and New Year Live, while her fame was cemented by her appearance in the 2006 series of ITV1’s I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here.

How did you get involved in the show?

Well, I’ve always been involved in choirs whether it was a school choir, church choir, teaching in it, being in it, singing in it, playing in it. And when they approached me to see if I’d like to get involved in a show about choirs, I just thought that it was going to be perfect.

What can viewers expect from Last Choir Standing?

I think that it’s quite deceiving because there are probably a few people who think “choirs, it’s not for me”. Some people have an idea that choirs can be dull and it really isn’t the case. I mean, I’ve heard really clever arrangements of The Killers or Arctic Monkeys and Take That – one gospel choir sang Take That and I was just so phenomenally impressed.

And there is a reason why choirs have lasted for years, because it’s quite fun singing as a group.

What are you looking for from the choirs taking part?

A variety, really, because I would like the stereotypes to be broken down – it isn’t all about altar boys and people wearing cassocks. It’s about more of a community feel, getting together with your friends and singing.

From what you’ve seen so far, what’s impressed you about the choirs which have auditioned?

The standard has been pretty phenomenal, it really has. And I think what I’ve liked is the arrangements. There are songs that you wouldn’t necessarily think a choir was going to tackle, and then someone comes out with an Annie Lennox piece or, like I said before, a Take That song. And you just think: “Wow!” this is for everybody, it’s for the masses, it’s not just for people who think they’re going to sing some Bach or a Mozart Requiem.

People are putting together brilliant arrangements and putting their own take on it – a few dance moves, they’ve made it fun. And I get the best job, really, because I don’t have to sit and judge, I get to sing with the choirs. When I got to sing with one choir it was fantastic – we were singing Pussycat Dolls and Abba’s Dancing Queen, it was just brilliant fun!

Have you got any advice for the choirs taking part?

I think the only advice is that sometimes some of the choirs that were technically excellent didn’t seem to have the enjoyment factor, it was like let’s try and hit every single note correctly that you almost forget why you’re singing. The whole point of singing is that it’s meant to be a way of expressing yourself. It’s first and foremost about communication and telling a story, and I think what’s been interesting for me is that people that didn’t necessarily sound so sharp on the tuning or maybe you just thought that technically they didn’t quite have the edge – yet because their story-telling was so good, and because the enjoyment factor was so high, they went straight through.

Are you glad to be returning back to your musical roots with the show?

I don’t think I’ve ever gone away from music. I presented the Classical Brits recently – before that I had another album out. I’ve even just been presenting a programme on festivals, a programme about world music and ska and things that I don’t really know much about, but I never close myself to different genres of music. One of the scariest things I’ve ever had to do was when I worked on a music programme and they sent me off to learn to rap. It was actually really entertaining and I still remember the rap because I practised it in the shower, I practised it everywhere.

All my work is around music, music is in my life every single day whether I’m playing the piano, singing nursery rhymes with Ava, presenting the Brits and now presenting this show.

Are you looking forward to working with Nick on the show?

I love working with Nick. God, the amount of women, every time I say I’m working with Nick Knowles, women swoon and men ask me what sort of hammer does he use for this, and what kind of drill does he use for that. So yes, I’m looking forward to working with him and asking his advice on shelves, which I know really annoys him but he’s wise about these things!

And he loves his music and he’s got a good sense of humour, so I think we’re going to have a good laugh together without a doubt. And he does dad dancing. A choir will start up and before you know it there’s Nick dad dancing in the corner!

BBC One embarks on a brand new weekend entertainment show as choirs from all walks of life – from handbag-wielding Cheshire housewives performing Britney Spears to a group of gay men giving the Pussycat Dolls a new spin – go up against each other to find out who has the passion, power and performance necessary to be declared Last Choir Standing.

Singing in choirs is one of the nation’s favourite pastimes with over 25,000 registered choirs and at least half a million members.

Following a callout to choirs across the country, some of the UK’s best will be going head to head in this exciting new talent search to find the nation’s favourite choir.

Presenters Nick Knowles and Myleene Klass will follow the choirs as they progress through the contest. Joining them and putting the choirs through their paces will be a panel of music experts – opera superstar Russell Watson, actress, singer and West End star Sharon D Clarke and choral conductor and director Suzi Digby OBE.

Each choir will have to prove they have the power, passion and performance to win over a chorus of approval from the judges and viewers at home if they are to be left as the Last Choir Standing and crowned as the nation’s favourite singing sensations.

The Auditions

Thousands of people from all walks of life send in their applications on tape. The only criteria for entries is that the choirs are made up of between 10 and 50 people, aged 13 years or older.

Sixty of the best choirs are invited to audition in front of the expert panel of judges at London’s Cadogan Hall.

The choirs must perform to impress the judges, but with a limited number of places available in the next round they have to pull out all the stops, showing that they not only have the technical ability but also the passion to bring their songs to life. They will need two judges to say “yes” to make it through.

The Call-backs

After making it through the audition stage, the 27 best choirs return to sing for the judges once again. This time the stakes are higher as the choirs have the added pressure of singing under the lights and cameras of a TV studio in front of a studio audience – including some famous faces – and the other choirs taking part. The judges will be looking to see just how far the choirs have progressed since the Cadogan Hall auditions, and whether they have the potential and stamina needed to take part in the rest of the competition.

With only 15 places in the next stage of the contest – The Heats – the judges then face the difficult task of deciding who has the potential to go all the way.

The Heats

The final 15 choirs now sing for a place in the next stage of the show. With three heats taking place across three weeks, five different choirs will perform each week for a chance to make it through. Two choirs, chosen by the judges, will go through from each heat leaving a total of six in the finals.

Each show will open with a rousing group performance – and with all five choirs from the heat involved it will be like nothing seen before. The individual choirs will then perform two songs each, desperate to impress the judges and earn a coveted place in the finals.

The Finals

With only six choirs now remaining, they will all perform each week in the live television finals for the public vote. Each choir will have to prove to viewers that they have the power, passion and performance to be the Last Choir Standing. Each week one choir will say goodbye, leaving three choirs still standing in the grand final.

Nick Knowles and Myleene Klass are to co-host BBC One’s new weekend entertainment show, Last Choir Standing.

They will be joined by a panel of music experts – Russell Watson, Sharon D Clarke and Suzi Digby – as they scour the country for choirs that combine the power, passion and performance necessary to be crowned the nation’s favourite choir.

The show will see Myleene return to her first love, music. She began playing the piano and her grandfather’s violin at the age of four. She studied Voice at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, before winning a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music where she later graduated.

She continues to be a prominent name in the music world, with a top-three solo album to her name.

Nick Knowles is well known to TV viewers as the host of DIY SOS and City Hospital. A talented presenter, producer and director, he has also presented the National Lottery gameshow Who Dares Wins.

Never one to shy away from a challenge, he went to Nairobi for Comic Relief and presented a heart-rending report from Zambia for Sport Relief.

Myleene said: “I’m really excited to be involved in Last Choir Standing and the search to find the nation’s favourite choir.

“We’re going to be seeing such a wide range of choirs with different styles and personalities – there will definitely be something to suit everyone’s taste.”

Nick said: “The public will be treated to some fantastic performances from all the choirs, and it will ultimately be up to them to decide who will be the Last Choir Standing.

“This will be entertainment television at its best – getting the whole country involved.”

Myleene and Nick will be joined by a dynamic panel of experts who will be on hand to offer their opinions on the competing choirs.

After a period out of the limelight due to ill health, Last Choir Standing heralds the return of much-loved tenor Russell Watson to primetime television.

Russell was the first British male singer to take the number one spots in both the UK and US classical charts simultaneously.

Having sold more than seven million albums worldwide he has enjoyed number one success in both the British and US charts, and is credited with opening opera to a much broader audience.

Sharon D Clarke will join Russell on the judging panel.

Best known for her role as Dr Lola Griffin in Holby City, Sharon originated the role of the Killer Queen in the stage show We Will Rock You, for which she won the What’s On Stage Best Supporting Performance Award, alongside an Olivier nomination.

She is passionate about choral music and was recently on the judging panel for the Opal Choir Project which saw 300 children from 10 inner-city secondary schools performing at the Royal Albert Hall.

Suzi Digby OBE – choral conductor and principal of The Voices Foundation, which she created – completes the judging panel.

Suzi has an international reputation as a conductor, and is a regular judge at choral festivals and competitions, including BBC Radio 3’s Choir Of The Year and the Coleraine Music Festival in Northern Ireland. Suzi is the choral guru and is determined to get the whole country singing.

Last Choir Standing starts on BBC One in June 2008.

From 60 choirs at the auditions, the panel of judges will decide which 15 will go through to the studio heats.

Six choirs will then make it through to the live shows where the judges and the public will vote each week for who they want to save until there is only one – the Last Choir Standing.

Myleene Klass has been chosen by the BBC to front a new Saturday night reality TV show, The Last Choir Standing.

The show has been billed as “the biggest talent search ever seen on British TV” and will aim to find Britains Favourite Choir.

A show insider said: “Myleene’s perfect for the role, her classical music background is perfect. She was a great host on The One Show and the Beeb were determined to get her back.

“And she’s absolutely stunning – so there’s something for the dads in the audience too.”