Emeli Sande scours talent in Edinburgh

Emeli Sande and Saskia Eng sing together in Edinburgh.

The star, whose third album, Real Life, is released on June 21, is looking for five outstanding street performers to join her in a unique concert with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra next month.

The programme, which she kicked-off the filming for in her home city of Aberdeen on Wednesday, is for the nation’s finest new musical as part of new BBC Scotland series Emeli Sandé’s Street Symphony.

And Edinburgh’s teen signing sensation Saskia Eng, 17, warmed up her vocal chords for a lifechanging chance to sing with Emeli.

Saskia, who reached the knockout stages of TV singing contest The Voice UK last year, met Emeli at the bottom on The Mound.

“It felt quite surreal singing with Emeli Sande standing right in front of me,” Saskia said. “Then she joined in and we sang together.

“Singing with her is probably the best thing I’ve done yet!

“She was really nice and spoke to me about singing – asking me lots of questions.

“It was just an amazing experience and I still can’t believe I sang with Emeli Sande in the street.”

Saskia wowed the judges with her powerful voice in the ITV singing competition before going on to record a series of songs co-written by her mum Leeann.

Emeli will continue her search in Perth, Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow.

She said: “I think this series is going to really celebrate the beauty and diversity of music, in all its forms, from a singer on the street to a classically-trained instrumentalist. I’ve only just started my search and I’m already blown away by the level of talent that’s out there.

“Music can bring great hope and it can encourage confidence, but above all the most important thing I’m looking for is authenticity – it’s got to be real.

“I think Street Symphony will encapsulate all these qualities and show how truly inspirational music can be.”

The five acts chosen by Emeli will be honed to perfection and coached by the world-class orchestral conductor and composer John Logan before they join her for a powerful performance with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at the illustrious City Halls in Glasgow.

Their stories will be told, along with the story of Emeli’s early years growing up in Alford, Aberdeenshire, as part of four 60-minute programmes to be shown on BBC Scotland later this year.

Saskia triumphed in the initial stages of the reality show after singing Strong by London Grammar and she was chosen by Sir Tom Jones to go into the “battle round”.

She was stolen from Team Tom by Will in the battle rounds after losing the hard-fought encounter despite a rousing performance of Florence and the Machine’s “Dog Days Are Over”, but impressed enough to make it to the knockouts.

Landing a place in the competition was third time lucky for the Saskia who has also appeared twice on Britain’s Got Talent at the ages of nine and 13.

She also won the Edinburgh Has Talent contest aged just 12.

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