Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir in first concert

The Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir are currently in rehearsal for their first Christmas concert. The choir’s debut concert ‘Dancing Day’ will be performed in the Nave on Friday 5 December 2014 at 19:30. Twelve months ago the Cathedral announced its plans for introducing a girls’ choir to its musical team. The announcement was met with a positive global media response and the Canterbury Cathedral Girls’ Choir was established in January 2014. The choir’s first performance at Evensong in January was attended by more than 600 people and widely covered by the international press. The choir has gone on to enjoy a very successful first year and has performed at several significant Services in the Cathedral, including the Service held to mark the 20th anniversary of the ordination of women priests and that for the consecration of the Bishop of Europe. As the choir’s founding year draws to an end, the girls are in rehearsal for their first public concert for Christmas.

‘There is a real buzz of excitement amongst the girls. They are delighted to be involved in such an important and high profile event at the Cathedral. The girls have enjoyed rehearsing this fabulous music since September. It has been a thoroughly rewarding process; we’re really looking forward to performing such an exciting repertoire in public. The programme will have something for everybody, including John Rutter’s Dancing Day, which incorporates numerous traditional Christmas melodies. The concert will conclude with a selection of popular Christmas songs.’ said David Newsholme, Director of the Girls’ Choir and Assistant Organist.

The Girls’ Choir will be accompanied by celebrated harpist, Camilla Pay, pianist David Rees-Williams, and organist William Wallace. There are currently 16 girls in the choir, all of whom are aged between 12 and 18. The majority attend local schools. The group rehearses in the Cathedral each Wednesday evening. Typically, the Girls’ Choir performs at Evensong in the Cathedral twice a month, frequently with the Lay Clerks of the Cathedral.