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Girls’ Choir to launch at St Edmundsbury Cathedral...

Girls’ Choir to launch at St Edmundsbury Cathedral

The choral music tradition at St Edmundsbury Cathedral, Bury St Edmunds, will be enriched soon with the addition of girl choristers. To date the Cathedral Choir has only been open to male voices, with boy choristers and lay clerks, the gentlemen of the choir, forming the main Cathedral choir. From May 2020, girls will be given the opportunity to join a newly formed girls ‘top line’. The Girl Choristers will sing services with the Lay Clerks and on their own, and the boys will continue to do the same. Additionally the Cathedral supports two junior choirs, a Youth Choir (the St Cecilia Chorale) and a Ladies’ Choir (the St Edmundsbury Singers).

‘We are one of the last cathedrals to launch a girls’ choir,’ comments the Very Reverend Joe Hawes, Dean of St Edmundsbury. ‘We are now in a position to do so and are delighted that we can make this happen in this special anniversary year when we mark 1000 years of the Abbey of St Edmund.’

The Acting Director of Music, Richard Cook, continues, ‘It is important to give equal opportunities to boys and girls. The experience of being a chorister is hugely enriching.’ Anyone interested in finding out more about life as a chorister is invited to attend ‘Be A Chorister for an Afternoon’ event on Saturday 4 April from 1.00 pm. Auditions for the Girls’ Choir will be held on Saturday 21 March and Saturday 25 April. Applications from girls who love singing and are in years 6 to 9 would be particularly welcome. Further details can be obtained from the Acting Director of Music, Richard Cook, on adom@stedscathedral.org.