Highlight of the Week

Choristers Sing at St Paul’s

The exciting year of events for our choristers continued this week, when all 32 sang at St Paul’s Cathedral. Llandaff Cathedral Choir had been invited to take part in the longest running Choral Festival in the world, the 368th Clergy Support Trust Service at St Paul’s. Each year the Clergy Support Trust, a charity supporting Clergy and their families, invites two other Cathedral Choirs to join with St Paul’s own choir to sing at their Festival Service. With over 50 Cathedrals in the UK, this was the first time Llandaff had been invited to attend since 1993 and we were also joined by Leicester Cathedral Choir.

At 7:00am the long bus trip to London began. As soon as we had deposited robes and music it was time for lunch which was provided in the Salvation Army Centre just a stone’s throw from the Millennium Bridge which connects St Paul’s on one side of the Thames with the Tate Modern on the other. After lunch it was back to the Cathedral for rehearsals. St Paul’s is one of the biggest churches in the world and is quite different to our own Cathedral in Llandaff! As well as singing two pieces with the other two choirs, we had been invited to take a piece to sing on our own and the choir had only 15 minutes rehearsal time to get used to the cavernous acoustic of St Paul’s. Following joint rehearsals, it was time for tea, and we enjoyed visiting St Paul’s Cathedral School where their choristers are educated and board. New friendships were forged across the three choirs, and it was wonderful to see choristers interacting with each other.

A large congregation of other 2000 people were in the Cathedral as the choirs prepared to begin the service. After an extremely loud organ fanfare the service began. The first piece, Sing joyfully, marked the 400th anniversary of its composer William Byrd’s death and was performed from the West end of the Cathedral, right near the main doors. A large procession, including the Lord Mayor of London and other Civic dignitaries snaked its way through the Cathedral to seats under the iconic Dome. After St Paul’s and Leicester Cathedral Choirs had sung, Llandaff performed Eleanor Daley’s beautiful piece Upon your heart. Later, the three choirs joined together to sing Edward Elgar’s monumental anthem Great is the Lord. With well over 100 people singing, the echo after the last chord lasted for nearly 10 seconds!

All the choristers did themselves proud both musically and in representing the Cathedral and our school. They were fantastic ambassadors for Llandaff and will, I am sure, remember singing in St Paul’s Cathedral for many years to come!