17 local school choirs will appear alongside the world-renowned Gabrieli Consort & Players in the magnificent surroundings of Westminster Cathedral on Tuesday 10th January for the festive music concert ‘In Dulci Jubilo’.
The concert is run by Gabrieli Roar, a challenging training programme which invites young singers to perform alongside the Gabrieli Consort and Players, one of the UK’s leading period music ensembles.
The programme is a collaboration between Gabrieli and a range of diverse English school and youth choirs, which helps young people from many backgrounds to develop a love of choral music, breaking down barriers and fostering the next generation of classical music lovers, concert-goers and musicians.
‘In Dulci Jubilo’ is Gabrieli Roar’s most ambitious project to date, involving over 85 school and youth choirs and over 3000 young singers from all around the UK. Concerts will take place in Westminster, Portsmouth, Peterborough, Ely, Canterbury and Coventry Cathedrals as well as York and Hull Minsters, from November to January.
The concerts will involve hundreds of young people aged 9-18, with some featuring up to 900 performers. They will be based around the music of Michael Praetorius, who created some of the most spectacular Christmas music ever written, and will feature a huge ensemble of late renaissance and early baroque instruments, placed all around these magnificent buildings.
Paul McCreesh, Gabrieli Roar Founder and Artistic Director said “We are passionate about extending musical opportunities to young people, particularly from areas where access to classical music is limited.
Our young singers talk passionately about the joy of taking part in Roar and the performances are absolutely thrilling to witness, as young people experience the joy of performing great music, often for the first time, alongside some of the country’s finest professional musicians.”
The local choirs involved in the concert are Taplow Youth Choir, The Girl Choristers of Croydon Minster, The Minster Junior School, Croydon, Whitgift School Chamber Choir, Eton College Chapel Choir, Westminster School, St Paul’s Boys’ School, St Paul’s Girls’ School, St Benedict’s Concert Choir, The Grey Coat Hospital Chamber Choir, Pimlico Musical Foundation, Berdetts Couts Primary School, West London Free School Choir, St John’s Walham Green, St Bernard’s Junior Choir, Twyford C of E Academies Trust and Priory School, Slough.
