Pupils have their voices well and truly heard at King’s Ely Choral Day

More than 180 children sang to their heart’s content at King’s Ely’s annual Choral Day.

The event, now in its twelfth year, saw music-loving pupils from nine different preparatory and primary schools coming together to sing at King’s Ely and Ely Cathedral on September 17th.

Activities for the day were led by renowned conductor and music educator, Lucy Joy Morris, and organised by Director of Music Performance at King’s Ely, Neil Porter-Thaw.

The programme included warm ups and rehearsals in King’s Ely’s Hayward Theatre, tours of the cathedral, rehearsals in the cathedral Nave and a performance by some of King’s Ely’s Year 7 and 8 cathedral choristers.

The highlight of the day was when all of the young singers came together in the cathedral to perform to their families, teachers, friends and members of the public.

Mr Porter-Thaw said: “The amount of music the children learnt in such a short amount of time was staggering. From a 10.30am start to the 4pm concert, Lucy kept the children on their toes with an assortment of Music from all genres. The concert was a joy to witness with over 180 voices in unison and harmony.”

Schools which participated in this year's Choral Day were Glebe House School, Histon and Impington Junior School, Moreton Hall Preparatory School, St Cedd’s School, St Faith's School, Ely St Mary's CofE Junior School, Stretham Primary School, Fairstead House School, Lantern Community Primary School in Ely and King's Ely.

Lucy Joy Morris grew up in Berkshire. As a keen violinist and singer, she studied at Berkshire Maestros and then the Junior Royal College of Music. She went on to study Music at Queens’ College, Cambridge, where she was awarded the Beament Prize for outstanding performance in her final year. Since leaving university, Lucy continues to work with the National Youth Choirs of Scotland (NYCoS) and Great Britain (NYCGB) and was recently appointed as the conductor of the NYCGB Boys' Choir for 2018.

More than 3,000 children have participated in King’s Ely’s Choral Day since it was launched. Over the years, the event has been led by Bob Chilcott, Alexander L'Estrange, Ben Parry, Joanna Forbes L'Estrange, Dominic Peckham, Rachel Staunton, Esther Jones and Greg Hallam.

To discover more about opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit www.kingsely.org