A 12-year-old Ely Cathedral chorister has been chosen to sing in a virtual choral evensong that is being held to raise money for choirs that might not survive the COVID-19 lockdown.
Alfie Bottley is one of several choristers who will perform choral pieces alongside a cast of famous faces including Stephen Fry, Alexander Armstrong, Simon Russell Beale and the Revd Richard Cole.
Alfie, who is currently in Year 7 at King’s Ely and has been a chorister at Ely Cathedral since 2016, said he was delighted to be chosen to take part.
“It is such a nice feeling to be able to sing with everyone even though we’re far away from each other, and a privilege to sing Evensong with such famous people.”
The Virtual Choral Evensong Project will be broadcast live at 6.30pm today (Tuesday May 19) on the YouTube and Facebook platforms for The Rodolfus Foundation, a charity that supports and raises the profile of the choral evensong tradition.
The broadcast has been created thanks to over 950 video and audio submissions gathered from around the world and includes choristers past and present from cathedrals across the country.
Other contributors include the canon organist emeritus at Durham Cathedral, James Lancelot, and Andrew Lumsden, organist and director of music at Winchester Cathedral.
The blessing will be given by the Revd Richard Coles, a former 80’s pop artist with The Communards. The whole piece will open and close with Cosmo Sheldrake’s Evening Chorus, an improvisation using endangered British birds’ songs recorded in Dorset woodland.
The project, in association with ChoralEvensong.org, is in aid of the Cathedral Choirs’ Emergency Fund, set up by the Friends of Cathedral Music and the Ouseley Church Music Trust.
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