Pink Singers to perform as part of the Coronation Choir
Members of the Pink Singers, Europe’s oldest mixed LGBTQ+ choir, will make up 22 of the 300-strong ensemble of singers performing at the Coronation Concert this weekend.
The Coronation Choir will bring together singing groups of all shapes and sizes from across the four corners of Britain. The choirs performing are from a range of diverse backgrounds and include an all-deaf sign performance organisation, a traditional male voice choir from Caerphilly, Yorkshire’s only female South Asian choir, the London Fire Brigade and a sea shanty troupe of RNLI volunteers.
The groups will be led by coaches Amanda Holden, Motsi Mabuse and Rose Ayling-Ellis, joined by choirmaster Gareth Malone to prepare the choir for the Windsor Castle event.
Zoe Johannes, the Pink Singers’ Events Manager and a soprano in the choir, spoke about our involvement:
“At the last coronation in 1953 being LGBT was illegal, and it is a significant sign of how much times have changed that the Royal family has gone out of their way to say that they want to include LGBTQ+ people in the concert. That visibility is so important. We wanted to be there for that reason to show the country that we’re out here and we’re proud.”
“There’s a big diversity in our group and where people have chosen to participate it is for a variety of different reasons, but one common feeling is wanting to send a message of inclusion to those watching the event in the UK and around the World.”
In this, our 40th anniversary year, we are proud that we’re able to openly represent the diversity and brilliance of LGBTQ+ people on an international stage through singing.
The journey of the Coronation Choir will be charted in a documentary screening on BBC1 this Friday 5th May at 8pm, and the performance will be shown live during the concert taking place on Sunday 7th May at 8pm. Both programmes can also be watched on the BBC iPlayer, through the links below.
Sing for the King, The Search for the Coronation Choir: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lmq2
The Coronation Concert: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lt2m