Girls to finally sing at Canterbury Cathedral

CANTERBURY, England - The pure, high voices of the choir soar toward the vaulted ceiling of Canterbury Cathedral as they have for more than 1,000 years. Just one thing is different - these young choristers in their purple cassocks are girls.

Today, their public debut at Evensong ends centuries of all-male tradition.

Canterbury is not the first British cathedral to set up a girls’ choir, but as the mother church of the 80 million-strong Anglican Communion - one struggling to define the role of women in its ranks - its move has special resonance.

That is not lost on the 16 girls, from ages 12 to 16, who have been chosen to make this bit of history.

“That’s an amazing thought in the back of your mind - no girl has sung in this cathedral over an amazingly long period of time,” said 12-year-old choir member Abby Cox. “I’ve always liked singing, but I think this is the major event that has happened in my life and I’m so excited to be part of it.”

The choristers attend several local schools and were chosen at auditions in November. Unlike members of the Canterbury boys’ choir, who live at the cathedral and rehearse every day, the girls come together once a week.

Despite their limited rehearsal time, choir director David Newsholme said the girls are focused and enthusiastic about the psalms, anthems and responses they have to learn.

Girls’ choirs are not a complete novelty in the Church of England - Salisbury Cathedral established one in the 1990s and several other cathedrals have followed. Female voices have occasionally been heard in Canterbury Cathedral as part of visiting choirs.

Singing girls have their opponents, including one group called the Campaign for the Traditional Cathedral Choir, set up to “champion the ancient tradition of the all-male choir.”

Tradition is especially important at Canterbury, about 60 miles southeast of London, whose archbishop heads the Anglican church. Founded in the 6th century, it has been an important place of Christian pilgrimage since Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was murdered here in 1170 by knights loyal to King Henry II.

Dean of Canterbury Robert Willis said music has been sung in the cathedral since it was founded - first by monks, then by a choir of men and boys set up more than 1,000 years ago. He stressed that a female choir was “a natural development” that adds “diversity and richness” to the cathedral’s traditions.

“Nothing of the old tradition is damaged,” he said. “It’s being enriched, enlivened and developed.”

Religion, Pages 13 on 01/25/2014

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