World Premiere of anthems by our Abbey Girls Choristers

5 June, 19 June and 29 June world premiere of anthems by our Abbey Girls Choristers – Isla Byrne, Ella Barker and Ruth Williams.

In June we are delighted to announce that the Abbey choir will be singing three world premieres of pieces composed by our senior Abbey Girl Choristers. The first work, Salve nos by Isla Byrne, will be sung at Evensong on Thursday 5 June. Later in the month, on 19 June we will give the first performance of Ella Barker’s In the beginning. This will be followed on 29 June at the 11.30am service when we will be singing Awake, our Souls written by Ruth Williams. This is the first time the Abbey choirs have performed music composed by a member of the Girls Choir. There has been a long and famous tradition of choristers becoming composers, dating back to the Renaissance and beyond, but it is a great thrill to see this tradition alive and developing with music by our talented young ladies.

Isla and Ruth have served 7 years in the girls choir and both were previously Melody Makers. Ella has been in the Girls Choir for 8 years. Ella and Isla have been offered Choral Scholarships at Keble and Merton Colleges, Oxford. Please do join us if you are able for these historic events!  Huw Williams

Ella Barker has been singing in church choirs for the past 12 years so choral singing is a significant part of her life. Musical highlights for Ella have been singing in St Paul’s Cathedral with Bath Abbey Girls’ choir and singing solos on CD and BBC Evensong recordings. She has enjoyed composing for her music A level and she hopes to sing with a choral scholarship alongside her undergraduate law degree in the next few years.

Ruth Williams has grown a love of choral singing over her ten years at Bath Abbey, with Bach’s Passions and Handel’s Messiah as particular highlights. Having been inspired by her experiences at the Abbey, she is now delighted to be able to perform her A-level composition with the choir. In the future, Ruth hopes to study music and pursue a singing career. She is thrilled that next year she will be a member of the Genesis Sixteen choir, and will perform in Bath Young Musician.

Isla Byrne has been a member of the Bath Abbey Girl’s Choir since she was 10 years old, and she is also a pianist and violinist. She is currently studying Music, English Literature, History, and Classics at A-Level, planning to read Music at university in October, and is thrilled to be continuing with choral singing when she is there. Some personal highlights of her time in the choir include BBC Radio 3 evensongs, tours within the UK and Europe, and taking part in four different recordings for the choir. She has really enjoyed composing this piece for her A-Level, and is excited to hear it performed in Bath Abbey!