Lesley sings out to have girls in ‘all-boy’ choirs
ALLOWING girls into all-boys’ choirs is “long overdue”, the British soprano Lesley Garrett claims, calling them a “throwback to a bygone age”.
In the choirs, the higher linesare sung by boys, known as trebles and altos.
Ms Garrett, 63, said it was “nonsense”, put forward by “backwardlooking traditionalists”, to argue that “there is an exclusive purity in a boy’s voice”.
She singled out King’s College Choir, Cambridge, one of the most famous English choirs, for criticism for not introducing change.
Sweet
The choir, founded in the 15th century, is famous for appearing in A Festival Of Nine Lessons and Carols, the Christmas Eve service the BBC has broadcast since 1928.
It is “one of a ... number of ecclesiastic choirs in the UK ... that don’t have girls singing,” Ms Garrett said.
“When you’re being showcased around the world, I think the time is overdue for the choir to admit girls.”
She cited research which found that the “quality of pre-pubescent boys’ and girls’ voices is virtually indistinguishable”.
She said: “Girls’ voices are just as pure, just as sweet and just as sonorous.”
She called on Daniel Hyde, King’s College Choir’s new director of music, to “act” when he takes over next year, adding that it is an “irony” that King’s was the first all-male Cambridge college to admit women.
Ms Garrett, who has a daughter and son, is one of Britain’s bestknown sopranos, regularly appearing in opera and musical theatre. In a career spanning almost 40 years, she has released 11 solo albums.