First female voice in St Paul’s choir ‘will disturb the harmony’
ONE OF Britain’s leading choristers has criticised the decision by St Paul’s Cathedral to appoint its first female singer as a threat to the purity of its choir.
Grayston Burgess, a respected choral singer and conductor, said the inclusion of Carris Jones was the result of “political correctness” and would unbalance the sound of cathedral’s famous boys’ choir.
Mr Burgess, 84, said: “This ‘politically correct’ decision appears to have been taken without a thought for the musical aspect or its consequences ... the logical next step is to appoint another female alto to ‘balance’ the two sides of the choir.”
He told The Telegraph: “It’s a politically correct appointment that has nothing to do with musical know-how. It’s nonsense to introduce a woman into a traditional boys choir. Boys make a totally different sound to an adult when they sing and with her appoint- ment St Paul’s will no longer be a boys choir. Why are they trying to change something that’s been here for thousands of years?”
Ms Jones’s arrival in September in the £24,000 per annum role of vicar choral, the title given to an adult singer, was welcomed by many, but Mr Burgess’s view is thought to be shared by several on the traditionalist wing. Mr Burgess was himself a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, King’s College Cambridge and Westminster Abbey, and went on to perform with the Purcell Singers and establish the community-based choral initiative Choir 2000.
Ms Jones has worked on soundtracks for Harry Potter and Hobbit movies and joined Sting on his “lute tour” in 2006. She had responded to a job advert which made it clear women applicants would be considered.
When appointed last month she said she felt a “responsibility” as the first woman in the choir of St Paul’s, adding: “It wasn’t just for me, it was for lots of my other female colleagues as well.”
St Paul’s was one of just four Anglican cathedrals still without any female choristers. Andrew Carwood, its director of music, said: “We are delighted that Carris is joining the choir. The final round of auditions was of a very high standard and her appointment was a unanimous decision.”