Gabrieli Roar, a youth music project which helps young people from many backgrounds to develop a love of choral music, is returning to Ely for a concert involving 250 young singers from all over the UK.

The project involves a range of diverse English school and youth choirs from all sorts of areas fostering the next generation of classical music lovers, concert-goers and musicians.

The concert, taking place at Ely Cathedral on Wednesday 26th July, will also feature the soloists Nicky Spence, Anna Stéphany and Andrew Foster-William, along with the period instrumentalists and singers of the Gabrieli Consort and Players. It is the culmination of a residential course entitled ‘Angels and Devils’ which takes place from 21st – 26th July in Chelmsford and is based around Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius.

Paul McCreesh, Founder and Artistic Director of Gabrieli Roar said ‘I can’t wait for the opportunity to introduce our brilliant young singers to Elgar’s choral masterpiece. It’s long been one of my favourite works and I’m hugely confident it will be a tremendous experience. As always our young people will work extremely hard but it’s a joy to see them develop both musically and personally. We have a fantastic group of coaches who help train the singers and a great pastoral team who ensure they all have lots of fun as well.’

Following the performance at Ely Cathedral, some of the more experienced Roar singers will also perform at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon and take part in a recording of the work, to be released in Spring 2024.

This summer also sees Roar’s first international collaboration as the Polish National Youth Choir will join the project in celebration of its 10th anniversary.