GIRLS are to be given a new opportunity to sing as part of the daily music-making at Portsmouth’s Anglican cathedral.

Sarah Lock, 18, models the new look for girls singing in Portsmouth Cathedral

The historic decision opens the way for teenage girls to add their voices to choral worship both in Portsmouth Cathedral and in concerts around the Anglican Diocese of Portsmouth.

The 12 to 18-year-old girls will join a new choir – ‘Cantate!’, which will also include teenage boys. The new recruits are expected to start singing Evensongs on Thursdays from September.

The choir will be an addition to the existing Cathedral Choir that features the voices of 14 gentlemen and 24 boys aged from eight to 13 years old. Girls and women already sing as part of the cathedral’s St Thomas Parish Choir, which performs mainly for parish services.

The cathedral’s Master of Choristers David Price said: “There is a demand among teenage girls to sing in a cathedral choir, and we thought this exciting new venture will provide unique opportunities.

“The group will be directed by Andrew Cleary from Portsmouth Grammar School. The choir will be open to teenagers from other schools too across the city and the diocese.”

The conductor of the Portsmouth Choral Union, Jonathan Willcocks, has agreed to be a patron of ‘Cantate!’ He said: “I am honoured to be associated with this exciting new development of a choir which will extend to girls the marvellous opportunities that boys have for so long enjoyed in the musical life of Portsmouth Cathedral.”

Anyone interested in joining should contact Sophie Lederer in the cathedral’s music office on 023-9234 9430, sophie.lederer@portsmouthcathedral.org.uk, or by writing to the cathedral music office, St Thomas’s Street, Old Portsmouth PO1 2HH. More information is also available on www.portsmouthcathedral.org.uk/music.htm.

Choral scholars from our cathedral have also completed a new CD of classical and pop songs, entitled Heavenly Harmonies, to raise cash for charity.

It includes tracks as diverse as the Bee Gees’ How Deep Is Your Love, the carol Away In A Manger and David Price’s settings of the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis. It follows on from their much-publicised efforts to raise funds for charity by stripping to the waist for ‘Heavenly Hunks’ calendars over the past three years.

A total of £15,000 was raised for Macmillan Cancer Relief and the Roberts Centre by the cheeky poses. The CD aims to raise thousands of pounds more.

The CD is available via the website – www.heavenlyhunks.co.uk – at the cathedral shop or by contacting Macmillan Cancer Relief on either 023-9278 8700 or kprice@macmillan.org.uk