Page 81 - Final_RPS Awards 2020 Media Coverage Book

Yesterday evening a more obvious dream of recognition from one of the industry’s most

prestigious bodies did come to pass, with the Diocese of Leeds Schools Singing Programme
winning a Royal Philharmonic Society Inspiration Award for our work during lockdown. Who’d have

thought that sitting at home attending an award ceremony with my wonderful colleagues via a
Zoom call would feel so normal?

In early March the tight spaces and cramped rehearsal rooms of Leeds Cathedral echoed with

simultaneous choir rehearsals, often competing aurally with piano, organ and singing lessons. Our
team of Choral Directors flew between over 50 schools delivering whole class singing sessions to
over 4500 children a week, then racing to after-school choirs in Bradford, Halifax, Huddersfield,

Pontefract and Wakefield. We’d enjoyed the glow of a successful autumn term, with our wonderful
Bradford Catholic Youth Choir touring to Rome and singing for BBC One’s Christmas Day Mass

and we were looking forward to some wonderful projects, including taking part in the Gabrieli
Consort’s ROAR programme.

How little we knew…

As lockdown hit, with the support and enthusiasm of the Diocese we decided to maintain our full
schedule and find a way to deliver this online. Aiming to produce daily singing sessions for

schools, a crash course in video and audio editing followed; without much prior experience this
was certainly a bumpy ride. We’re all familiar with the existential horror of hearing our own

speaking voices; watching hours of ourselves on screen was a similar experience! As we racked
up the views, lovely feedback came in from parents and schools; the opportunity to observe so
much of colleagues’ work was inspirational, and as we became more confident musical and editing