London: Maria Fidelis school to sing for Pope

Maria Fidelis choir

Whoopie Goldberg may have finished her recent West End run in Sister Act but the Gospel Choir of Maria Fidelis Convent School FCJ, Euston, central London, is about to undertake its biggest performance yet when they really do sing for Pope Benedict XVI.

The Maria Fidelis Convent School Gospel Choir, this year’s winners of BBC Songs of Praise Senior Choir of the Year 2010, have been chosen to sing at The Big Assembly, the education event being held as part of the forthcoming state visit of His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI.

“Earlier in the year, in preparation for Songs of Praise we took the choir to see the West End production of Sister Act. As we know, the show finishes with the choir singing for the Pope and as we left the theatre I half-jokingly said this would be us when the Holy Father visited in September, never knowing this would become a reality!”, said Lyn Newell, choir manager and Assistant Headteacher.

 “It is a great honour to have been chosen to sing at the Big Assembly and as the date draws near we are starting to realise the huge responsibility we have accepted. We feel that we are representing all young people, not just ourselves and we hope that everyone will see in us just what young people can achieve through faith, hard work and having high aspirations.” The choir, led by conductor Karen Gibson, will sing from its repertoire and together with Holy Rosary and St Anne’s Primary School, Leeds, lead the assembly in the hymns and congregational singing.

The Big Assembly, organised by the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales, is being held at St Mary’s University College, Twickenham and will be attended by young people from schools and colleges throughout the UK. There will be wide media coverage and an expected worldwide audience.

Since winning Songs of Praise, Maria Fidelis Convent School Gospel Choir has sung for a number of businesses and choral events and they have recently sung as a guest choir at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod.

The choir will feature in a special Songs of Praise programme recorded for the Papal visit which will be shown on BBC1 on Sunday 12th September 2010.
 
They will also sing on Premier Radio in the morning.

 “The girls are very excited. They have been working hard at rehearsals and feel very privileged to have been chosen to represent the talent of young people in Catholic secondary schools and to demonstrate the many positive achievements of our young people.”