The extraordinary vocal range of York Minster’s current choral scholars will be showcased in a free concert taking place in the cathedral’s North Transept on Saturday 3 March at 7.30pm.

Each member of the young, super-talented quartet – George Clark, David McGregor, Jack Harberd and Chris Murphy – already has an impressive portfolio of achievements as both musicians and performers. These include TV and radio performances with acclaimed vocal ensembles such as Robert Hollingsworth’s I Fagiolini, and Schola Cantorum of Oxford, numerous concert and opera performances, solo recitals at internationally renowned festivals such as Aldeburgh, roles in musicals such as Oliver! and Little Shop of Horrors, and even singing backing vocals for pop superstar Kylie Minogue.  The quartet will be accompanied on the chamber organ by Jeremy Lloyd, Assisting Organist at York Minster, and on the piano by Timothy Hone, Music and Liturgy Manager at York Minster.

Choral Scholars at York Minster are paid, student singers who are seeking to develop their experience in church music.  They sing alongside the choir’s seven Songmen, paid, professional singers committed to maintaining and developing musical standards at the cathedral.

The concert programme will include Britten’s Canticle Abraham and Isaac, English songs, and a group of close-harmony arrangements.

Meet the performers

George Clark (bass baritone)

George grew up in Cornwall and began singing as a chorister at Truro Cathedral becoming a bass choral scholar in his upper-sixth year. George is a final year undergraduate at York University, studying as a bass baritone. During his time at university he has directed and performed in various productions with the university’s opera society and also played violin. He is the current leader of the university’s Symphony Orchestra. He has performed live on BBC TV’s Newsnight with I Fagiolini, the British vocal ensemble founded by Robert Hollingsworth. Recent performances include bass soloist in Mozart’s Requiem at the Sage Gateshead with the Royal Northern Sinfonia, and in Finzi’s Let Us Garlands Bring with the University Chamber Orchestra. He is currently a member of Genesis Sixteen.

David McGregor (alto)

David began playing piano at aged five before taking up the clarinet, saxophone and singing. As a teenager, he competed in music festivals, played in orchestras, jazz bands and chamber ensembles.  After secondary school in Cumbria, he read music at Girton College, Cambridge, where he was awarded both academic and choral scholarships. He was granted the opportunity to sing solos Bach’s St. John Passion alongside prestigious evangelist Nicholas Mulroy. David’s time at university fostered a love of choral singing which brought him back to the north of England in order to be choral scholar at York Minster, a post for which he is very grateful.

Jack Harberd (tenor)

Jack developed his love of singing at the age of two. He is currently studying music at York University. He has toured and recorded with numerous choirs, notably Schola Cantorum of Oxford and I Fagiolini. He has performed as a soloist at Aldeburgh Festival and as a backing singer for Kylie Minogue. Jack has explored all kinds of musical opportunities at university, including operas, musicals, and joining the university A Capella group, Vox. Stage credits include Billy Crocker in Anything Goes, Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors and Henrick Egermann in A Little Night Music. He has also produced and directed university productions of Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and Play On, a student-devised piece of music theatre. Jack is moving south to pursue a career in TV production.

Chris Murphy (bass baritone)

Chris started singing aged 10 when he took to the stage as Oliverin Jam theatre’s production of Oliver! He quickly found a passion in choral singing in Taplow choirs and other local choirs. After school Chris took a gap year to sing with the choir of Southwark Cathedral, a year which inspired him to read music at York University where he has enjoyed singing with a wide variety of groups performing a wide range of repertoire. Chris has taken part in a variety of productions including ballet, musicals and opera. Chris would like to pursue a career in opera one day.

Jeremy Lloyd (chamber organ)

Jeremy Lloyd is the Assisting Organist at York Minster where he accompanies the Minster Choir on a regular basis as part of the daily round of services.  Jeremy joined York Minster in September 2016, having previously held positions at Peterborough Cathedral, The London Oratory, and Methodist Central Hall, Westminster. He is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music with first class honours, and is in demand throughout the UK as a solo performer and accompanist.

Timothy Hone (piano)

Born in Leicestershire, Timothy Hone was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge where he was Organ Scholar. He was appointed Sub-Organist at Leeds Parish Church in 1980, moving to a similar post at Coventry Cathedral in 1982. During his time there he performed the complete organ works of J S Bach and appeared as soloist in a broadcast concert with the BBC Concert Orchestra.

In 1987, Tim was appointed Director of Music at Newcastle Cathedral. Under his direction, the choir performed with the London Festival Orchestra and Northern Sinfonia, appeared on radio and television and made two recordings. His interest in the interface between liturgy and music led to post-graduate study for an MA in Liturgy and Music at University of Leeds, which he was awarded with Distinction in 2001.

He moved to the Department of Liturgy and Music at Salisbury Cathedral in 2002. In January 2015, he took up the post of Music and Liturgy Manager at York Minster. Later that year he was also appointed Director of Music at the city centre Guild church of All Saints, Pavement. Tim continues to combine these duties with activity as organ soloist, continuo-player, and accompanist.

Research shows that singing can improve learning outcomes, confidence and creativity, but it also helps children to develop other important skills such as teamwork, resilience and self-discipline

Choristers from York Minster’s Choir visited pupils at Heworth Primary School this week for the first session of the Cathedral’s 2018 Choral Outreach scheme.

Run in partnership with the Minster School, the scheme gives York pupils in Years 3 to 6 access to specialist staff and resources from the Cathedral and its school to encourage children to explore and enjoy music and singing.

Each term three schools take part in the programme, with weekly, hour-long workshops run by Alison Forster, Director of Music at the Minster School or Ben Morris, York Minster’s Assistant Director of Music.

The other schools taking part this term are Knavesmire Primary School and Haxby Road Primary Academy. All three schools will perform at an end of term concert in the Minster in March, alongside senior choristers from the Cathedral’s choir and members of the Minster School Junior Choir.

Alison Forster, Director of Music at the Minster School, said: “The programme started in 2007 and we’ve seen tremendous support from local schools, with around 45 taking part over the last decade.

“The first session is very relaxed and it’s nice for the pupils to meet the choristers and learn more about what their role involves and about music at the Cathedral.

“Research shows that singing can improve learning outcomes, confidence and creativity, but it also helps children to develop other important skills such as teamwork, resilience and self-discipline.

“One of my favourite parts of the scheme is seeing children discovering their singing voices and recognising their vocal potential, often for the first time.”

The end of term concert takes place in the Cathedral’s Nave with teachers, parents, families and friends invited to see the children perform.

As well as the concert, there is an opportunity for children who have enjoyed taking part in the scheme to join the York Junior Youth Choir, an informal choir for children aged seven to 16 which meets every Saturday.

The Great East Window is one of the great artistic achievements of the Middle Ages, a stunning expanse of stained glass of unparalleled size and beauty in Britain.

For the first time in a decade, the country’s largest single expanse of medieval stained glass is again complete following one of the largest conservation and restoration projects of its kind in Europe.

The final panel in York Minster’s 600-year-old Great East Window was today (Tuesday 2 January) returned to the world-famous masterpiece, 10 years after all 311 panels were removed by York Glaziers Trust.

Conservators at the Trust have spent around 92,400 hours meticulously conserving each piece as part of an £11.5m project. The programme has also included extensive work by York Minster’s stonemasons to repair and replace hundreds of stones at the cathedral’s East End, which houses the window.

The project has used pioneering technology alongside traditional craft-skills, with the cathedral becoming the first building in the UK to install state-of-the-art, UV resistant external glazing to protect the priceless stained glass. It remains the largest world-wide use to date of the revolutionary protective material.

Sarah Brown, Director at York Glaziers Trust, said: “This has been a once in a lifetime project for the team and it’s a huge privilege to be part of this milestone in the Minster’s history.

“The Great East Window is one of the great artistic achievements of the Middle Ages, a stunning expanse of stained glass of unparalleled size and beauty in Britain. The work undertaken as part of this project will ensure this masterpiece is preserved for hundreds of years to come.”

The Dean of York, The Very Reverend Vivienne Faull, added: “It’s a triumph to have the Great East Window complete once again and we look forward to seeing it in all its glory when the scaffolding is removed and the project formally completed in the spring.

“Its completion marks the start of a multi-million pound campaign in partnership with the York Minster Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to provide state-of-the-art protective glazing to all 128 of our medieval stained glass windows.

“It will take us 20 years to achieve this but the environmental protection will stop the corrosion and decay caused by the glass being exposed to the elements, buying us much needed time for vital conservation work which will preserve the irreplaceable windows for generations to come.”

The window was created between 1405 and 1408 by Master Glazier John Thornton, who was paid £56 by the Chapter of York. As the cost of materials and the wages for the other craftsmen involved in making the window under Thornton’s direction is unrecorded, the overall cost of the window is unknown. It is however a work of enormous ambition, depicting the beginning and end of all things from the book of Genesis to the book of Revelation, known in the Middle Ages as the Apocalypse.

Work to restore the window originally started in 2005, when the East End and Great East Window were covered in 16 miles of scaffolding so stonemasons and conservators could assess the condition of the 14^th century stonework.

Centuries of exposure to the elements had left the stone so badly weathered that the window had begun to bow. The size of the task prompted a bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund, which in turn led to York Minster Revealed – a five year, £18m project generously supported by a £9m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund, matched by funding from the York Minster Fund and the Chapter of York.

Due to the size of the project the work to return the stained glass to the window has been done in two phases.

In 2015, 157 stained glass panels were returned to the Apocalypse and Tracery sections of the window as part of the five-year York Minster Revealed project, which concluded in March 2016.

Between August 2015 and September 2017 the final 154 panels from the Tracery and Old Testament sections were worked on in the Trust’s studios before being returned to the window between November 2017 and January 2018.

Over the next few months, the scaffolding will be removed followed by a period of extensive cleaning, before a celebration to formally mark the completion of the project in May.

The Lady Chapel, which is at the foot of the Great East Window, will then once again be used for worship.