Head Chorister, George Blyth, tells us about his time as a chorister and how he looks forward to the year ahead as the newly appointed Head Chorister.

"I joined the cathedral choir in Upper 2, when I was seven years old. At my previous church choir I realised that I loved singing choral music and how it made me feel, so I decided nervously to go for an audition! I was accepted into the choir and immediately loved it. When you first join you learn lots very quickly, supported by the older choristers. I started off as a probationer, as everyone does, and became a full chorister after a year. Just a few months after that, I sang my first solo in front of the whole cathedral!

Every weekday we go to the song-school for a morning rehearsal before school. We sing evensong three times a week, and two services every Sunday; we also sing at special occasions in the cathedral such a weddings and funerals, Norwich civic services, and of course the big Christmas and Easter services. We also perform concerts throughout the year including big works like Bach’s St Matthew and St John’s Passion or Handel’s Messiah. Every year we also travel to London to sing a small Christmas concert. Christmas and Easter are probably the busiest times of the year for choristers, as we sing nearly every day.

Usually, the choir will go on tour to sing, but because of the lockdowns and covid we have been unable to in the past few years, although we have still enjoyed days out to places like Pleasurewood Hills and Go Ape. Although the choir couldn’t go on tour, I have been lucky to be invited to attend the Edington Festival for the past two years. This is a choral music festival where sixteen selected choristers from the major cathedral and collegiate choirs in the country (including Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, Salisbury, Magdalen College, as well as Norwich!) form a choir to sing for a week - including BBC radio broadcast – with some of the best adult choral singers and music directors.

I was very surprised and my heart skipped a beat when I was announced as head chorister, I really didn’t expect it. My role as head chorister is to look after the boys, make sure they are organised (and behaving!) and to help the younger choristers settle in and find their feet. I think it’s important for me to do what older choristers did for me, as it helped me a lot. It’s been a little harder for us, as lockdown caused changes from the normal routine for much of my time as a chorister, but in the last year it has fortunately returned to normal. I am really excited for the year ahead, it’s a special privilege this year to lead the choristers accompanied by the fantastic new cathedral organ."