It has been announced this week that two former King’s Ely students and Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir members have been appointed the first ever women choral scholars at Durham and Exeter Cathedral respectively.
Georgia Schneider, who left the school last year, has been appointed the first woman choral scholar at Durham Cathedral and begins singing there immediately. Georgia, who is currently in her first year reading Mathematics at Durham University, was a student at King’s Ely since she was six years old. She sang in ECGC from 2009-2013 and now she is the first female Choral Scholar at Durham Cathedral, where she will sing alto daily in the cathedral choir.
Anna-Rose Harris, also in Georgia’s year group, is the first woman choral scholar at Exeter Cathedral where she has been singing all year. Anna-Rose is currently doing a Gap Year before coming up to read Theology at Newnham College Cambridge next year where she will be a choral scholar at Selwyn College. She sang in ECGC from 2009-2013 as a boarding student at King’s Ely.
Sarah MacDonald, director of Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir, commented “I am absolutely thrilled with these two appointments, and immensely proud of both Anna-Rose and Georgia. They are extremely talented, skilled, and dedicated liturgical musicians, and it is wonderful that they have been given the opportunity to sing as altos in the back rows of these two great cathedral choirs, despite the fact that they are not men!”