MEDIA RELEASE

Renowned Composer to work with Truro Cathedral Choir
Truro, Cornwall, 21 October 2016: Truro Cathedral is delighted to reveal that it has secured
a grant from Arts Council England to commission renowned composer, Dobrinka Tabakova,
to compose six new pieces of music for Truro Cathedral Choir. The project has also received
support through a generous donation to Truro School from a benefactor wishing to support
the work of the girl choristers.
The project will run for eighteen months and is the brain child of Christopher Gray, Directorof Music at Truro Cathedral. The cathedral has a long history of commissioning composers
to write new and exciting music for the choir. Christopher says, “I know that working with acomposer of Dobrinka’s stature is going to be a nourishing and rewarding experience for ourcathedral choir and our local community. She writes in a distinctive style that issophisticated but accessible, and she clearly thinks deeply about every note she pens.
Having a series of pieces from her over an eighteen month period will enable us to develop
our relationship and I know our local audiences will have an enchanting journey as they hear
one premiere after another.”This particular project is significant because Dobrinka Tabakova is the first female composer
to have been commissioned by Truro Cathedral. She will be writing works for the choir toperform with its girl choristers who are all educated at Truro School.
Dobrinka Tabakova says “It is with great excitement that I begin this two year association
with Truro Cathedral, especially knowing that I will be working closely with the newly
founded girl choristers. The rich natural and cultural heritage of Cornwall will provide a wellof inspiration, which I am eager to share with the choirs, and the work which we will bedoing with the local community. I am extremely grateful to Christopher Gray and all the staff
at Truro Cathedral for this invitation and their work in making this wonderful collaboration areality."
Having been founded just over a year ago by a partnership between Truro Cathedral andTruro School, the eighteen girl choristers, all aged 13 to 18, have quickly establishedthemselves as an outstanding group of young musicians. In the coming year, as well as
singing at nearly one hundred services, they will perform their first live broadcast on BBC
Radio 3 and record a CD with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. The new music by
Dobrinka Tabakova will add yet another dimension to their musical experience and they will
gain from developing an artistic relationship with a leading composer over the coming
months.
Andrew Gordon-Brown, Headmaster of Truro School said: “It is a joy to listen to our girlchoristers and we are privileged to hear them practising on a daily basis. However, for them
to be able to work with a composer writing specifically for this choir is a very excitingprospect and we are all looking forward to hearing the resulting pieces.”
Ms Tabakova is based in London, but will travel down to Cornwall to work with the choir on
the new pieces. While she is here, she will also deliver a series of workshops to students
from Cornish secondary schools. The aim of the workshops is to engage students in working
on one of the compositions so that they have experience of working hands-on with thecomposer and helping her to shape the piece. The students will then be given theopportunity to perform the piece at a concert in the cathedral alongside Truro Cathedral
Choir in March 2018.
Adult professional singers who are members of the choir will assist in the delivery of theworkshops. The workshops will be a great way to take classical music out into thecommunity in a really practical way and to give young people an insight into what life as acathedral chorister is all about.
We anticipate that the first of the newly commissioned pieces will be performed at the girls’
Nine Lessons and Carols’ service on 24 December. A further two pieces will be included intheir BBC Radio 3 broadcast in March 2017.
ENDS
For further information or an interview, contact Liz Mulloy, Development Manager, TruroCathedral on 01872 245013 or via email: lizmulloy@trurocathedral.org.uk
Notes to Editors:
About Truro Cathedral
Traditional worship has been at the heart of Truro Cathedral since it was consecrated in 1887.
Beyond that core purpose, it has served the community in which it stands in a range of ways, often
pioneering innovative and imaginative schemes that sit with its spiritual ethos. Recent examples
include the ice rink, a Jubilee dinner in the Nave, theatre productions on the Cathedral Green, acontroversial art installation by internationally renowned artist, Imran Qureshi, and a singing
outreach programme that involved more than one hundred primary schools and became the basis ofa major government initiative rolled out across England. It is the Mother Church of the Diocese ofTruro (which includes Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and two parishes in Devon) and the seat of theBishop of Truro.