Heavenly performance by Lincoln Cathedral Choir brings joy in lockdown

Lincoln Cathedral Choir paid tribute to the NHS, carers and frontline staff serving the country during the coronavirus lockdown with a beautiful rendition of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’.

All the individual parts were recorded at home before being edited into a single song by Mark Wilde, who is the lay vicar in the Cathedral Choir. The performance features more than half of the Cathedral choristers, as well as the lay vicars and choral scholars who make up the choir.

The video was released to coincide with the weekly Clap for Carers events that take place nationally and locally every Thursday at 8pm.

Mark Wilde, who co-ordinated the project, said: “As a choir we are used to coming together every day of the week to practice and to sing in the Cathedral, we spend a lot of time together and that is something that we have all really missed during the lockdown.

“This project has given us the opportunity to join together and sing the same song even though we can’t be in the same space, and it is nice to have that sense of unity again.

“Importantly it is also a way that we can pay our own small tribute to all those working on the front line and remind them how much they are valued and hopefully bring a smile to their faces at the same time.

“The choristers, choral scholars and lay vicars have all done an outstanding job. It is much more difficult for them when they are not together in the same room; they don’t have the usual references for timing that they would have when they are standing together. But the final recording sounds amazing and that’s testament to their skill.”

The song choice is also significant as the Very Revd Christine Wilson, Dean of Lincoln, said that in Christianity “the rainbow is a symbol of God’s grace and the promise of hope for the future, and it is apt therefore, that it has come to be a symbol shared by many people during this crisis”. She added that the theme of hope and optimism in the song is also very relevant at the moment.

Lincoln Cathedral will continue to be lit blue as a sign of thanks to all those working on the frontline and a reminder to help protect the NHS by staying at home.