Chester Coronation concert brings choirs together in heart of city to mark historic occasion

With several events happening across the city in celebration of the King’s Coronation, We Are Chester’s Paul Crofts headed to the Town Hall Square in Chester as a special Coronation Concert organised by the Lord Mayor of Chester was staged to mark the historic event.

Words and Pictures by Paul Crofts

With a purpose-built stage erected, seating laid out, and the sun beating down, an absolutely packed Town Hall Square took on the form of an open-air concert venue on Sunday 7 May for The Lord Mayor’s Coronation Concert.

Put together by well-known local musical director, composer and choir leader Matt Baker BEM, the event was opened by the outgoing Lord Mayor of Chester, Councillor John Leather and included a proclamation by Chester’s Town Choir David Mitchell before Matt took to the stage to introduce a diverse and inclusive mix of choirs from across the city.

The choirs performing included the University of Chester and friends Choir, A Handbag of Harmonies, the Dee-Sign BSL choir, Chester Male Voice Choir, pupils from Overleigh St Mary’s CoE Primary School, Proud Mary’s LBGTQ+ Choir, and Chester Rock Choir.

Sadly, I arrived a little late and missed both A Handbag of Harmonies and Chester University Choir but having seen clips of their performances on social media, they both sounded fantastic and got the event off to a brilliant start. I did, however, arrive in time to catch the wonderful DeeSign BSL choir who perform with such expression.

They certainly got the crowd going with Queen favourite Don’t Stop Me Now. They are such brilliant ambassadors for the deaf community and it’s always a privilege to see them performing in and around Chester.

Next up, my good friends from Chester Male Voice Choir took to the stage. Whilst they were slightly depleted in numbers for this performance, they certainly sounded on form and the crowd was extremely appreciative of their assured rendition of the stirring World in Union, which was followed by a powerful performance of You’ll Never Walk Alone from the musical Carousel.

One of the highlights of the concert was a special mashup of songs performed by children from Overleigh St Mary’s CofE Primary School. The medley was topped and tailed by the National Anthem and included Beyond The Sea/La Mer and Sosban Fach, apparently both favourite songs of the newly-crowned King Charles.

Matt Baker had done a superb job in putting this together and the children sang with gusto. One very special feature of the choir from Overleigh was that it includes several Afghan children who have not only had to learn English as a second language but have also learned to sing in Welsh. The crowd showed their appreciation with a huge and well-deserved roar of approval, thunderous applause and cheers.

One of the most popular Chester-based choirs of recent times has to be Proud Marys, Chester’s very own LGBTQ+ choir. The choir delighted the audience with a medley of classic, cheesy pop anthems and a stunning arrangement of Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. With some clever choreography thrown in for good measure, it was clear to see why the choir had been such a hit during its recent tour of Liverpool to celebrate all things Eurovision.

The final choir of the afternoon was the ever-popular Chester Rock Choir who brought their usual gorgeous harmonies to the stage with A Thousand Years and brought their set to a close with a crowd-pleasing version of I Wanna Dance With Somebody.

The grand finale of the event saw all the choirs and those who had packed the Town Hall Square for the event join in with the singing of The Lambeth Walk, complete with choreography, followed by a rousing rendition of the National Anthem. As the event drew to a close, Matt made special mention of the Lord Mayor and thanked him for the year he had served.

I was particularly struck by Matt’s inspirational words as he spoke of the diversity of the people in the choirs who had taken part in the concert, from all backgrounds, abilities and orientations and his hope that the Union flag he was wearing in the shape of his rather splendid jacket, represented a country which is tolerant, diverse and welcoming.

Matt’s words were greeted with a huge cheer and applause from the assembled crowd on the Town Hall Square and, for those few moments, it seemed we were all united by the power of music. As we enter this new Carolean era, we can only hope that community events like this one continue to encourage a spirit of diversity and tolerance not only across this great, welcoming city of ours but throughout the whole of the UK.

Paul Crofts, May 2023.