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King’s Singers join forces with Peterborough inclusive choir

The King’s Singers are joining forces with a group of choirs, including the Soundabout Inclusive Choir for Peterborough Youth, who all have a shared mission to break down barriers through song, to create an innovative music video for UN Zero Discrimination Day (March 1) aiming to reach across the world with a message of togetherness and solidarity.

The Mixed Up Chorus brings people together across cultural, religious and political divides, the Sing for Freedom choir unites refugee survivors of torture and their allies from across the UK, and the Soundabout Inclusive Choirs give a voice to people with severe and profound learning disabilities.  Together, the choirs are working with the renowned vocal sextet on a new arrangement by Steve Dunachie of the classic “I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” by The New Seekers.

The voices of the around 200 singers, recorded in their homes during lockdown, will be brought together in the studio by music producer Will Gardner. David Parker of Figment Arts has created the part-animated video concept in response to the challenge of not being able to perform together in person.

The choirs were first introduced by The King’s Singers in February 2021 when the vocal sextet chose all three choirs to be ambassadors of their “Finding Harmony” campaign, which highlighted the power of music to bring people together through song.

The Soundabout Inclusive Choir for Peterborough Youth is run in partnership with the Peterborough Music Hub. They are part of a network of Soundabout Inclusive Choirs in Bristol, Leicestershire Oxford, Wiltshire and the West Midlands who have all been meeting online throughout the period of the pandemic.

Patrick Dunachie from The King’s Singers said “Having begun to work alongside these choirs last year, it is beautiful to see the spirit of ‘Finding Harmony’ in action, as they come together with us to create a musical performance, despite severely challenging circumstances. We hope this collaboration will bring smiles to many faces around the world, inspire others to be creative and defiant in how they make music, and also highlight an important initiative by the UN”.

Clare Cook CEO of the charity Soundabout which works to give a voice to people with severe and profound learning disabilities through music said, “These singing groups have one key thing in common – a commitment to musical inclusion. The vision of the Soundabout Inclusive Choirs is to create musical communities without barriers and we are so proud to stand together with this powerful group of singers against discrimination of all forms.”

Holly Jones & Jeremy Haneman, Directors of Together Productions, which runs the Mixed Up Chorus and the Sing for Freedom Choir said, “We’re delighted and honoured to be collaborating with the King’s Singers and the amazing Soundabout Choirs to raise our voices together and take a stand for zero discrimination.  We believe that building bonds of empathy and community through the arts is one of the most powerful ways to create change.”

“I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing” will be released on March 1 2021. Follow The King’s Singers, Soundabout and Together Productions across social media channels for updates.

For more visit https://www.soundabout.org.uk/soundabout-inclusive-choir/

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