Choir in a Time of Covid-19

That title sentence would have been totally incomprehensible only a few months ago, but today our reality as choir leaders is sifting through the possibilities that may lay ahead. 

It so happens that 2020 is the tenth anniversary of our choir family at Starling Arts, and we have been planning to mark the occasion with a concert at London’s prestigious Cadogan Hall. The concert was booked over a year ago, and a cast of over 120 performers from five of our singing groups have been in the full swing of rehearsals ready to perform on Saturday April 4th 2020. But as this year has gone on, it has become clear that the Coronavirus, Covid-19, has become an insurmountable obstacle to our original plans.

Unfortunately, in light of on-going developments and the current climate, Starling 10 will no longer take place on April 4th at Cadogan Hall. While we are nothing short of bereft, we also remain optimistic that our singing community will be strengthened by the coming challenges, and we go forward knowing that we all have the support of each other. We also know that right now, keeping everyone safe and minimising the spread of this virus must come above everything else.   

We would like to show our solidarity to others who are already feeling the very real impact of the virus, especially those in the arts and service industries who have already lost work. May we all continue to find new ways to collaborate, create and restore together.

We are aware that this is an incredibly unsettling time for many people, not least because of the threat to the health of ourselves and loved ones, and the financial instability that the circumstances look likely to bring across the world. In difficult times, our default as choir leaders is to offer singing as a positive, outlook-changing escape. As a choir family, our community sing together, laugh together and support each other through the very best and very worst of times. The trickiest part of Covid-19 is that the measures necessary to slow the transmission rates and limit its impact across the globe separate and divide people by necessity. The catch-22 is that public gatherings are currently off-limits across the world, and if a choir needs anything, it’s people. Yet what the world needs now is love - and one of the best ways we know how to do that is to sing. 

The simple fact that choirs require people to be in close proximity is a challenge in this time of social distancing. Due to our postponed birthday concert, we have been getting creative with potential concert plan Bs. We will be trialling a move to video gatherings for the time being, in the hope that in being diligent we can limit the impact and spread of Covid-19 within our own communities, but still connect with one another on a regular basis. We have lots of ideas to keep the joy of singing alive, even if we’re all apart, so do keep an eye out for lots of things you can be a part of in the coming weeks. 

We are also altering our perspective to look at the concert as just the tip of an iceberg - so much love and magic has already been produced in the rehearsal process, and we will continue to harbour that in any way we can. We cherish the moments we have already spent with our singers, and look forward to many more as we find new ways to move forward. 

One blessing is that in recent months we have been lucky enough to produce a brand new song, The Voice Inside, with an accompanying music video as well as a short documentary which bears testimony to the life-changing power of being part of a singing community like Starling Arts. The song and music video are due for release on Sunday April 5th, and while watching and listening to the first edits, we have been teary eyed thinking of what a wonderful thing we have all built as a family. We hope that this current pandemic passes with as little impact as possible to the global population, and we will continue to find joy in all that we can as we face the future together. 

Regarding the concert, we are working hard with Cadogan Hall to secure a new date and details about ticket transfers and refunds will be available in due course.

We can’t wait to share our song and documentary with you, and want to thank you for supporting us and our community through these times. 

With much love,

Anna and Emily, co-directors of Starling Arts.