Rochester Cathedral is celebrating two members of its renowned choir reaching the semi-finals of BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition. Charlie Binney and Ingrid Linn beat hundreds of other choristers getting through to the final 10.

 Both have sung in the Rochester Cathedral Choir for a number of years. Charlie joined in 2019 as a chorister and is now Dean’s Chorister. Ingrid joined as a chorister in 2017 and is now a Choral Scholar. Charlie and Ingrid were both thrilled at each other’s successes and enjoyed cheering each other on at the competition. Charlie said “it was definitely more of a collaboration than a competition.”

The BBC Young Chorister of the Year competition airs on BBC 1 and Radio 2. It was filmed in ‘The Monastery’ in Manchester in October. Ingrid and Charlie were excited at the opportunity to make new friends and sing with the other semi-finalists. They also met the presenters Aled Jones and the Reverend Canon Kate Bottley.

Director of Music, Adrian Bawtree says  “Massive congratulations go to Ingrid and Charlie for their significant achievement in this competition. We are delighted for them and would like to encourage you all to visit this historic place and hear them and our choir sing together”.

Only five boys and five girls reached the semi-final so it is a huge achievement for Charlie and Ingrid. It is a resounding endorsement of the quality of the Rochester Cathedral Choir to have a fifth of the semi-finalists coming from our choir.

 In 2019, after more than fourteen hundred years of sacred music, Rochester Cathedral became the first English cathedral since Manchester – and the first ancient cathedral foundation – to announce the introduction of a single mixed treble line of boys and girls to the Cathedral choir. Since Rochester Cathedral’s announcement Tewkesbury Abbey, St John’s College Cambridge, St George’s Windsor, Chichester and Hereford Cathedrals have announced moving to a mixed treble line.

The Canon Precentor, the Reverend Canon Matthew Rushton, says: “At Rochester, we are committed to the musical and educational development of those who sing at the Cathedral, with boys and girls fully and equally involved in our choral foundation. We are very proud of Charlie and Ingrid and all our choristers who work so hard as a team to produce sacred music of the highest quality throughout the year.”

There’s no rest for Charlie and Ingrid after their success as both will be singing at the Rochester Cathedral Advent and Christmas services throughout December.