Tuesday 6 February 2018

New anthem to celebrate the centenary of Women's Suffrage

Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst
Today (6 February 2018) is the 100th anniversary of the first Act of Parliament to allow women's suffrage (albeit in limited form, granted to women over 30 with restrictions). To celebrate this, the BBC has commissioned a new anthem from composer Lucy Pankhurst with a new text by women’s rights activist and writer Helen Pankhurst. Both composer and librettist are descendants of the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, and the text for the anthem is based on her words. The anthem has been recorded by the BBC Singers and conductor Hilary Campbell, and is available as a clip on the BBC website. The anthem will receive its first broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 9 March 2018.

The BBC is hoping that choirs across the country will perform the anthem, there are versions for SATB choir, for women's voices and for melody and chords, and sheet music and other resources can be downloaded from the BBC Radio 3 website.


Choirs that do perform the work are asked to email 3breakfast@bbc.co.uk and tweet @BBCRadio3 with your comments, photos and links to recordings on social media.

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