The star-studded concert to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III will be held on Sunday, May 7, a day after the monarch is crowned with a fanfare of newly commissioned classical music.
The Windsor Castle concert, which will be broadcast live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, will feature performances by acts including Take That, Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Andrea Bocelli, Sir Bryn Terfel, Freya Ridings and Alexis Ffrench.
The concert will be hosted by Hugh Bonneville, star of Paddington and Downton Abbey, while Terfel will perform a selection of Welsh folk songs.
The monarch has also commissioned 12 new pieces of music for the ceremony that will install him on the throne. The centrepiece is a new Coronation Anthem composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Baron Lloyd Webber, famous for creating popular musicals such as Cats and The Phantom of the Opera, has revealed that the anthem will feature “words slightly adapted from Psalm 98” and will be sung by the Westminster Abbey choir.
He said he was “incredibly honoured to have been asked to compose a new anthem” and that he hopes his music “captures the spirit of this joyous occasion...”
The commissioning of new music for the coronation is a long-standing tradition. Previous coronations have featuring works from composers such as George Frideric Handel and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
The coronation will also feature ceremonies and rituals such as the anointing of the monarch with holy oil and the crowning of the sovereign with St Edward’s Crown.
These have been a part of coronations in the UK for centuries and serve as a reminder of the monarchy’s role in the country’s history.
The UK prepares for the coronation of King Charles III — in pictures
Fake news and the concert
A video that went viral on social media falsely claiming that no English artists had agreed to perform at the concert suggested that the entire British music scene had dismissed the event.
The video, which has garnered more than 202,000 views, stated that “no English singer accepted his [King Charles’s] call” to perform and “no one wants to be an entertainer at his party”.
Adele and Ed Sheeran are among the artists who declined the offer to perform.
Adele, 34, the Hello singer, rejected the invitation, while Sheeran, 32, said he would find it “difficult” to perform at the event because of a gig in America, aceshowbiz.com reported.
Elton John and Harry Styles also declined the offer, citing scheduling conflicts.
The video also alleged that King Charles had “been forced to spend millions” on entertainers for the concert. While reports indicate that performers will have their expenses covered, it is not clear whether they will receive an appearance fee in addition to this.
The ticket process angered some fans, who described it as misleading.
Those who won tickets to attend the concert were left disappointed after they were all claimed.
Thousands complained on Twitter after the final pairs from the last of three ballots were issued on a first-come first-served basis.
Ticketmaster allocated the tickets, and the event is organised by the BBC. The original BBC ballot rules stated that tickets would not be allocated on a first-come first-served basis, and that unclaimed tickets would be reallocated.
