King Charles' coronation concert lineup has arrived!
On Friday, the BBC announced the roster of performers gracing the stage at the Coronation Concert on Sunday, May 7, one day after King Charles and Queen Camilla are crowned at Westminster Abbey. Lionel Richie, Katy Perry and Andrea Bocelli highlight the lineup, which also includes the British pop group Take That, plus U.K. talent Sir Bryn Terfel, Freya Ridings and Alexis Ffrench.
Perry, 38, and Richie, 73, are both judges on American Idol and have known King Charles for years. The "Firework" singer has served as an ambassador of The British Asian Trust, a charity co-founded by Prince Charles to tackle poverty and transform lives in South Asia, since 2020.
Meanwhile, the "All Night Long" hitmaker was appointed the First Global Ambassador and First Chairman of the Global Ambassador Group for The Prince's Trust in 2019. Charles established the charity in 1976 to provide disadvantaged youth with the resources they need to reach their full potential. The organization states it has since worked with over one million young people — including Idris Elba as a teenage actor!
"The concert will celebrate a new chapter in the nation's history, with themes of love, respect and optimism, celebrating the four nations, their communities and the Commonwealth," the BBC said in a statement.
BBC Studios Productions is organizing the upcoming concert, which will be broadcast live from the grounds of Windsor Castle. The musical show will also see opera legend Bocelli perform a duet with Terfel, a Grammy Award-winning bass-baritone who was honored with a knighthood for his services to music in 2017.
Take That trio Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen will also perform in their first live show since 2019, while singer-songwriter Ridings performs a duet with Ffrench, a classical composer, producer and pianist. A passionate advocate for music education, Ffrench is a governor and trustee for the Royal Academy of Music and also serves as the first artistic director of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
The Coronation Choir, which unites a diverse group of singers from the Portishead RNLI sea shanty choir, farmers, cab drivers and reggae groups across the U.K., will also give a special performance with The Virtual Choir, comprised of singers from across the Commonwealth.
The Coronation Concert will light up the night before an audience of 20,000, including members of the public and select guests. Fans can look forward to "a broad mix of music spanning pop to classical, along with spoken word and dance performances reflecting arts and culture from around the UK and the wider Commonwealth," the BBC said.
In a glimpse of what's to come, the network added that more performers are "due to be announced shortly."
The BBC is also set to stream the concert on BBC One, BBC iPlayer, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.
Free tickets to the Coronation Choir were made available to the public via national ballot, and the concert will also be attended by volunteers from some of the King and Queen Consort's charity affiliations. Synchronized with the show, "Lighting up the Nation" will see iconic locations across the U.K. illuminated with projections, lasers and drone displays.
King Charles and Queen Camilla's coronation celebrations continue on Monday, May 8, which Prime Minister Rishi Sunak declared a bank holiday. U.K. citizens are invited to participate in the Big Help Out, a volunteering initiative, and give their time to good causes.
