Quoted from The Western Telegraph
A FORMER St Davids Cathedral chorister has landed the prestigious role of choir director at St Mark's English Church in Italy.
Scott Phillips, 20, sang in St Davids Cathedral choir for several years before going on to study at Ellesmere College, where he has been both a student and an intern.
His role as choir director in Florence will last a year after which he will take his place at York University.
St Mark's English Church is an Anglican church in Florence, a chaplaincy of the Church of England in the Diocese in Europe. It is a unique venue for weddings, opera, concerts, music and a wide range of artistic, literary and cultural events.
The church was closed for several months during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and reopened for its first service on September 6th.
"I was a chorister at St David's Cathedral for a number of years so the British choral tradition is in my blood," said Scott.
"I saw the position advertised on Church Times, applied, had a phone interview in March then got offered the job and started on September 1st - I really love it out here.
"The position at St Mark's is the most important role I've had to date, I head up the department, have two organists and the choir. It's a great deal of responsibility but thoroughly enjoyable.
"St Mark's is a lovely church and has a capacity of about 400 when absolutely packed. It's a pre-Raphaelite building and the building the church is in was built in the 15th Century so has incredible architecture."
The church usually draws its singers from university campuses in the area, especially the American colleges. Scott said Covid-19 had brought about unprecedented challenges.
"It has meant we are having to rebuild the choir again because so many of the choristers had to leave the country earlier in the year, particularly the Americans and a lot of British," he said.
"We have had to start recruiting and I'm keen to look more locally so if something like Covid-19 were to happen again the church choir wouldn't be so decimated. They [the singers] would still be in the country"
