March 6: Anna Lapwood Returns with New Sony Classical Choral Album Arise, Shine – Featuring The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Anna Lapwood Returns with New Sony Classical Choral Album
Arise, Shine
Featuring The Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge
Album Release Date: Friday, March 6, 2026
Pre-Order Available Now
Following a stellar 2025, sensational musician Anna Lapwood starts 2026 with the announcement of her brand-new choral album, Arise, Shine – pre-order here. This new recording follows her 2025 chart topping album, Firedove, and sees Anna conducting her beloved Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge for the very last time.
Arise, Shine will be released on Friday, March 6, 2026 on Sony Classical and comes at a pivotal moment in Anna’s career, marking the conclusion of her tenure as Director of Music at Pembroke College, Cambridge, a role she held for nine years until the end of the summer term in 2025. The album is a deeply personal project, highlighting Anna’s close connection to The Pembroke College Chapel Choir and her committed mentoring of the students. The album features a rich and varied programme, including two original compositions by Anna – Arise, Shine and An Irish Blessing – written in response to special people and key moments during her time with Chapel Choir of Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Of the album, Anna notes:
“As I was preparing to leave Pembroke, I felt it was really important to do one final album with the Chapel Choir to mark their incredible hard work over the course of the last nine years. The choir has grown so much in that time - both in size but also in ambition and identity, and I have learned so much from working with these singers. I wanted to curate an album that felt like it summed up just a little of what makes Pembroke unique, pairing traditional repertoire with modern reinterpretations, and showcasing music written by young composers from within Pembroke Choir and beyond. It feels particularly special to include a piece written by Maryam Giraud who was one of my first girl choristers when I set up the Girls’ Choir, and who is now an undergraduate at the College. Her piece sets a text written by Cassidy McKinlay, one of our other altos, and it’s this kind of creative teamwork that I feel sums up Pembroke so beautifully. This is an album that is all about the unique warmth of making music with friends and being able to share that experience with others”.
The track list reflects Anna’s fascination with contrasting interpretations of sacred texts, pairing works such as Ubi Caritas by Maurice Duruflé and Ola Gjeilo, and O Sacrum Convivium by Olivier Messiaen and Lucy Walker. Walker, a former alto in the choir who knows its sound inside out, has become its most-performed living composer and contributes several works to the album. Other Pembroke highlights include Rain, a joint project between two more Chapel Choir altos where Maryam Giraud sets a text written by her fellow chorister, Cassidy McKinlay. Giraud’s journey from a young singer in the Girls’ Choir, founded in 2018, to composer on this album is a testament to Anna’s commitment to nurturing talent and creating opportunities for women and girls in music. The album also features Abide With Me by Maggie Kaposamweo, a young composer living in Zambia. Anna set up an online mentoring scheme for Maggie with Lucy Walker, and the commission fee for this composition helped fund Maggie’s music studies at the University of Lusaka, Zambia.
2025 was an extraordinary year for Anna Lapwood. Her album Firedove soared to No.1 on the Official Classical Artist Album Chart. She became the Royal Albert Hall’s first-ever Official Organist, premiered Max Richter’s new concerto Cosmology alongside Kristina Arakelyan’s Toccata and captivated audiences with her all-night BBC Proms event From Dark Till Dawn. International acclaim continued to grow with a landmark performance in Cologne, Germany, drawing a crowd of 13,000 people, forming a one-mile queue around the city.
Beyond the concert hall, Anna’s infectious enthusiasm for music has reached new audiences and she has achieved some remarkable milestones, including an appearance at New York Fashion Week, being featured on the Sunday Times Power List, and even giving Hollywood icon Tom Cruise an impromptu organ lesson. She rounded off 2025 with a sold-out nationwide tour ‘Christmas with Anna Lapwood’ and a Royal Albert Hall headline Christmas show.
ARISE, SHINE : TRACKLISTING:
1. Arise, Shine
Composer: Anna Lapwood
2. Adoro Te Devote
Composer: Cecilia Mcdowall
Lyricist: Saint Thomas Aquinas
3. Miserere
Composer: Gregorio Allegri
4. Regina Caeli
Composer: Lise Borel
5. Rain
Composer: Maryam Giraud
Lyricist: Cassidy Mckinlay
6. Ubi Caritas
Composer: Maurice Duruflé
7. Silent Night
Composer: Franz Xaver Gruber
8. The Lord’s Prayer
Composer: Lucy Walker
9. O Sacrum Convivium
Composer: Olivier Messiaen
Lyricist: Saint Thomas Aquinas
10. Ubi Caritas
Composer: Ola Gjeilo
11. A Hymn For St Cecilia
Composer: Lucy Walker
Lyricist: Ursula Vaughan Williams
12. Abide With Me
Composer: Maggie Kaposamweo
Lyricist: Maggie Kaposamweo & Henry Francis Lyte
13. O Sacrum Convivium
Composer: Lucy Walker
Lyricist: Saint Thomas Aquinas
14. An Irish Blessing
Composer: Anna Lapwood
15. Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Composer: Harold Arlen
Lyricist: Yip Harburg
Visit: www.annalapwood.co.uk