Sir Antonio Pappano: Conducting the King's Coronation is a 'Daunting Job'

Sir Antonio Pappano has said that conducting King Charles III's coronation service at Westminster Abbey, is "going to be an absolutely daunting job."

Speaking to the BBC, Pappano said "I'm hoping and praying that I have the concentration to do [it] justice. But we're communicating joy, it's a celebration. So that's all that matters in the end, really."

The service will include 12 new commissions, including a new coronation anthem composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Sir Antonio will also lead a special coronation orchestra, combining members of eight ensembles from around the UK. He says that bringing together so many musicians at Westminster Abbey poses unique logistical problems.

"I will be with the orchestra in the organ loft, but the choir will be downstairs. Special scaffolding will have been built for the military fanfare orchestra, then there's the royal fanfare, and another brass ensemble and the orchestra will be squashed like sardines."

"So you can imagine the challenges of getting the choir, the organ, the fanfare and the orchestra [to play] together. So yes, it's going to be very challenging, but potentially very exciting."

The music for the service has been specially chosen by the King, to "showcase and celebrate musical talent from across the United Kingdom and further afield", says Buckingham Palace.

It will feature much-loved music such as William Walton's "March Crown Imperial" and Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance"; as well as solos from Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel and South African soprano Pretty Yende.

"The King has chosen a programme that has obviously been meticulously planned in his mind for a long time," says Sir Antonio, noting that the service celebrates the diversity of the UK and the Commonwealth "I think this is just genuinely an expression of what England is today and what England, or Great Britain, needs to be going forward.

"I think that the King has a vision of what we are culturally, and that will show in the choices of music and of the people making the music.

"He's purposely chosen a programme that is joyous, but also vast. I mean, he's letting the music do most of the messaging and I think that's a beautiful thing. Because music has that power."

The conductor and pianist was speaking to the BBC as he unveiled the programme for his final season as musical director of the Royal Opera House, after which he will replace Sir Simon Rattle as chief conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.