Anu Omideyi said it “took a while for the magnitude of it to sink in”
Anu Omideyi at the Vatican
A Liverpool woman said she had to keep a phone call to herself for days because she didn’t believe “it was real”. Anu Omideyi, from West Derby, is currently at the Vatican preparing for a special event along with a select few others from the city.
The Scouser is among those who will be making history on Saturday, September 13, as St Peter’s Square in Rome prepares to host its first public concert. Grace for the World is set to close the third World Meeting on Human Fraternity with an evening of live performances by superstars and choirs from all over the world bearing a unifying message.
Anu, director of the national gospel music centre based at Liverpool Lighthouse, an Anfield-based charity, has taken 60 UK singers from to form part of a global choir of 250 singers.
She told the ECHO: “When the director of Global Choir, Marsha Burke Jerman, called me at home and asked me to take singers to the Vatican, I actually didn’t think it was real. So much that I kept it to myself for a few days until I told my brother.
Liverpool’s Anu Omideyi with director of global choir Marsha Burke Jerman
“It took a while for the magnitude of it to sink in. It’s very humbling to be asked and it’s an honour to be a part of it all. It’s a bit surreal to work within such an historical moment that also centres Gospel Music.”
Members of Liverpool’s Love & Joy Gospel Choir will be joined from others from London, Coventry, Bradford, Kent, Rochester and Essex. The UK delegation features celebrated gospel choirs and artists such as Volney Morgan & New Ye, Clive Brown, Urban Sound, and Cedars Choir.
Together, they’ll form part of an international choir performing under the musical direction of Adam Blackstone, alongside the Choir of the Diocese of Rome.
Festival director Anu Omideyi centre with Luiz Diaz (R) and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (L) with the Love & Joy Gospel Choir at Liverpool Lighthouse in Anfield (Image: Brian Roberts)
Anu said: “At a time when there is so much tension and division around our differences as human beings, this event in the Vatican is a wonderfully refreshing opportunity for people of all nations to come together in a message of what one of its directors, Pharrell Williams, has called a message of unity and grace for all humanity.
“It is our utmost privilege, as the National Gospel Music Centre based at Liverpool Lighthouse, to be able to gather singers from across the UK to participate in this rare cultural and spiritual moment.”
Co-directed by Pharrell Williams and Andrea Bocelli, the line-up for the public concert also includes Jennifer Hudson, Karol G, K-Pop star BamBam , rapping duo Clipse, John Legend and Teddy Swims.
There will also be an aerial drone and light show by Nova Sky Stories, including imagery inspired by the Sistine Chapel.
The event, which will also be celebrating the “2025 Jubilee Year,” is open to the public in Rome and will stream live on Disney+, Hulu, and ABC News Live.