The key to the city

"Everyone can sing," Hope Pugh says. "Music has been part of the human experience since the world really began. The Psalms are inherently musical. It's open to everyone, from any culture, any background."

It sounds simple. But for Hope, as Director of Musical Engagement at Swansea Minster, that conviction is the foundation of something quietly remarkable — a programme that in its first year alone has reached nine schools, spanned seven languages including Welsh and British Sign Language, and begun planting roots in community organisations across the city.

The role itself is unique. "I don't think there's another musical engagement role within the diocese," Hope said. "It sits between artistic excellence and the social impact of music — making sure music is accessible, meaningful and transformative for people of all ages."

In practice, that means Hope is rarely in one place for long. On the morning of this interview, she had already been to St Gabriel's Church to sing in its Lent series. That afternoon, she was heading into school with Dr William Reynolds, Director of Music at Swansea Minster, to deliver a concert — and to hand every parent a letter inviting their child to join the Minster's new choral programme.

"Everything really centres on access," she said, "and confidence, and joy. Because that's what music is. It brings people joy."

Opening doors

The concerts Hope has been running across Swansea's primary and secondary schools are not token visits. She goes in weekly, working with teachers, shaping sessions around the Welsh curriculum, building skills in vocal technique, ensemble awareness, expressive phrasing.

"The staff and parents have given some really lovely feedback about confidence and musical ability," she said. "It shows we're building something that is genuinely meaningful and distinctive."

Seven schools have just taken part in the multi-language concert series, with children in years three to seven performing in seven languages. Teachers praised its inclusivity. Parents, staff and support staff came to encourage and show their support. Children who had never sung in harmony found themselves doing exactly that.

The Civic Carol Service brought five schools together under the Minster's roof, with Hope going in each week beforehand for choir practice. "The children were singing with clarity, dynamics, storytelling and ensemble awareness," she said. "The performance was really, really fab."

A door she didn't know existed

What drives all of this has its roots in her own story.

Hope grew up in Hereford, in a background where classical music, choral training and conservatoires were not part of the landscape. "I didn't come from a background where classical music or choir felt expected," she said. "I didn't even know what a conservatoire was — until a teacher at my primary school encouraged me to sing a little solo in a concert."

That one moment, she said, opened a door she didn't know existed.

Not long after, following a change of circumstances, she found herself sitting an entrance test for an independent school. Within days, she was offered a place on a full means-tested bursary. Suddenly, music was everywhere. Four choirs, two orchestras, multiple instruments, with school choir tours taking her around the world but with a particularly memorable one that ended with a performance at Brecon Cathedral just around the corner from her great-grandmother in Pendre Gardens.

She went on to train in vocal and operatic studies with a scholarship at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where she gained a degree with honors and built a professional solo singing career alongside her growing work in music education. More recently, she founded her own vocal consort, Voces Tavae, here in South Wales. Following a highly successful debut, the ensemble is embarking on a small-scale tour across the Gower and Swansea, and has been invited to perform at the Brecon Choir Festival, marking an exciting next step in the group's growing profile.

"What really, truly motivates my outreach work," she said, "is the awareness that not every child has the chance to discover their potential. Many don't realise that classical music, choral music — or any kind of high-level musical training — is for them."

"I don't want young people in Swansea to rely on luck, or circumstance, or a chance comment from a teacher to access the life-changing experiences that music can offer. It has been life-changing for me."

Into the community

The schools work is only part of the picture.

Hope has been in conversation with Swansea Women's Aid about extending the Minster's musical reach to vulnerable groups. Conversations about a parent choir are taking shape at one school, after parents who watched Hope work with their children asked whether something could be created for them. The prison chaplain at Swansea, having heard Hope sing at a recent concert, has invited her in to work with prisoners.

"These connections have positioned the Minster as a warm, outward-looking hub of creativity and caring for the community," she said.

Interchurch partnerships are growing too. She has been in dialogue with directors of music at Brecon and Newport cathedrals, and a collaboration with St Giles Church in Wrexham is taking shape, with Hope offering to mentor their new music outreach worker.

Alongside this, Hope is developing a recital project with a local outreach worker which will be performed in Welsh, reflecting her commitment to deepening her connection with language and place. She currently studies Welsh for three hours a week at Swansea University through LearnWelsh and is actively integrating the language into her musical work wherever she can. This journey was recognised when she won the Soloists category at the Swansea Welsh Learners Eisteddfod, performing Anfonaf Angel by Robat Arwen. She also regularly curates free lunchtime recitals when possible, collaborating with local musicians from Swansea to ensure high-quality music remains accessible to the wider community.

From this month, a new early years group — Little Explorers — will bring babies and toddlers into the Minster for music-making sessions, developed in partnership with the Minster's under-25 ministry lead, Rev'd Rachel Bunting. The intention is a clear pathway from there: through primary and secondary partnerships, toward a fully-fledged youth ensemble.

"It's not about creating a mini elite performance group," Hope said. "It's about building a welcoming, aspirational, musical community."

Animals in the ark

The centrepiece of this year's programme arrives in June.

Noye's Fludde — Benjamin Britten's community opera — will be performed at the Minster over two days, involving nine schools, professional singers from the Royal Welsh College of Music, and professional and high-level orchestral musicians from across Swansea. Senior school pupils will play and perform alongside professionals. The children are the animals in the ark.

"I'm trying to make it quite a spectacle," Hope said. "We've got the ark being built by a local company, we've got scenery. Professionally trained opera singers coming to sing alongside the children — and the children can see, oh, look, there's someone that looks like me doing something I want to do."

The thought goes back to Birmingham, where she ran a similar project in Handsworth with singers from Persona Arts, the UK's leading Black and minority ethnic opera group. "I want to create that same thing for children here in Swansea," she said.

It is, she acknowledges, exactly the kind of thing she remembers from her own childhood. "Going to the church, coming together with other schools, doing something that felt big and real. I'm trying to create that."

Building something that lasts

In two or three years, Hope would like to see at least 20 ongoing school partnerships, a functioning youth ensemble, and regular music sessions in care homes, with a trained volunteer team helping to deliver it all.

But she is clear about what success really looks like. "It's not just about the numbers," she said. "It's about the belonging, the confidence, the joy. The Minster being known as a place where music can change lives — and bring people to faith."

She has been in post only a matter of months. A new Yamaha Grand Piano arrived last week. The schools are calling. The ideas, she admits, are numerous.

"If I can create even a single moment of belief," Hope said, "in a choir rehearsal, a project, a performance — then we are opening doors that might otherwise stay closed."

Upcoming performances