Louder Than The Music

Phantom of the Opera star Katy Treharne and Welsh worship artist Rob Westall have released a stunning new Christmas single - ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing (Hallelujah)’.

Their arrangement of the famous Christmas carol ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing,’ was written and recorded during the Coronavirus lockdown.

Rob Westall was asked to cover a carol of his choice for a special festive broadcast last Christmas, when it was suggested to him that he could write new arrangement for the carol of his choice.

“It was a daunting challenge at first,” said Rob, “because ‘Hark the Herald Angels Sing’ is one of my all-time favourite traditional carols.

“It has such a powerful melody, with awe-inspiring words that communicates the Gospel-message so well and the hope that Jesus brings to all. But I had to try.”

The former BBC broadcaster and journalist, found inspiration after researching the origins of the carol, and promptly enlisted the help of his friend Katy Treharne. Katy starred as Christine Daaé in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre London for many years, and co-founded West End Has Faith for Christians working in the UK’s renowned musical theatre community.

“The first line of the carol effectively says, ‘listen to the angels sing,’ so I thought wouldn’t it be nice if we heard some angelic choral arrangement praising God before we begin the carol properly, “ said Rob.

“I thought of Katy straight away and contacted her. We wanted the choral part at the beginning and in the middle of the song to not only sound angelic, but to be pure praise and worship to reflect the joy and triumph of Christ’s coming.

“My friend and guitarist Steve Quantick was able to fire across some immense guitar parts remotely and we were able to finish the rest of the recording in the studio.”

“We are extremely happy with the result and cannot wait for everyone to hear the finished version and to sing it at our local churches and Christmas events.”