The launch of the new Salford Songbook project will take place on Friday 16 May 2025 at The Lowry, Salford Quays. Sung by the massed choirs of the Salford Schools Singing Programme, it will feature the world premiere performance of the newly commissioned ‘Songs of the Earth’ by Hannah King.

The set of six songs were workshopped with five of the diocesan schools and the Cathedral Girls’ Choir in July 2024 at the Laudato Si’ Centre at Wardley Hall. The performance at The Lowry will mark the beginning of the international Laudato Si’ Week and the tenth anniversary of Pope Francis’s encyclical Laudato Si’. Following this performance, the songs will be launched internationally in celebration of the Pilgrims of Hope Jubilee 2025.