When classical pianist Alexis Ffrench got the call-up to perform at the King’s televised Coronation concert next Saturday, he was in his Leicestershire studio, overlooking a field of sheep who he greets out loud every day on an early-morning “thank you walk” through the Rutland hills.
“It was one of those real pinch-me moments,” he says, of seeing the “rather formal-looking” email drop into his inbox a couple of months ago. “There is surely no more joyful event than to celebrate a new king through music on stage in front of millions of people.”
In many ways, Ffrench – a classical pianist and married father-of-two, 53, from Leicestershire – might not sound like an obvious candidate for the royal gig of a generation, set to be broadcast to tens of millions across the globe. Indeed, when he takes to the stage in the grounds of Windsor Castle in two weeks’ time, he will join a star-studded line-up of household names that includes the likes of Andrea Bocelli, Lionel Richie, Katy Perry, Freya Ridings and Take That. So why was he selected as part of such an exclusive set of musicians?
The reason might have something to do with Ffrench’s inspiring story. He first met the new King Charles at the age of 14, when he was studying at the Purcell School of Music in Hertfordshire and seven years after he’d become Britain’s youngest black church organist (“I remember brides looking across at the organ and being horrified to see a small boy playing for their big day”).
Since then, the Surrey-born contemporary pianist and Royal Academy of Music alumnus has gone on to become the fastest-growing classical artist in the world thanks to his surprisingly accessible genre of classical-soul piano music. If you don’t recognise his punchy, Snoop Dogg-inspired sets from festivals such as Latitude, you may well from apps like TikTok and Spotify, where his 12 albums have over half a billion streams and the majority of listeners are between the ages of 25 and 35.
Details like this might seem surprising, for a classical artist, but ridding the genre of its stuffy “sense of entitlement” is exactly what Ffrench is all about. He regularly speaks about classical music needing to be more “provocative” like hip-hop to survive, and his hauntingly-beautiful compositions — broadly categorised as ‘piano chill’ but inspired by rap music and often dedicated to movements like Black Lives Matter — recently made him the UK’s biggest selling pianist of 2020.
He is currently signed to Little Mix and Niall Horan’s management company, Modest, and fans say they often turn to Ffrench when they need something life-affirming, consoling or a “spiritual pick-up”. After one of the most tumultuous years yet for the Royal Family, with the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II and widening rifts with Harry and Meghan, perhaps that is exactly why he was chosen to perform for the new King.
“For me it’s about looking for connection and wanting to meet the moment with purpose,” says Ffrench, when I ask him whether he is nervous for what could well be the biggest performance of his life. He will be performing a duet with singer-songwriter Freya Ridings (other details of the performance are under strict royal lock and key) and, like each of the celebrity performers, they will be backed by world-class musicians including a 70-piece orchestra and house band comprising the Massed Bands of the Household Division and the Countess of Wessex’s String Orchestra.
Ffrench says he’s “bubbling with excitement” to perform in front of Charles, who’s “warmth” and “generosity” he remembers fondly from meeting him as a teen. He tells me the meeting – in an art class at his alma mater, where Charles was patron – was particularly poignant because he met the monarch alongside his late friend and fellow pupil Christopher Duke, who ended up taking his own life at 21 – a trauma Ffrench has long said shaped him and his music.
“It was the worst time... I remember walking through streets in the rain and knocking on the door of a priest I didn’t know to ask for help,” he has said of that period of his life in his early twenties (he met his wife Lesley, a double bassist, at their Fresher’s Ball at the age of 18).
Ffrench might be all about breaking boundaries today but his upbringing was highly disciplined and deeply religious. His parents emigrated from Jamaica as teenagers, his father joined the RAF and they raised him in a strict Catholic household in Bagshot, Surrey. Ffrench becoming musically-conscious aged four, trying to emulate Stevie Wonder on the kitchen table before his parents bought him a piano: by seven, he was the organist at his local church and by 11 he had gained a place to study at the Royal Academy of Music.
Ffrench’s faith was tested by Duke’s death in his early twenties, but inspires much of his work today — one of many things he shares with the new King. Both are keen advocates for conservation and the environment, with Ffrench dedicating his upcoming EP, Peace, to the untouched beauty of nature — one of the key “conditions” he says he needs to thrive as an artist. “It’s something I crave”.
Peace, Ffrench’s upcoming EP, is released – fittingly – the day before the concert and is inspired by a recent trip Ffrench took to the Scottish Highlands with his son Jobim, 19, a Chinese and International Relations student at St Andrews. His elder daughter Savannah, 21, is a professional dancer in London, and he’d love to take both of them to the concert – which is a problem, as he’s only been given two tickets. “With a family of three, the maths doesn’t quite work out,” he laughs.
Still, this won’t be the first time Ffrench has performed for the Royal Family and hopefully it won’t be the last. He has fond memories of taking part in royal Commonwealth concert during the pandemic and recently shared a stage with Craig David and Mel C at the Royal Family’s Christmas Carol Concert at Westminster Abbey.
December’s royal gig felt “momentous”, an opportunity to “have [a] part in history”, though Ffrench jokes that he’s still slightly scarred by particularly awkward backstage encounter with the actor Hugh Bonneville, after rejecting his handshake in favour of a fist pump because he tries not to touch anyone’s hand before touching the piano (“I know it makes me sound really arty farty... but it’s an energy thing”).
What Ffrench didn’t account for was meeting Kate, the Princess of Wales, moments later. “The thought of going for a fist pump or some kind of high-five did flash through my mind... but it would’ve been too much of a faux pas,” he says, cringing at the memory. “I could see Hugh Bonneville sneakily looking on disapprovingly thinking: ‘She gets [a handshake], why don’t I?’ Poor Hugh. Lovely guy.”
This time round, Ffrench has resigned himself to pre-concert handshakes already. American singer-songwriting legend Lionel Richie is a particular idol of his, so “I’m going to be sort of fanboying from the side of the stage... it’s going to be very embarrassing,” he laughs, adding that he hopes he’ll get a handshake from Richie – if not the King himself. Let’s hope Bonneville isn’t watching.
Alexis Ffrench releases his EP ‘Peace’ on May 5’
Sing for the King: the other Coronation acts set to perform
Take That
Seasoned pros when it comes to a stately occasion, this lot have performed at The Royal Variety Performance to the 2012 London Olympics closing ceremony. And with rousing fist-pumpers like Greatest Day and Rule The World up their sleeves, the band have promised some grand accompaniments: a full live band and orchestra, military drummers, and a choir. Fans hoping for a full five-piece reunion? Sadly, it looks like departed members Robbie Williams and Jason Orange might be a no-show.
Katy Perry
What on earth is Katy Perry doing at the Coronation? You might reasonably ask. The pair’s connection actually goes back a few years. When the King and Perry first met in Mumbai, at a charity event in 2019, Charles reportedly asked her if she would take a selfie with a member of his staff. Elsewhere, Perry has acted as an ambassador for the King’s British Asian Trust since 2020.
Freya Ridings
Set to perform alongside Alexis Ffrench, the rising UK singer-songwriter is one of the newer faces taking part in the celebrations. “I feel truly overwhelmed and in awe of the opportunity to sing at the Coronation of His Majesty Charles III,” she said. “It feels like a “pinch me” once in a lifetime moment in history.
Lionel Richie
Despite being a long-time friend of the King, Lionel Richie was still “surprised” by his Coronation call-up. In an interview in the US, the Dancing on the Ceiling singer said he’s mostly looking forward to basking in the scale of the celebrations: “I want to see the pomp and circumstance — nothing’s going to be like this. This is the grandiose of grandiose right here.”
Andrea Bocelli and Bryn Terfel
For one day only, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli and Welsh bass-baritone Sir Bryn Terfel get together to form an operatic super-duo. According to Bocelli, the pair’s planned duet will be “an iconic song of love and collective solidarity.”
The Coronation Choir
It’s not all big names — a 300-strong choir collective has been assembled for the big day, including community choirs and amateur singers, an all-deaf sign performance organisation and Hull’s NHS, appearing alongside a virtual choir from across the Commonwealth.
