Reading Phoenix Choir: Song for Athene

Possibly Tavener's best known piece, having been performed by the Westminster Abbey Choir at the funeral service of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 6 September 1997 as her cortège departed from Westminster Abbey. The piece was written in April 1993 by Tavener as a tribute to Athene Hariades, a young half-Greek actress, who was a family friend, killed in a cycling accident. Tavener said of Hariades: "Her beauty, both outward and inner, was reflected in her love of acting, poetry, music and of the Orthodox Church." He had heard her reading Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey, and after her funeral, developed the idea of composing a song which combined words from the Orthodox funeral service and Shakespeare's Hamlet.