A New
Recording
FIRE!
The story of the Great Fire of London
Music by Richard Brown
Words by Sarah Harding and Fern Dickson
Holbeach Primary School
Marlborough Primary School
The Choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral
David Leonard (Narrator: Samuel Pepys)
Annabelle Brown (Narrator: Jane Birch)
Henry White (Narrator: Sam Penny)
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Benjamin Pope (conductor)
A timeless tale in songs for children & orchestra
FIRE! tells the true story of the Great Fire of London in music for orchestra, soloists and children’s voices. Now recorded for the first time, it's released on the Voces8 label. Available to stream and download from Friday 4th September 2026.
Educational resources for primary schools
Also for the first time, children can stage FIRE! themselves in school. Singalong orchestral tracks for six of the songs are freely available, together with teaching videos from the St Paul's Cathedral Choral Partnership Programme and cross-curricular lesson plans for class teachers.
The Story in Song
The true story of the Great Fire of London of 1666 is told by the famous diarist, Samuel Pepys, and his hardworking, clever housemaid Jane Birch. The baker’s oven in Pudding Lane where the fire broke out was just a short distance from their home in the City of London, and Pepys and Jane give a minute-by-minute eye-witness account of its devastating progress. Everything that you hear in FIRE! actually happened.
It’s the London Life paints a colourful picture of the City of London just before the fire – church bells ringing as a backdrop to lively market-trading of goods from all over the world, and the hustle and bustle of daily life (at a time when oysters were cheap as chips today!).
Come with Pepys on his visits to King Charles II and the Lord Mayor of London to enlist their help – with mixed success – and enjoy the extraordinary account (Dig in the Garden) of Pepys and Jane burying his enormous and expensive Parmesan cheese in the garden for safe-keeping! Join the anguished singing of Run to the River and feel the relief when, after the fire has ravaged the houses and churches of the City for four whole days, it is eventually stopped in its tracks just before reaching the Tower of London (After the Fire).
Fast forward and celebrate with Jane and her grandson Sam the vision of the great architect, Sir Christopher Wren (Three Cheers for Sir Christopher Wren), and his miraculous construction of A Bright New City including the magnificent new St Paul’s Cathedral.
FIRE! is recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Pope. David Leonard takes the role of Samuel Pepys, and Annabelle Brown plays Pepys’s maid, Jane Birch. The children’s chorus is made up of children from Holbeach Primary School (London Borough of Lewisham) and Marlborough Primary School (Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea). The Choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral (directed by Andrew Carwood) provide the voices of their own 17th-century counterparts and of the Children of the Chapel Royal. Jane’s grandson, Sam Penny, is voiced by Henry White. FIRE! was recorded in London over two days: one in Henry Wood Hall and one in St Mary-at-Hill, an historic church just a stone’s throw from the Monument and Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire broke out in September 1666. The church was destroyed by the fire and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. The complete show lasts approximately 40 minutes.
About the Recording
FIRE! is recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Pope.
David Leonard takes the role of Samuel Pepys, and
Annabelle Brown plays Pepys’s maid, Jane Birch.
The children’s chorus is made up of children from Holbeach Primary School (London Borough of Lewisham) and Marlborough Primary School (Royal Borough of Kensington & Chelsea).
The Choristers of St Paul’s Cathedral (directed by Andrew Carwood) provide the voices of their own 17th-century counterparts and of the Children of the Chapel Royal.
Jane’s grandson, Sam Penny, is voiced by Henry White.
FIRE! was recorded in London over two days: one in Henry Wood Hall and one in St Mary-at-Hill, an historic church just a stone’s throw from the Monument and Pudding Lane, where the Great Fire broke out in September 1666. The church was destroyed by the fire and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren.
The complete show lasts approximately 40 minutes.
With grateful thanks to the St Paul’s Cathedral Choral Partnerships programme and the Voces8 Foundation