For Laura Wright, singing national anthems at sporting events has become a career in itself. But her latest assignment, at Headingley on Wednesday, posed a different kind of challenge: performing Pakistan’s Qaumi Taranah in Urdu ahead of the start of Pakistan’s Test series opener against England.
Wright had earlier sung the Indian national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, in Bengali ahead of each of the men’s Tests against England in 2025 and before the first women’s Test at Lord’s last month. She described both the Indian and Pakistani anthems as a “real challenge” and said she only accepts such assignments when she is confident she has enough time to prepare and can do them justice.
“It’s such an honour to be asked to sing any anthem, and I’d never take it for granted,” she told The Athletic. “The Indian and Pakistan ones are real challenges, and when I’m asked, I really do think about it before I say yes because I have to be sure I can get it right.”
Explaining her approach, Wright said she accepted the assignment to sing Pakistan’s anthem only after establishing that she had enough time to prepare. The English mezzo-soprano spent the past six months learning Urdu, working on the pronunciation, phrasing and meaning of the words before performing the anthem in front of a cricket crowd.
“I need to know I’ve got enough time to learn it and I’ve been working on Urdu for the last six months. This is not someone saying: ‘Can you come in and sing Jerusalem’. It’s much bigger than that, but this will be a huge privilege for me and I just hope to do it justice,” she said.
Wright also recalled the nerve-racking experience of learning the Indian anthem, saying she spent months listening to it and working with Bengali speakers to understand its pronunciation, phrasing and meaning.
“Singing the Indian anthem for the first time was probably the most nervous I’ve ever been. When you study classical music you’re given a basic understanding of Italian and German, but when you do anthems you come across so many different languages,” she added.
“I spent so long listening to the Indian anthem and time with two or three people speaking it so I could listen to the pronunciation, the phrasing and understand what the words meant. That’s part of this career that people don’t see.”
Wright, who trained at the Royal College of Music, has become a familiar voice at major sporting events. Sport has also been a major part of her life since her teenage years, when she played hockey, netball, tennis and rugby, while also competing in javelin at county level.
After completing her music studies, she set out to combine her two passions. Her journey began at 16, when she was invited to sing at Ipswich Football Club during a memorial game for Sir Bobby Robson.
The 36-year-old has since built a career performing across sports and around the world. Her association with cricket grew after she wrote Heroes for the England women’s team ahead of the 2017 World Cup.
