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ONGOING
Music in Oxford
Oxford
The Sixteen are this year’s artists-in-residence. As part of their ‘Choral Pilgrimage’ they perform works by Tudor composers at the University Church, the site of many religious disputes at the time (25 April). They also sing Handel’s Coronation Anthems at the Sheldonian Theatre before it closes for renovations (21 June). Meanwhile, Dame Gillian Weir will present an organ programme of Messiaen and Bach at Christ Church Cathedral to mark Messiaen’s birth (17 May).
Contact 0870 7500659; info@musicatoxford.com
www.musicatoxford.com
Westminster Cathedral Grand Organ Festival
London
There’s a Messiaen element in 2008: Jennifer Bate plays Livre du Saint Sacrement on 21 May (she gave the British premiere of the work here in 1986) and John Scott’s recital on 27 August includes Messe de la Pentecôte. Matthew Martin (23 April), Lionel Rogg (18 June), Martin Baker (30 July) and Jon Laukvik (24 September) are also featured. This event closes on 29 October with a performance by the Cathedral’s former master of the music, Stephen Cleobury.
Contact 020 7798 9057; organ@masterofmusic.org
www.westminstercathedral.org.uk
Temple Festival
London
This year-long festival marks the 400th anniversary of the Royal Charter that granted the Temple’s land and buildings to the two Inns of Court. Check out the lunchtime organ recitals almost every Wednesday; a wine-tasting accompanied by drinking songs performed by the Temple Madrigal Singers (7 May); a tribute by American organist Carlo Curley to the Temple Church’s late director of music George Thalben-Ball (23 July); concerts by the Temple Church Choir (16 July and 3 December); and a choral workshop for amateurs with John Rutter (1 November).
Contact 020 7427 5641
www.temple2008.org
APRIL
London Handel Festival
13 March-24 April, London
Vox Musica gives a concert at St George’s Hanover Square that juxtaposes Handel with his French and Italian contemporaries, and the Esterhazy Singers give a fringe performance of Esther at St James’s, Piccadilly.
Contact 01460 54660; c-hodgson@btconnect.com
www.handel.cswebsites.org
Sounds New Festival
11-19 April, Canterbury
Music events, workshops and talks organised by Canterbury Christ Church University to celebrate the life and legacy of Messiaen. Includes a talk by Peter Hill on Messiaen and his organ sounds and improvisations.
Contact 01227 731818; ewa@soundsnews.org.uk
www.soundsnew.org.uk
Dublin Handel Festival
13-18 April, Dublin, Ireland
Handel’s Messiah was premiered in Dublin in 1742 and the link between composer and city is now commemorated each year with this festival. The work opens and closes the event on the site where it received its premiere. The choirs of Christ Church and St Patrick’s Cathedrals perform Handel’s Dixit Dominus and Purcell’s Te Deum Laudamus; Tristan Russcher plays Handel’s Organ Concerto op.7 no.4 in D minor.
Contact +353 1 677 2255; info@templebar.ie
www.templebar.ie/home_ns_28.html
Wartburg Festival
26 April-21 June, Wartburg, Germany
Designated a world heritage centre by UNESCO, the 1,000-year-old town of Wartburg hosts its annual festival of classical and light music. Of special interest is a recital by Gewandhaus organist Michael Schönheit, who plays keyboard works by J.S. Bach and his pupils.
Contact +49 36 91 25 00; info@wartburg.de
www.wartburg-eisenach.de
Celebrate! Festival-in-the-Fields
27 April-18 May, London
A three-week event marks the re-opening of St Martin-in-the-Fields on Trafalgar Square following a £36 million, two-year restoration. An early music series features the choirs of St Martin-in-the-Fields and Christ’s College, Cambridge, the English Chamber Choir and Barts Chamber Choir. The church’s director of music Nicholas Danks gives a recital as part of a lunchtime organ series, the New London Singers perform modern American works and the Holst Singers present a Russian and Eastern European programme.
Contact 020 7839 8362; boxoffice@smitf.org
www.smitf.org
MAY
Norfolk and Norwich Festival
2-17 May, Norwich
Norwich Cathedral is the home of the choral element of this festival of classical music, jazz, dance and contemporary performance. The Choir of King’s College, Cambridge, performs Handel, Vivaldi and Haydn with the Cambridge University Chamber Orchestra; Janácek’s Glagolitic Mass gets an airing with the Festival Chorus and the London Philharmonic Orchestra; and the Hilliard Ensemble sings Bach and Pärt.
Contact 01603 766 400; info@nnfestival.org.uk
www.nnfestival.org.uk
Internationale Händel-Festspiele Göttingen
2-13 May, Göttingen, Germany
‘Orpheus Britannicus - Handel in England’ is the theme of this year’s festival, which includes more than 40 concerts and fringe events. The NDR Chor performs Samson and premieres Mendelssohn’s arrangement of Acis and Galatea. The Norddeutscher Figuralchor sings L’allegro, il penseroso, ed il moderato. Stefan Kordes gives an organ recital at the Jacobikirche on 9 May.
Contact +49 (0) 551 38 48 13 0; sekretariat@haendel-festspiele.de
www.haendel-festspiele.de
Brighton Festival
3-25 May, Brighton
The 50th anniversary of the death of Vaughan Williams is commemorated with a concert featuring Richard Hickox leading the City of London Sinfonia and the Brighton Festival Chorus. The Chorus joins the Brighton Festival Youth Choir for the UK premiere of John Tavener’s new mass Sollemnitas in Conceptione Immaculate Beatae Maria Virginis. The Shout joins forces with Protein Dance to premiere the festival’s commissions, Happy Together, through the streets of Brighton. And Brighton Dome’s 1936 pipe organ gets a 21st-century spin with several ‘manic organic’ performances on the instrument by non-classical musicians, including Australian avant-improv trio The Necks.
Contact 01273 709709; tickets@brightondome.org
www.brightonfestival.org
Brighton Festival Fringe
3-26 May, Brighton
Among the highlights of this event, which runs concurrently with the Brighton Festival, are lunchtime recitals by members of the Brighton Organists’ Association and a Messiaen tribute by organist Robert Munns. The Rainbow Chorus celebrates the music of gay composers and the Brighton Chamber Choir performs music from both sides of The Pond. Meanwhile, the Brighton City Singers and The South London Choir premiere a dozen works under the theme ‘Food Of Love’, following their call earlier this year for original choral works for a community choir.
Contact 01273 709709; info@brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk
www.brightonfestivalfringe.org.uk
Hampstead and Highgate Festival
7-18 May, London
Anniversary celebrations for Messiaen, Vaughan Williams, Tippett, Howard Ferguson and Adam Gorb mark this year’s festival. The premiere of That Man Stephen Ward, a one-act opera by Thomas Hyde (featured in New Music, C&O March/April 2007) sees the festival’s first foray into music theatre. Jennifer Bate plays works by Bach, Messiaen and Liszt in the celebrity organ recital. Literary and jazz events, cabaret, local walks, comedy and children’s concerts all contribute to the strong community spirit.
Contact 020 7722 1414; george@hamandhighfest.co.uk
www.buryfestival.co.uk
Bury St Edmunds Festival
9-25 May, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Bury St Edmunds Township Choir of children joins with visiting group Mbawula to sing South African songs; the Tallis Scholars give a concert of music from Palestrina to Gabriel Jackson, and including the winner of the composition competition; and Philip Reed conducts the ?Bury St Edmunds Bach Choir and Orchestra in a performance of the Verdi Requiem. The cathedral choir gives a concert in St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and Martin Baker gives an organ recital.
Contact 01284 769505
www.buryfestival.co.uk
Musica Sacra International
9-14 May, Marktoberdorf, Germany
Ten ensembles representing the five major world religions of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism come together in South Germany for a programme of song, dance and cultural exchange. Groups include the Calmus Ensemble (former members of Leipzig’s St Thomas Boys‘ Choir; the Kwaya ya Uinjilisti Loruvani choir from Tanzania; Heinavanker, from Estonia; Argentina’s Estudio Coral de Buenos Aires; and Turkey’s Contemporary Lovers of Mevlana.
Contact +49 (0)8342 8964033; office@modfestivals.org
www.modfestivals.org
London Festival of Contemporary Church Music
10-18 May, London
Unprecedented opportunities to hear new liturgical compositions by established and up-and-coming composers in concerts and services. Patron Michael Berkeley opens the event with a talk preceding a concert by the Vasari Singers of music by Berkeley, Bainton, Nystedt, O’Regan, Moore, Todd, Vaughan Williams and Grunenwald. Diana Burrell and Francis Pott introduce their compositions. Services in St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Southwark Cathedral include music by Jonathan Harvey, Roxanna Panufnik, Robin Holloway and Jonathan Dove; organ recitals are given by James O’Donnell and Stephen Disley. Paul Ramshaw and Simon Zagorski-Thomas lead a workshop on live electronic/digital manipulation of choral music; and Robert Sholl gives a talk about Messiaen as church musician. In the closing concert, the Choir of the Chapels Royal, directed by Andrew Gant, sings works by Maxwell Davies, Pott, Joliffe, Saxton et al; and the final Choral Evensong on 18 May at 4pm is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Contact +44 (0)20 7388 1461; office@stpancraschurch.org
www.stpancraschurch.org
Newbury Spring Festival
10-24 May, Berkshire
Concerts by Tenebrae, Ex Cathedra, the Newbury Spring Festival Chorus and the Morriston Orpheus Choir are among the choral highlights this year, the 30th anniversary of the festival. The Giffords Circus, poetry readings, and UK and international musicians and ensembles are also among the line-up.
Contact +44 (0)1635 522733; info@newburyspringfestival.org.uk
www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk
Prague Spring International Festival
12 May-4 June, Prague, Czech Republic
Olivier Latry gives a recital of organ works by Messiaen during the Prague Organ Days on 24 and 25 May; other recitalists include Marek Cihar, Pavel Kohout, Pavel Cerný and Irena Chribková. The festival’s chorus programmes feature Grieg’s incidental music to Peer Gynt; the Flemish Radio Choir in a programme of music by the 18th-century Czech composer Jan Dismas Zelenka; and Boni Pueri Czech Boys’ Choir singing Mozart’s Requiem. Music at the Habsburg Courts forms the basis for three concerts, with a guest appearance by the Huelgas Ensemble.
Contact +42 257 310 414; tickets@festival.cz ?
www.festival.cz/en
Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music
15-21 May, London
This year’s theme is peace. Philippe Herreweghe makes his festival debut, with a programme of Bach performed by Collegium Vocale Gent. The festival’s annual visit to Westminster Abbey observes the 300th anniversary of the death of one of the building’s great organists, John Blow, with successor James O’Donnell conducting the Westminster Abbey Choir in anthems written for three state occasions: the opening of St Paul’s Cathedral, the Treaty of Ryswick and the coronation of James II. I Fagiolini explore Monteverdi’s scena, Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda, and Ensemble San Felice joins the festival with an early Italian opera by Handel.
Contact +44 (0) 20 7222 1061; info@lufthansafestival.org.uk
www.lufthansafestival.org.uk
Uppingham Organ Festival
16-18 May, Uppingham, Rutland
A weekend of events heralds the arrival of a new Chapel organ by Nicholsons (see C&O, March/April 2008). Naji Hakim gives the opening recital of Bach, Messiaen, Franck and his own works; president-elect of the Royal College of Organists, Stephen Cleobury, holds a masterclass and former Uppingham music scholar Ashley Grote gives a recital.
Contact +44 (0)1572 820820; festival@uppingham.co.uk
www.uppingham.co.uk
Bath International Music Festival
21 May-7 June, Bath
The Bath Festival turns 60 this year. Marking the occasion is festival commission Home Songs, a work for 1,000 voices by Pete McGarr performed by the Bath Camerata, festival director Joanna MacGregor, organists from Bath Abbey - and the public. Bath Camerata also recognises Messiaen’s birthday, as does Wells Cathedral School Chamber Choir in presenting Trois petites liturgies de la Présence Divine. Visiting artists also include the Hilliard Ensemble, and Great Voices of Bulgaria singing traditional Bulgarian folksongs and Russian Orthodox church music.
Contact +44 (0)1225 463362; boxoffice@bathfestivals.org.uk
www.bathmusicfest.org.uk
Bergen International Festival
21 May-4 June, Bergen, Norway
I Fagiolini, Carnevale II and Baroque Soloists recreate the sounds of the Doge’s Palace and St Marks, Venice, in music by Gabrieli, Monteverdi and their contemporaries. At the other end of the time-scale, Nordic Voices sing works by Norwegian composer Lasse Thoresen (b.1949), preceded by an introduction to his music by Ragnhild Veire. The Estonian National Male Choir gives a concert dedicated to the 90th anniversary of Estonia’s independence, including music by Tubin, Pärt and Tormis. Approaching midsummer, Markus Wargh gives a late-night organ recital in Bergen Cathedral of music by Bach, Sibelius, Vivaldi/Bach and Liszt, as well as an improvisation on the Norwegian and Swedish national anthems.
Contact +47 815 33 133
www.fib.no
Beverley & East Riding Early Music Festival
23-26 May, York
Guest artists include the Tallis Scholars, singing music by Victoria, Palestrina and Gabriel Jackson. In a pre-concert talk, John Bryan discusses the performance of sacred polyphony during the Renaissance, and the styles and practices adopted by early musicians today. The University of Huddersfield Chamber Choir and Early Music Ensemble perform music by Dering, Philips, Blow and Purcell.
Contact +44 (0)1904 658338; boxoffice@ncem.co.uk
www.ncem.co.uk/bemf.shtml
St Davids Cathedral Festival
23 May-1 June, St Davids, Pembrokeshire
New artistic director Alexander Mason conducts the Festival Chorus and Orchestra in Haydn’s Creation, and Ex Cathedra and Jeffrey Skidmore give a programme of Latin-American Baroque music. The St Davids Cathedral Choir performs Vivaldi’s Gloria and branches out into jazz with the premiere of Alexander L’Estrange’s festival commission On Eagles’ Wings. Organ recitals feature Henry Fairs, James O’Donnell and Alexander Mason.
Contact +44 (0)1437 721204; info@stdavidscathedral.org.uk
www.stdavidscathedral.org.uk
Salisbury International Arts Festival
23 May-8 June, Salisbury
The focus is on song this year, so choral groups of every kind are showcased, including the King’s Singers (celebrating their 40th anniversary) and Russian vocal quartet Pritcha (from the Raifa Bogoroditsky Monastery) making its UK debut. The Farrant Singers, founded in Salisbury 50 years ago, premiere seven short choral works by composers linked to them, including Salisbury Cathedral’s director of music, David Halls. A series of concerts, talks and debates exploring peace welcomes Nobel Peace Prize winner Archbishop Desmond Tutu during the ‘Peace Weekend’, and 77 children from South African township Gugulethu township unite with the Salisbury Community Choir to perform Karl Jenkins’s The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace.
Contact +44 (0)845 241 9651; info@salisburyfestival.co.uk
www.salisburyfestival.co.uk
Spoleto Festival USA
23 May-8 June, Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Joseph Flummerfelt conducts Princeton’s Westminster Choir, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Spoleto Festival USA Orchestra in Beethoven, Haydn and Brahms’s rarely performed Nänie. Westminster Choir also gives two a cappella concerts of Brahms, Mäntyjärvi, Matthew Harris, Alfred Janson and contemporary settings of traditional spirituals.
Contact +1 843 579 3100
www.spoletousa.org
Ulverston Music Festival
24 May-1 June, Ulverston, Cumbria
Founded by pianist Anthony Hewitt in 2003, this year’s event includes a family concert of film, cartoon and TV themes performed by the Tri-Schools Choir and Chamber Ensemble.
Contact info@ulverstonmusicfestival.co.uk
www.ulverstonmusicfestival.co.uk
Langlais Festival
30 May-19 July, La Fontenelle, France
This annual festival was founded in 2005 for the late organist and composer Jean Langlais, who was born in the village of La Fontenelle in 1907. Malcolm Archer directs a choral course culminating in two concerts in La Fontenelle and nearby Dol Cathedral. Other highlights include an organ recital by Malcolm Archer and David Bednall, and a concert by la Chorale de l’Association ‘Les Amis de Jean Langlais’.
Contact +33 (0)2 99 98 32 89
www.jeanlanglais.eu
JUNE
Glasgow International Organ Festival
1-12 June, Glasgow
The Memorial Chapel of Glasgow University provides the venue for recitals by Kevin Bowyer, Hans-Ola Ericsson, David Sanger, Jacques van Oortmerssen, Peter Yardley-Jones, John Butt and Jane Parker-Smith. All recitals are broadcast live on the internet, with console video view and sound. Bowyer gives the premiere of Paul Fisher’s Organ Symphony ‘Cat of Glory’, and Yardley-Jones gives the UK premiere of Fredrik Sixten’s Organ Sonata. See website for details of the year-long Messiaen Centenary Celebration.
Contact
www.giof.org.uk
Spitalfields Festival
2-20 June, London
Diana Burrell continues her artistic directorship of this event in London’s East End. A voice weekend 13-15 June see the premieres of Michael Henry’s Transitions and Naomi Pinnock’s Interference by The Curate’s Egg and Christopher Fox’s 20 Ways to Improve your Life by The Clerks; the choirs of Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge and King’s College, London give the first UK performance of Shchedrin’s The Sealed Angel. Workshops for amateur singers are also a feature. 11 June sees an evening of organ works, with premieres of Sam Q. Smith’s Undercurrents (Matthew Martin), Maria Kallionpää’s Dialogo (Ilia Kudryavtsev), and Burrell’s Lauds (James Gough).
Contact 020 7377 1362; info@spitalfields.org.uk
www.spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk
Stockholm Early Music Festival
4-8 June, Stockholm, Sweden
A varied vocal diet is provided by four vocal ensembles: Ensemble Ars Longa (Cuba), Ensemble Villancico (Sweden), the all-male Ensemble Amarcord (Germany) and the female group Trio Mediaeval (Norway).
Contact +46 (0)70 460 03 90; info@semf.se
www.semf.se/festival/
Handel Festival
5-15 June, Halle, Germany
Lectures and performances of Handel’s music in and around the town of his birth. Major works include Belshazzar, La Resurrezione, Messiah, Samson, the Brockes Passion, and the organ concertos, directed from the organ by Ottavio Dantone. Organ night, on 13 June, features Martin Stephan, Ottavio Dantone and Irénée Peyrot demonstrating the organs in the Martin Luther University, the cathedral, the Marktkirche and the Ulrichskirche. The festival also includes a visit to Bach memorials.
Contact +49 345 500 90 222, haendel@halle.de
www.haendelfestspiele.halle.de
The Road to Paradise
12-17 June, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
European sacred music from the Middle Ages to today is presented in nine concerts in churches, cloisters and palaces. Artists include the Gabrieli Consort, with programmes of English choral masterpieces from the Renaissance to the present day, and Haydn’s Creation; the Orlando Consort, singing Dufay’s Missa Sancti Jacobi; and Timothy Roberts giving an organ recital on the 1709 instrument in the Santa Clara convent.
Contact 020 8742 3355; info@martinrandall.co.uk
www.martinrandall.com
Bachfest Leipzig
13-22 June, Leipzig, Germany
The influence of the Bach family in the transition from Baroque to Classicism is this year’s theme. Collegium Vocale Gent, the RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, the Balthasar-Neumann Choir and the Rheinische Kantorei are among the choirs singing the St John Passion, B minor Mass, motets and church cantatas in places where Bach worked. ‘Organ Hour’ recitals give the opportunity to hear some of Bach’s greatest compositions in the Thomaskirche.
Contact +49 3871 2 11 41 91/01805 56 20 30; bachfest@bach-leipzig.de
www.bach-leipzig.de
Aldeburgh Festival
13-29 June, Snape, Suffolk
In this final festival under the artistic direction of Thomas Adès, Robert Hollingworth and I Fagiolini return with a programme of Byrd. The Gabrieli Consort & Players celebrate St Cecilia in Purcell’s and Britten’s music; Tess Knighton gives an introductory talk to Ensemble Organum’s performance of Machaut’s Messe de Notre Dame; and Exaudi gives a concert of Byrd, Xenakis and Wolfgang Rihm. David Hill conducts the BBC Singers in a varied programme of Schumann, Ruth Crawford, Britten, Kurtág and Messiaen, and London Voices remember Stockhausen with Stimmung. The Bishop of St Edmundsbury preaches at the Festival Service in Aldeburgh Church on 15 June at 10.30am.
Contact 01728 687110; enquiries@aldeburgh.co.uk
www.aldeburgh.co.uk
Chelsea Festival
14-27 June, London
Acclaimed novelist Vikram Seth collaborates with composer Alec Roth in a festival commission The Traveller, featured alongside Finzi’s Dies Natalis with Mark Padmore, the Britten Sinfonia, adult and children’s choirs and Philippe Honoré. Historic venues include Holy Trinity, Sloane Street, and Christopher Wren’s Royal Hospital.
Contact 0845 890 2435; info@chelseafestival.org.uk
www.chelseafestival.org.uk
St Magnus Festival
20-25 June, Kirkwall, Orkney, Scotland
In the cultural mix of this year’s festival, Dame Gillian Weir gives a recital of Bach and Messiaen in St Magnus Cathedral. Tenebrae gives two concerts, of French choral music from Machaut to Messiaen and of Joby Talbot’s musical pilgrimage A Path of Miracles. Stephen Wilkinson directs the Oxford Singers in a late midsummer’s evening concert of a cappella choral music by Byrd, Buxtehude, Purcell and Bach.
Contact 01856 871445; info@stmagnusfestival.com
www.stmagnusfestival.com
City of London Festival
20 June-10 July, London
Set around London’s Square Mile, this year’s festival takes as its theme ‘Romanticism’, inspired by landscapes and journeys. Tenebrae premieres director Nigel Short’s Engadine (from Rhenus Fluvius) alongside works by Brahms, Schubert and Frank Martin. The BBC Singers perform a revised version of Param Vir’s He Begins His Great Trance. St Paul’s Cathedral was completed 300 years ago, and its Choir gives a concert on 1 July. Organists appearing at the festival’s lunchtime concerts at various churches and cathedrals include Stephen Disley, Katherine Hambridge, Peter Wright, Arnfinn Tobiassen, Greg Morris and Ashley Grote.
Contact 020 7796 4949; admin@colf.org
www.colf.org
JULY
East Neuk Festival
2-6 July, East Neuk, Scotland
With the festival’s main theme of ‘Ancient and Modern’, the Orlando Consort sings a diverse programme of music: Bach, Britten, Pärt and Fratres in the first concert are followed by late-night candlelit chant in St Monan’s church, with sacred music of medieval St Andrews and new works by O’Regan and Swayne. A concert in Leuchars presents the ancient throat-singing of Tuvan ensemble Huun-Huur-Tu.
Contact 0131 473 2000; ian@eastneukfestival.com
www.eastneukfestival.com
York Early Music Festival
3-12 July, York
Historic buildings in York provide venues for ‘Exile - Music Written in a Strange Land’, focusing on musicians whose politics, church and personal ambitions led them to spend time away from their homeland. The Choir of New College, Oxford sings music written for performance at royal chapels in foreign lands, from Catholic queens in England to the deposed Stuart monarchy in France; the Yorkshire Bach Choir performs Handel’s Israel in Egypt in York Minster; the University of York Chamber Choir sings music by Purcell, Dering and Peter Philips; and La Capella Ducale gives a performance of Johann Rosenmüller’s Requiem Mass and motets.
Contact 01904 658338; boxoffice@ncem.co.uk
www.ncem.co.uk/yemf.shtml
Winchester Festival
4-13 July, Winchester, Hampshire
Launching the festival, David Hill conducts the Bach Choir and Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Vaughan Williams: Towards the Unknown Region, Fantasia on Greensleeves and A Sea Symphony. The Ashton Singers give a concert of Bach, Schütz and Monteverdi; and Southern Voices perform the Monteverdi Vespers. Malcolm Archer gives an organ recital of Bach, Bridge, Franck and Vierne in Winchester College Chapel.
Contact 01962 857276; boxoffice@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
www.winchester-cathedral.org.uk
Cheltenham Music Festival
4-19 July, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
Under the new artistic directorship of Meurig Bowen, this year’s festival includes premieres of by Arvo Pärt and Veljo Tormis, sung by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, and a performance of Messiaen’s magnum opus Ex Expecto Resurrectionem Mortuorum in Tewkesbury Abbey. Cheltenham Festival Chorus, Gloucestershire County Junior Choir and Tewkesbury Youth Choir combine for Carmina Burana; other choirs include the Estonian Television Girl’s Choir, Cheltenham Bach Choir, Oriel Singers and St Cecilia Singers.
Contact 01242 227979
www.cheltenhamfestivals.com
Deal Festival
5-19 July, Deal, Kent
Tibetan monks add to the topicality of this year’s festival. Choral dimensions are provided by The Choir of St Andrew’s Church singing Schubert’s Mass in G in a liturgical setting; the Swingle Singers giving a workshop and concert of music on their recently released CD, Beauty and the Beatbox; and radical vocal trio Juice, singing works by contemporary British composers, including the ensemble’s leader Kerry Andrew, and a Deal Festival commission by Robert Percy.
Contact 01304 381134
www.dealfestival.co.uk
Wyastone Summer Series
6-19 July, Monmouth, Wales
Gothic Voices?join an impressive line-up of early music specialists and present music for solo voices from medieval France and England.
Contact 01600 891090, concerts@wyastone.co.uk
www.wyastone.co.uk/wyastone
Llangollen International Music Eisteddfod
8-13 July, Llangollen, Wales
Thousands of competitors converge on Wales for this well-established international competition. Hilary Tann’s Wellspring was specially commissioned for the event. Guest artists include the female voice ensemble All Angels.
Contact 01978 862001; tickets@international-eisteddfod.co.uk
www.international-eisteddfod.co.uk
Vaughan Williams Festival
11-13 July, Cumbria
A celebration of Vaughan Williams in towns around the Lake District includes performances of Three Shakespeare Songs and Mass in G minor (Cartmel Priory), and Dona nobis pacem (Kendal, alongside Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast). James Day gives a lecture on ways in which 20th-century events are mirrored in the music of VW and his contemporaries.
Contact 01539 725133
www.breweryarts.co.uk
International Choir Festival of Sacred Music
17-20 July, Rottenburg, Germany
A triennial competition that covers different categories and levels and which is aimed at fostering choirs and sacred choir music. The vocal ensembles showcase their musical-religious traditions as part of the festival’s theme of tolerance and international understanding.
Contact +49 (0)64 03 95 65 25; mail@musica-mundi.com
www.musica-mundi.com
BBC Proms
18 July-13 September, London
Programme tbc.
Contact 020 7589 8212; proms@bbc.co.uk
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/
World Choir Games
9-19 July, Graz, Austria
More than 400 choirs and ensembles from 90 countries come together in a unique celebration of music from different cultures. Over 1,000 concerts demonstrate folk music, sacred music, popular music, gospel and spiritual songs in the festival’s many different categories of vocal ensemble.
Contact +43 1 96096
www.worldchoirgames.info
Oundle International Festival
11-20 July, Oundle, Northamptonshire
Geoffrey Webber conducts the combined choirs of Caius College, Cambridge and King’s College London in Stravinsky’s Mass and Shchedrin’s large-scale choral work The Sealed Angel. Organ recitals in churches around Oundle are given by Ekaterina Melnikova (13 July), Jeffrey Makinson (15 July), David Sanger (17 July), David Goode (18 July), and young organists (19 July).
Contact 01832 275109; information@oundlefestival.org.uk
www.oundlefestival.org.uk
International Organ Festival Haarlem
12-18 July, 21 July-2 August, Haarlem, Netherlands
The festival opens with a full day of 30-minute recitals on the town’s historic organs, and an evening performance of Brahms’s Requiem in St Bavokerk. The International Organ Improvisation Competition takes place on 15-18 July and features the Philharmonie’s 1875 Cavaillé-Coll instrument for the first time in the competition’s 50-year history. A concluding recital is given by jury members. The festival is followed by the International Summer Academy (21 July-2 August).
Contact +31 20 4880479; office@organfestival.nl
www.organfestival.nl
Westminster Abbey Summer Organ Festival
15 July-12 August, London
This year’s festival includes performances by Dame Gillian Weir (15 July) and James O’Donnell (22 July) of works by Messiaen, as part of Southbank’s Messiaen festival ‘From the Canyons to the Stars’. Subsequent recitals are given by Robert Quinney (29 July), David Briggs (5 August) and Nicolas Kynaston (12 August).
Contact 020 7222 5152; music@westminster-abbey.org
www.westminster-abbey.org/music/concerts-recitals/
Southern Cathedrals Festival
16-20 July, Winchester
The cathedral choirs of Winchester, Chichester and Salisbury combine in concerts and services. The event includes an organ recital and masterclass by John Scott.
Contact 01962 857275; boxoffice@winchester-cathedral.org.uk
www.southerncathedralsfestival.org.uk
Verbier Festival
18 July-3 August, Verbier, Switzerland
The 70 concerts include a festival debut by acclaimed a cappella group Sweet Honey in the Rock, singing arrangements of songs from around the world.
Contact +41 (0) 848 771 882; ticketing@verbierfestival.com
www.verbierfestival.com
Cambridge Summer Music Festival
18 July-9 August, Cambridge
Cambridge is renowned for its choral sound, and this forms a focus for the festival. King’s College Chapel is the venue for concerts by the Festival Chorus and Cambridge Orchestra (Brahms Requiem); the male voices of Collegium Regale; Timothy Brown conducting English Voices in Allegri, Bach and Vaughan Williams; and an organ recital by Kevin Bowyer. St John’s College Chapel hosts lunchtime recitals, and St John’s Choir singing the Chichester Psalms; Anne Page takes a look at French music on the harmonium and new organ in Jesus College.
Contact 01223 357851
www.cambridgesummermusic.com
World Symposium on Choral Music
19-26 July, Copenhagen, Denmark
The WSCM comes to Denmark for the first time, giving a special Scandinavian flavour to a week of choral music from around the world, with choirs from Latin and South America, Africa, Asia, North America and Europe. 3,000 choral conductors, singers and choir professionals join for concerts, lectures, workshops and masterclasses in the city’s new and historic buildings; Simon Halsey and Bo Johansson are among the guest conductors, and workshop leaders include Bob Chilcott, Philip Brunelle, Gunnar Eriksson and Anton Armstrong. Composers include Bo Holten, Jaako Mäntyjärvi, Vitautas Miskinis, Karin Rehnqvist and Eric Whitacre. The Songbridge Gala brings together children’s choirs from China, Canada, Hungary and Denmark; and the Symposium concludes with a performance by massed choirs of Britten’s War Requiem in the Cathedral.
Contact +45 4542 1750, info@choraldenmark.org
www.choraldenmark.org
AUGUST
Tallinn International Organ Festival
1-10 August, Tallinn, Pärnu and Tartu, Estonia
Founder and artistic director Andres Uibo welcomes an array of international organists, including Jacques van Oortmerssen, Peter van Dijk, James David Christie and Christopher Bowers-Broadbent for this annual feast of recitals, organ tours and masterclasses. The choral dimension is provided by Vox Clamantis, Estonian National Male Choir, Orthodox Singers (Estonia), Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and Tempvs Fvgit.
Contact +372 614 7700; info@concert.ee
www.hot.ee/eoy/organfestival.html and
www.concert.ee
Bornholm International Organ Festival
2-8 August, Bornholm, Denmark
International organists perform in the recently founded festival on this Danish island. Kevin Duggan gives a lecture-recital on the works of Messiaen, and Dame Gillian Weir plays Messe de la Pentecote. Other soloists include Volodymr and Viktoria Koshuba, Alessandro Bianchi Marcelo Giannini, and Jakob Lorentzen improvising to the film Jeanne d’Arc.
Contact +453 56 95 36 95
www.sctnico.dk
Three Choirs Festival
2-9 August, Worcester
Messiaen is remembered with performances of O sacrum convivium, alongside Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G minor in the Festival Eucharist; and organ recitals include Dame Gillian Weir playing Messiaen’s L’Ascension and Les anges. Opus Anglicanum leads a Gregorian chant workshop, and visiting choirs include The King’s Singers, Elgar Chorale and Gothic Voices. The Academy of Ancient Music performs Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the three Cathedral Choirs.
Contact booking@3choirs.org
www.3choirs.org
Edinburgh International Festival
8-31 August, Edinburgh, Scotland
The festival opens with an exposure of decadence in society, a concert performance of Brecht and Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. Paul Hillier conducts the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir in works by Pärt and Tormis, Sibelius, Tulev and Bergman. Edinburgh Festival Chorus presents two rousing Old Testament musical dramas, Handel’s Israel in Egypt and Honegger’s Le roi David, as well as Tippett’s poignant A Child of Our Time (conducted by Gennadi Rozhdestvensky). Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducts the Monteverdi Choir in Requiems by Schütz and Brahms; and Phillipe Herreweghe leads Collegium Vocale Gent in Masses by Stravinsky and Bruckner. Naji Hakim gives two recitals in St Giles’ Cathedral celebrating the organ works of Messiaen and including his own Le tombeau d’Olivier Messiaen. Greyfriars Kirk hosts Song and Civilization, a week-long survey of traditional choral music from Europe and the Middle East, including the works of 17th-century Turkish composer Buhurizade Mustafa Itri Efendi, a founder of the classical Ottoman music tradition. Sister Marie Keyrouz and L’Ensemble de la Paix perform chants from the Byzantine, Melkite and Maronite traditions of the Eastern Catholic church; Sequentia and Dialogos present styles of Gregorian chant; A Cumpagnia performs folk song and sacred works from Corsica; and secular and spiritual music from Georgia is sung by the male-voice Anchiskhati Choir.
Muziektheater Transparant and Collegium Vocale Gent present a musical theatre event, Ruhe (Silence), based on a series of 1960s interviews conducted with Dutch veterans who signed up to serve with the Nazis in 1940.
Contact 0131 473 2000
www.eif.co.uk
Les voix de l’Aure
16-24 August, Normandy, France
Professional choirs from Germany, Corsica and Hungary give concerts in Bayeux’s cathedral and other venues. Amateur singers are invited to take part in two choral courses, focusing on Kodály’s Missa Brevis.
Contact +33 2 31 92 74 66; orpheon.bayeux@wanadoo.fr
www.orpheon-bayeux.org
Presteigne Festival
21-26 August, Presteigne, Powys, Wales
Sine Nomine International Touring Choir, conducted by Susan Hollingworth, provides the choral element in this contemporary music festival, with music by Vasks, Lauridsen, Vaughan Williams, Whitacre, Britten, Moeran, David Matthew and Joe Duddell. St Andrew’s Church hosts the Festival Eucharist.
Contact 020 7435 5965, georgevass@presteignefestival.com
www.presteignefestival.com
Beethovenfest
29 August-28 September, Bonn, Germany
The 2008 theme ‘Macht.Musik’ (Power.Music) explores Beethoven’s legacy in ideological movements and the misappropriation and marginalisation of composers and their works in the 20th century. Neue Vocalsolisten Stuttgart sing Hildalgo’s arrangement for six-part a cappella voices of the Scherzo from Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and Jennifer Walshe’s new work Anthrax.
Contact +49 180 5001812
www.beethovenfest.de
North Norfolk Music Festival
30 August-7 September, King’s Lynn
Oliver Condy performs organ works by Bach, Bruhns, Buxtehude, Sweelinck and Gibbons at St Margaret’s Church in Burnham Norton (3 September).
Contact 01328738671; nnmf@onetel.com
www.northnorfolkmusicfestival.com
SEPTEMBER
Windsor Festival
14-28 September, Windsor, Berkshire
Programme tbc.
Contact 01753 714364; info@windsorfestival.com
www.windsorfestival.com
Victor Hugo International Music Festival
19-28 September, Guernsey
Free lunchtime concerts are held at the Town Church of St Peter Port, which has a choir run on cathedral lines under organist James Henderson. The choir gives the premiere of a Missa Brevis specially composed for it by Richard Dubugnon.
Contact 01481 238726; rdelarue@guernsey.net
www.vhfestival.com
North Wales International Music Festival
20-27 September, St Asaph, Denbighshire, Wales
This year’s festival includes a recital by Dame Gillian Weir on 24 September, and concerts by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
Contact 01745 535885; admin@stasaph-cityofmusic.com
www.northwalesmusicfestival.co.uk
Festival International d’Orgue
25-29 September, Fribourg, Switzerland
Organ recitals, tours of churches and cathedrals, and a round-table session on composing for historic instruments form the core of this festival. Concerts are given by Nuovi Fiori Musicali and Divertimento Vocale Freiburg.
Contact +41 26 470 00 8
www.academieorgue.ch
OCTOBER
Toulouse les Orgues
3-19 October, Toulouse, France
Concerts, lectures, visits to organs and organ builders, and the tenth International Organ Competition Xavier Darasse comprise this festival in the Midi-Pyrénées. Opening in Saint-Etienne Cathedral in Toulouse with concert of music by Gabrieli composed for St Mark’s, Venice, the festival continues with a recital by Michel Bouvard of Messiaen’s Les corps glorieux on the Cavaillé-Coll organ in St Sernin. Other events include a look at the organ’s close relatives; homage to organist Jean Boyer (1948-2004), who forged strong links with Xavier Darasse; and Louis Robillard improvising to a silent film.
Contact +33 5 61 33 76 87; infos@toulouse-les-orgues.org
www.toulouse-les-orgues.org
‘Venezia in Musica’ & International Choir Competition
1-5 October, Venice, Italy
For different standards, types of choirs and musical genres. This international competition will be staged in the Auditorium Vivaldi and the Church of S. Cuore di Gesú in Jesolo, while the choirs will also give concerts in the Venice’s churches and squares.
Contact +49 (0)64 03 95 65 25; mail@musica-mundi.com
www.musica-mundi.com
International Festival of Choir Ensembles
11-19 October, Uruguay
The fourth annual festival welcomes choirs of all varieties: mixed, female, male, university choirs, religious and community choirs, institutional choirs, children’s and youth choirs, and small vocal ensembles.
Contact +598 (2) 901 8025; infiprod@montevideo.com.uy
www.infinitorc.com
Annual Festival of New Organ Music
31 October-2nd November, London
Three intensive days of lectures, discussions, workshops and exhibition-concerts at some of London’s most prestigious venues. Opportunities for composers and performers to meet, and for new works to be performed. Highlights include the Park Lane Group concerts in Westminster Cathedral, the first time organists have been able to participate as PLG Young Artists. Application deadline for composition entries and performer auditions: 1 June.
Contact 0208 357 7913; chiplands@aol.com
www.afnom.org
NOVEMBER
International Franz-Schubert Choir Competition and Festival Vienna
12-16 November, Vienna, Austria
Concerts as well as competitions featuring a range of difficulty levels and categories. The venues include the Schubert Church in Wien-Lichtental where Schubert once worked, and while the competition will be held in the Schubert Hall at the Wiener Konzerthaus.
Contact +49 (0)64 03 95 65 25; mail@musica-mundi.com
www.musica-mundi.com
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