The 2024 Three Choirs Festival will be held in Worcester. Several composers published by companies which are part of Wise Music Group will be featured this year. Themes of the festival include the natural world as well as the seventieth birthday of Judith Weir. Also included is a new choral commisison from Paul Mealor and performances of significant works by Ian Venables and Sarah Kirkland Snider. All events with our repertoire included are listed below:
Saturday July 27
5.30pm, Evensong, Worcester Cathedral
Herbert Howells Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (Gloucester Service)
Sunday 28 July
5pm, King's School Boathouse
Composers in Conversation
7.30pm, Worcester Cathedral
Judith Weir Still, Glowing
Philharmonia Orchestra; Geraint Bowen, conductor
Monday July 29
5.30pm, Evensong, Worcester Cathedral
Herbert Howells Magnificat and Nunc dimittis (Collegium Regale)
Richard Blackford I will sing to the Lord
7.30pm, Worcester Cathedral
Judith Weir O Sweet Spontaneous Earth
Sarah Kirkland Snider Mass for the Endangered [UK Premiere]
Three Choirs Festival Chorus; Philharmonia Orchestra; Samuel Hudson, conductor
Tuesday July 30
2pm, Great Malvern Priory
Nicolaus Bruhns Praeludium in E minor
Herbert Howells Rhapsody in C sharp minor
Thoedore Dubois Toccata in G
Sophie Membery, organ
4pm, St Martin's Church
Francis Poulenc Novelette No 3
Samuel Barber Knoxville: Summer of 1915
Florence Price Night; My Dreams
Francesca Chiejina, soprano; jocelyn Freeman, piano
7pm Worcester Cathedral
Judith Weir In the Land of Uz
Charles Gibbs, narrator; Mark Padmore, tenor; Anna Lapwood, organ; BBC Singers; Sofi Jeannin, conductor
Wednesday 31 July
1pm, King's School Boathouse
Members' Lunch with Judith Weir
3pm, Evensong, Worcester Cathedral - Live on BBC Radio 3
Judith Weir A Wreath
Three Cathedral Choirs; Nicholas Freestone, organ; Samuel Hudson, conductor
3.30pm, College Hall
George Crumb Vox Balaenae
Roderick Chadwick, piano; Clare O'connell, cello; Sarah O'Flynn, flute
5.30pm, King's School Boathouse
Dr Paul Ellison examines the Requiem by Ian Venables alongside Rossini's Petit messe solennelle
10pm, College Hall
Lili Boulanger Nocturne
Olivier Messaien Le Merle Noir
George Crumb Vox Balaenae
Roderick Chadwick, piano; Clare O'connell, cello; Sarah O'Flynn, flute
Thursday 1 August
10am, Pershore Abbey
Olivier Messiaen Livre du Saint Sacrement
Tom Bell, organ
7.30pm, Worcester Cathedral
Paul Mealor Ringed with the Azure World (Four Madrigals on Birds) World Premiere
Three Cathedral Choirs; Samuel Hudson, conductor
Friday 2 August
5.30pm, Evensong, Worcester Cathedral
William H Harris Bring us, O Lord God
Three Cathedral Choirs; Geraint Bowen, conductor
7.30pm, Worcester Cathedral
Ian Venables Requiem
Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir; Philharmonia Orchestra; Adrian Partington, conductor
Saturday 3 August
11.30am, Worcester Baptist Church
Judith Weir String Quartet
Dante Quartet