SOUTHERN CATHEDRALS FESTIVAL 2012: 19 - 21 JULY AT SALISBURY CATHEDRAL
Issued Thursday 21st June 2012
Download the Southern Cathedrals Festival 2012 booking brochure here.
This year’s Southern Cathedrals Festival with the combined choirs from Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals, is hosted by Salisbury Cathedral from Thursday 19 – Saturday 21 July. There are five services, four ‘Youth in Music’ concerts, three major choral concerts, two ‘Late Night Bach by Candlelight’ piano recitals, a Choral Masterclass with Malcolm Archer and a celebrity organ recital by one of the greatest organists of our generation, Dame Gillian Weir.
David Halls, Festival Director, said “We’re very excited to be hosting SCF here in 2012. It’s not just professional choirs singing together for what will undoubtedly be three days of high class music making, it’s also about the three cathedrals sharing their liturgy and worship.”
The music for the Festival Eucharist is Frank Martin Mass for Double Choir which David Halls thinks is “an absolute masterpiece which I believe the choirs will thoroughly enjoy learning.” On Saturday 21st, BBC Radio 3 will be recording Evensong which includes the wonderfully spiky and virtuosic Magnificat by Giles Swayne, Wood’s Nunc dimittis in Bb and the premiere of the SCF specially commissioned anthem by Neil Cox. Evensong is sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir on Thursday and Winchester Cathedral Choir on Friday.
There is one major choral concert each day. On Thursday afternoon the boy choristers and men of the combined cathedrals perform A Year in Music with works well-known to the three choirs and performed for special occasions throughout the liturgical year. On Friday evening the girl choristers from Salisbury and Winchester and men from the three cathedrals perform Bach’s Lutheran Missa Brevis in F BWV233, Mozart’s Regina coeli K108 and Michael Haydn’s Requiem with Alison Hill (soprano) and La Folia. Saturday evening’s concert is a performance of Handel’s Messiah sung by the boy choristers and men of the combined cathedrals with Emilia Hughes (soprano) and period orchestra Charivari Agreable Simfonie.
Salisbury’s SCF also supports young musicians through its popular ‘Youth in Music’ series, this year with official accompanist Joseph Wicks, a former chorister who has been appointed organ scholar at St John’s, Cambridge from next September.
SCF 2012 booking brochures will be widely available in April from the three Cathedrals and to download from www.southerncathedralsfestival.org.uk
Highlights of Southern Cathedrals Festival 2012
Thursday 19 July
10.00am Mattins sung by Salisbury Cathedral Choir (girls/men) Ireland in F
2.00pm Concert ‘A Year in Music’ sung by the combined boys choirs/combined men/organ (full programme below)
4.30pm Evensong sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir
6.00pm Youth in Music (1) at the Cathedral School
7.00pm Celebrity Organ Recital Gillian Weir
9.15pm Late night Bach by Candlelight - Bach Partitas 1 & 3 performed by David Halls and Alistair Watson - followed by drinks
Friday 20 July
11.00am Festival Eucharist sung by combined boys/Salisbury girls/combined men): Frank Martin Mass for Double Choir, Villette O salutaris
2.30pm Choral Masterclass led by Malcolm Archer – Chichester and Salisbury boy choristers/Salisbury Cathedral Junior Choir at St Thomas’s Church
4.30pm Evensong sung by Winchester Cathedral Choir
6.00pm Youth in Music (2) at the Cathedral School
7.00pm Concert ‘Requiem’ sung by Salisbury and Winchester girl choristers, men of Salisbury, Chichester and Winchester Cathedrals, Alison Hill (soprano) and La Folia. Bach Lutheran Missa Brevis in F BWV233, Mozart Regina coeli K108, Michael Haydn Requiem
9.15pm Late Night Bach by Candlelight - Bach Partitas 2 & 5 performed by Ian Wicks and Tim Hone - followed by drinks
Saturday 21 July
Open rehearsal 9.30am-12.30pm for Messiah in the cathedral
11.00am Youth in Music (3) at the Cathedral School
2.00pm Youth in Music (4) at the Cathedral School
4.30pm BBC R3 Choral Evensong sung by Salisbury and Winchester girl choristers and men:
Giles Swayne Magnificat, Wood Nunc dimittis in Bb, SCF Commission – Neil Cox
7.00pm Concert Handel’s Messiah sung by the combined boy choristers and men of Salisbury, Winchester and Chichester Cathedrals, with Charivari Agreable Simfonie.