THE 68th Edington Festival of Music ended on Sunday with the morning service which included a Mozart Mass and music by Byrd, Harris and Parsons sung by the three choirs and over 60 musicians invited from cathedrals and collegiate choirs from all over England.
Like most of the services during the week, the church was full to capacity, a welcome indication that the process of recovery from the desolation wrought by the pandemic is well on the way.
Festival organisers said, “Overseas visitors returned for the first time in a few years, in many cases bringing friends with them, and there were many new visitors from outside Wiltshire as well as locally.”
Festival director Robert Quinney, director of the choir at New College Oxford, says that this year’s festival has been one of the most successful he can remember. “Musically the standard has been extraordinarily high,” he said. “The choirs have sung some very complex music, and to have achieved what they have done on only a few hours’ rehearsal a day is testament to their outstanding ability.
“Our choir directors, singers and organists are among the best in the country, and our congregations have clearly appreciated the results. The whole week has been a wonderful coming-together of friends old and new, both in the Priory Church and in the communities which have hosted us.”
Next year’s festival, the 69th, will run from Sunday 18th August 18th to Sunday 25th August 25th.
