Edington’s Priory Church will again be filled with music as the 59th Festival of Music and Liturgy gets underway on Sunday evening 17th August.
Taking its inspiration from the poetry of George Herbert, and the Seven Sacraments, the Festival ends with Matins on Sunday 24th August.
Once again over 90 choristers from cathedrals and colleges all over England will converge on the small village of Edington, coming together to sing some of the most beautiful and complex music ever written for choirs.
Three choirs – the Schola, singing plainchant, the Nave Choir of men and boys, and the Consort of mixed voices, each directed by a leading UK choir master – will sing up to four services a day. All events are unticketed and open to everyone.
This year’s Festival is particularly special in that it celebrates the new Harrison and Harrison organ for which the community successfully fundraised over two years. As well as a special Festival commission from Alec Roth for choir and organ, supported by the Warminster branch of Waitrose, the organ will be given extra prominence by the Festival organist Daniel Hyde, and by a number of other notable organists connected to Festivals past and present, in a short recital every day before Evensong, (except Wednesday when Evensong is recorded by the BBC during the afternoon). These recitals start at 7.30pm.
The highlight of the organ’s week is a recital on Saturday evening 23rd August at 8.00pm, when the new organ will be dedicated by the Bishop of Ramsbury, followed by a recital by Andrew Lumsden, former Festival organist and currently organist of Winchester Cathedral. His programme includes pieces by J.S.Bach, Maurice Duruflé, Frank Bridge, and the first performance of a new work by Guy Bovet.
As seats in the church cannot be reserved, you are encouraged to arrive in good time.
