Edington is preparing to celebrate a major milestone as its much-loved Music Festival marks its 70th anniversary this month.
For decades, people have flocked to the village’s church for a range of musical performances woven into acts of worship – and will do so again this year from 17th to 24th August.
This year, organisers are also keen to mark the 70th anniversary of the festival and highlight the people who have kept the music playing over the years.
Anne Curtis, trustee and secretary for Edington Arts, explains, “The Edington Festival of Music within the Liturgy was the brainchild of Canon Ralph Dudley in 1956. As the newly-arrived vicar of the small rural parish of Edington, he was faced with a beautiful church in dire need of significant maintenance, not least a new roof.
“What to do? He invited half a dozen of his former Cambridge Choral Scholar friends for the weekend, to sing services in the church over the two days. It was the first time Evensong had been sung in the church for over 400 years, and it laid the foundations for what has become the world’s oldest, and finest celebration of church music within the context for which it was written.”
By 1957 the number of choristers had expanded to a dozen, including trebles, plus the services of an organist, a choir master and a cook.
Now eight days long, the Edington music festival has a permanent place in the parish calendar in the week before the August Bank Holiday.
Participants pay to be part of the festival and are hosted at homes in Edington and surrounding villages – which leads to lasting friendships.
Over the years, the festival has also raised more than £250,000 through collection plates donated to the parish and from the midweek light-hearted Musical Supper, money which has been invested back into the community.
On what to expect at this year’s festival, Anne said, “More than 70 participants, including three choirs of abbey and cathedral choristers, lay clerks and semi-professional singers, clergy, servers and six organists, will offer four services a day, with no tickets needed.
“There is plainchant from a dedicated Schola singing Matins and Compline daily, unaccompanied singing from a mixed-voice Consort, and a Nave Choir of men, boys and girls. Each evening, before Choral Evensong, there is a half-hour ‘voluntary’ of organ music played by some of the UK’s most brilliant organists. This year, they are organists who have featured in past festivals in a ‘working’ role.
“There are new commissions as well as familiar favourites, anniversaries are celebrated, and a theme, this year ‘The Ways of the Lord’, is explored both geographically and spiritually through music across centuries and continents. The midweek Choral Evensong is recorded live by BBC Radio 3 for later broadcast.
“The festival has been a launchpad for many of its past participants, in performances of all kinds of music on international stages, as organists and vocal soloists, or as members of the country’s leading choral ensembles and cathedral choirs, from close harmony to opera and everything in between.”
To find out more about this year’s festival, visit www.edingtonfestival.org, or contact 07977 464375 or 01380 831425.
