A Three Choirs Festival Society outing.

Kentchurch Court dates from the 14th century and is set in beautiful gardens. The ticket includes coach transport, a tour of the house, mid-morning refreshments and a short harp recital by Bronwen Wilkins, a third-year student at the Royal College of Music.

This Three Choirs Festival Society excursion is restricted to a single coach. If places are still available after the priority booking period for Society members, these will be available to the general public.

Return to Hereford by 1 pm.

This hour-long walk is led by a member of the Mayor's Guild of Guides.

The Guild was formed in 1981 as a non-profit making body to assist tourism in the city. The guides are unpaid volunteers who have made a study of the origins and development of Hereford. They have been accepted as the Mayor’s Official Guides and are proud to wear a badge with the city’s coat of arms.

Discover the history of this unique site from Saxon times to the present day. The tour includes an exploration of the recent £5million restoration of the cathedral's exterior spaces, and entrance to the unique Mappa Mundi and Chained Library.

Tours start from outside the East End of the Cathedral at 10.45am and 2pm (limited to 20 people per tour) Tours take place on: *Sat 21st, Mon 23rd - Sat 28th July.

Thomas Trotter organ

Supported by the Friends of Herefordshire Museums & Arts and Mr & Mrs J M Renshall

Handel Organ Concerto Op. 4 No 2
Widor Allegro (Symphony No 5)
Francis Grier Meditation (2012)
Michael Nyman Fourths, Mostly
Elgar Vesper Voluntaries
Rossini Overture to William Tell
 (arr. E H Lemare)

Thomas Trotter is a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Instrumentalist Award in recognition of his particular achievements, and has been described as ‘one of the foremost exponents of the organist’s art’. This recital should not be missed!

Promoted by Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust

Order! Order!

The Clerk of the House of Commons recounts some of the drama, invective and hilarity that is the stuff of Parliamentary politics. There will be an opportunity for questions.  

St Paul's Junior School Choir
Hereford Young String Players

Anna Gittens & Ruth Hayden-Cox Directors

A Three Choirs Plus event, which shines a spotlight on the creative talents of young people and regional artists, singers, dancers, actors, craftspeople and all-round entertainers.

Highly regarded for both instrumental and choral music, the children of St Paul’s School will delight the audience with their infectious enthusiasm and fun as they perform for the first time in the Three Choirs festival.

The children will perform music by Brenton Brown, Elton John and Holst and others. To complement this, The Gypsy's Violin by Jeff Moore was written for a string orchestra made up of professionals and young people of varying standards. It is an exciting and colourful piece, directed by Hazel Davis and performed by Hereford's Young String players and professional players led by Emily Davis, a Principal in the Philharmonia Orchestra.

Saints and Sinners of the Marches

‘Saints and sinners are not that far apart,’ maintains the Dean of Hereford in this new anthology, which introduces us to some of the many different characters who have influenced this part of the world. In this festival week, the author selects mainly musicians from the book and tells their extraordinary stories.

Students from the Royal Academy of Music, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire

Led by Rachel Podger 

Following our very successful brass quintet masterclass last year, we are focussing on period strings for 2012. The students will bring unaccompanied Bach of their own choice on either a period or modern instrument.

Discover the history of this unique site from Saxon times to the present day. The tour includes an exploration of the recent £5million restoration of the cathedral's exterior spaces, and entrance to the unique Mappa Mundi and Chained Library.

Tours start from outside the East End of the Cathedral at 10.45am and 2pm (limited to 20 people per tour) Tours take place on: *Sat 21st, Mon 23rd - Sat 28th July.

Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir
Orchestra of the Swan
David Hill conductor
Katie Trethewey soprano
Marcus Farnsworth baritone

Supported by the Fidelio Charitable Trust

Debussy Danse sacrée et danse profane
Dobrinka Tabakova Centuries of Meditations
 festival commission: world premiere
Fauré Requiem

Kay Garlick speaker

Chaplain at Hereford Cathedral, Kay has worked in Parish Ministry in small rural parishes, as Chaplain to Hereford Sixth Form College, as a member of the General Synod for 15 years, on Archbisop's council for 5 years and Chair of the Business Committee of General Synod, and is currently Chaplain to the Queen.

Her experience of music in worship is therefore very broad from the tiny congregation with a reluctant organist, to a large cathedral congregation with professional musicians; from Anglican chant to Iona chants; from formal civic services to informal reflective acts of worship. What makes music such a vital part of our worship, and are there limits to the kind of music that is worthy of God's praise?

Judith Bingham, Joseph Phibbs and Dobrinka Tabakova

Three composers whose new works are being performed during the festival appear in a symposium on composition, chaired by Stephen Johnson.

A Bigger Splash: Ralph Vaughan Williams and his Sea Symphony

An RVW Society event, this talk will take place prior to the evening’s performance. Refreshments will be served.

Three Cathedral Choirs

Peter Nardone conductor
Peter Dyke organ

Radcliffe Responses
Gray Evening Service in F minor
Jonathan Dove Vast Ocean of Light
Cecilia McDowall Sounding Heaven and Earth 

A Three Choirs Plus event, which shines a spotlight on the creative talents of young people and regional artists, singers, dancers, actors, craftspeople and all-round entertainers.

Hereford Cathedral School
Lucy Zammit producer

Tom Stoppard The Real Inspector Hound

Festival Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra
Adrian Partington conductor
Ailish Tynan soprano
Owen Gilhooly baritone

Supported by Mr Bernard Day
Owen Gilhooly is supported by Mrs Pamela White

Mendelssohn ‘Calm Sea and Propserous Voyage’ Overture
Joseph Phibbs Rivers to the Sea
 Philharmonia Orchestra/Anvil Arts commission
Vaughan Williams A Sea Symphony

Kit Hesketh-Harvey
James McConnel piano

An evening with this doyen of the cabaret circuit, best known for his duo ‘Kit and the Widow’.