Three Choirs Festival

The Festival Players

The Festival Players In the Old Palace Garden,The Festival Players Theatre Company is performing Shakespeare's comedy 'As You Like It'. The popular Festival Players, now in its 21st year, is a highly talented company of professional actors and musicians who are renowned for their outstanding open air performances. They are regular contributors to the Three Choirs Festival so make sure that you purchase your ticket from the Festival Box Office, Tel: 01452 381638 or via the links below.

Peter Combe Children's Entertainer

Many 'twenty somethings' will remember Peter from hearing him in one of the numerous concerts he gave in the '80s when he lived and worked in Gloucestershire. Peter returned to his home in Australia to become that country's top children's entertainer and he is now renowned throughout the world. Amongst his prolific collection of recordings, Peter has 7 Gold and 2 Platinum albums which feature songs that are part of the UK school repertoire, such as Spaghetti Bolognaise, Mr Clickety Cane, In the Summer Time, Baby lying in a Manger, Red Train, Syntax Error, 1 2 3 4 5 and many others. Peter is on tour in the UK and Three Choirs Plus is especially delighted to have the opportunity to present this wacky, fun, very special concert for children of all ages. Tickets are available through the Festival Box Office,Tel: 01452 381638 or via the links below.

Opera Playhouse

The Smallest Opera House in the World is a rectangular, wooden trailer that has morphed into an exciting fairground ride - a ride that takes you into the World of Grand Opera, High Art and Low Comedy for a mere four and a half minutes! A moment of musical magic! A live operatic experience in miniature. ..Roll up...Roll up! Overture and Beginners please! Step inside the Smallest Opera House in the World. Please take your seats! Small-Scale-La-Scala!

Pippa Longworth and Karl Daymond are the directors of OPERAPLAYHOUSE; as well as devising their own full length shows, often performed on the open stage of 'The Smallest Opera House in the World', they also invite audiences into their small yet glorious auditorium for these short performances, three times an hour! Pippa and Karl are touring this year with 'Bum notes and Sliding Scales' and will be staging frequent 4 minute opera performances during the day on Friday 10 August. Look out for their small Box Office in front of the Cathedral and watch the Opera "unfold".

Visit the OPERAPLAYHOUSE website.    

Gamelan Workshops

A Gamelan is a musical ensemble of Indonesian origin, typically featuring a variety of instruments such as bronze gongs and drums with wooden and metal idiophones - the generic name for instruments that are struck in order to produce a sound. All the gamelan players sit crosslegged on a mat during a performance. The sound of the gamelan is awesome with its magical bells and gongs playing in mesmerizing rhythms and entrancing melodic patterns. You can hear it played at the Song of the Earth concert on Sunday 12 August in the Cathedral.

But . . . ,Three Choirs Plus is inviting you to join Jonathan Roberts, our expert gamelan leader, in one of two, 2 hour workshops so that you can have a go at playing some of the instruments that make up the Gamelan orchestra. Everyone attending the workshops will have an opportunity to play. Friday 10 August, 11am and 2pm, St Mary's Congregational Church, St Mary's Lane, Gloucester. £3 - tickets available at the door or from the Festival Box Office,Tel: 01452 381638 or via the links below.

Performance Poet

Wily wordsmith Peter Wyton is a widely published and prizewinning poet who has appeared at Festivals and Theatres nationwide. His work has been described as, stimulating, pacey, eclectic and surreal, ready with irony, riddled with wordplay and acute with enquiry. He will take you into uncharted poetic territory. Prepare to have your thoughts provoked and your ribs tickled as he takes a look at the history and architecture of the Cathedral; catch him in the Cloisters and Garth (the garden in the middle of the Cathedral Cloisters), or in Waterstones bookshop in Eastgate Street, Gloucester, where he looks at the world through the oddly angled lens that allows him to see things often missed by others. Monday 6 August, 12 noon - 1pm at the Cathedral, meet at Festival Box Office 12 noon.Wednesday 8 August, 12 noon - 1pm at Waterstones Bookshop, Eastgate Street. Festival Box Office Tel: 01452 381638.

Churchdown Male Voice Choir

Enjoy the warm, rich sounds of this local choir in concert, which is in aid of the Sanders Chorister Scholarship Fund. Including music by John Sanders, and featuring soprano Dorothy Fitzgerald. Friday 3 August at 7.30pm, United Reformed Church, Park Road, Gloucester. Tickets £8 from Colin Acton (01452 714360).

Gloucestershire Morris Men

Very little is known about the origins of Morris Dancing in England but as a ritual and a form of pleasure, we know that it dates back at least to the 15th century and is perhaps much older. It was invariably a men's dance with very strong ties to the Whitsun time of year.

Morris dancing is particularly associated with our own Cotswold area, where the most evolved form of Morris was, and still is, to be found. Here it is performed gener ally by six men and a musician, accompanied in most cases by a fool and sometimes a beast. The men wear a colourful costume, usually based upon white, the old sacred colour and other colours chosen for the 'side' (team). The Gloucestershire Morris Men were originally formed around 1930 and today perform throughout the spring and summer months. The Morris Men will perform on Friday 10 August.

Gloucester Academy of Music - Prima Corda

Gloucester Academy of Music is a junior conservatoire for the South West of England. It provides high quality music tuition for gifted young musicians who may wish to continue their music at College or University or achieve the highest possible standards on their chosen instrument. GAM enjoys national and international recognition as a place of musical excellence; it is officially affiliated to Trinity College of Music and has strong links with other junior Conservatoires.

Prima Corda, GAM's most advanced string ensemble has performed throughout the region to critical acclaim and regularly tours to Europe to take part in international festivals and concerts.

Take 5 Sunday 5 August

A lively, young close harmony group of pupils from Kings School Gloucester, who are making a name for themselves in the surrounding area.

The Oriel Singers Tuesday 7 August

The Oriel Singers were established in 1975. They have become one of this country's top choirs and in 2005 they won the BBC Radio Three Choir of the Year Competition. This a capella group gives concerts nationwide and regularly tours overseas with their wide ranging sacred, secular, serious and lighthearted repertoire. Tonight they are entertaining us with their lighthearted repertoire.

Jerri Hart Thursday 8 August

Meet Jerri, a singer, trumpet-player, guitarist and performer who has been entertaining audiences around the world for over twenty years. In his one-man show he performs a selection of jazz-favourites from the 30s and 40s as well as his own material and he also demonstrates the lost arts of 'Jazz-knitting' and 'Bebop Origami'!

Rachel Sings Jazz Saturday 11 August

Rachel Burbridge and the Dave Ayre Trio formed their band in 2005, having met in the course of their work as professional musicians in the South West. Joined by Rachel's son Alex on keyboard in 2006, they have quickly established themselves as one of the top jazz acts in the region.

The line-up of vocals, piano, bass and drums enables them to perform a wide range of jazz/blues, Latin and popular numbers; but traditional jazz is their mainstay. Their repertoire features songs made famous by Ella Fitzgerald, Diana Krall, Peggy Lee and Manhattan Transfer.