Gerard McCrystal saxaphone

The programme will be an eclectic mix from Telemann canonic sonatas and unaccompanied Bach to a world premiere of a new work by composer Joe Cutler for saxophone and loop station. Witty and virtuosic solo pieces by Australian composers Barry Cockroft and Ross Edwards include amazing effects like circular breathing and slap tongue,; in one case Gerard can sound like a chicken! The beautiful acoustics of the cathedral will be utilised by atmospheric works for saxophone and electronics by Karen Tanaka and Andy Scott. To complete the contrast Tony Davis' uplifting dance inspired work Iguacu come down and dance completes the programme.  

£10

‘Big is Beautiful - Mahler’s Third Symphony’

A City of Worcester DFAS festival lecture with Peter Medhurst

Peter Medhurst, musician and scholar, introduces and discusses the many fascinating aspects of Mahler's longest symphony.

Three Choirs Festival Chorus
Music for Awhile Orchestra
Geraint Bowen - Conductor

Gillian Keith - Soprano
Heather Shipp - Mezzo soprano
Pascal Charbonneau - Tenor
Matthew Hargreaves - Bass

Mozart Symphony No 38 (Prague)
Mozart Mass in C minor

Kindly supported by the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group

Red Priest is one of the major success stories on the international early music scene today. Named after the flame-haired priest, Antonio Vivaldi, this extraordinary English ensemble has redefined the art of baroque music performance, combining the fruits of extensive research with swashbuckling virtuosity, creative re-composition, heart-on-sleeve emotion and compelling stagecraft. The group performs largely from memory, allowing an operatic level of freedom and interaction.

BBC Broadcast | Free Entrance

5.30pm | Worcester Cathedral

Three Cathedral Choirs
Adrian Lucas

Shephard Responses
Swayne Magnificat
Holst Nunc Dimittis
S.S. Wesley The Wilderness

Organ Recital by Ashley Grote - Assistant Organist, Gloucester Cathedral.

Event no: 11
10pm | College Hall

One hot summer day in 1940, the German army captured a young French composer-turned-infantryman as his company marched on the road from Verdun to Nancy. They interned him in Stalag VIII (near Görlitz in Silesia) along with his knapsack full of scores of Bach and Berg.

Event no: 6

7.45pm | Worcester Cathedral

Sponsored by Worcester County Council, Severn House Publishers and the Charles Wolfson Charitable Trust

Festival Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra
Adrian Lucas - Conductor

Commissioned for the 1903 Birmingham Triennial Festival, this is Elgar's unsurpassed setting of the New Testament.