Britten’s War Requiem to open Three Choirs Festival 2027

Britten’s War Requiem will open the festival at Worcester Cathedral, performed by the Festival Chorus and the Philharmonia Orchestra with soprano Elizabeth Watts, tenor Peter Hoare and baritone David Stout. The work was last heard at the cathedral as the opening concert of the 2014 festival.

The Festival Chorus and Philharmonia will close the week with Elgar’s The Light of Life, written for the Three Choirs Festival and premiered in Worcester under the composer’s direction in 1896. The programme will also include Walton’s Orb and Sceptre and Strauss’ Four Last Songs. Beethoven’s Missa solemnis will be presented on 30 July, in the year marking the bicentenary of the composer’s death.

The choirs of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester cathedrals will perform Handel’s four Coronation Anthems to mark their 300th anniversary. The Three Choirs Festival Youth Choir will present Haydn’s Nelson Mass alongside Cecilia McDowall’s new work, Songs of Exile.

New music will play a prominent role throughout the week. Associate Composer Gavin Higgins’ His Salt Skin will be performed by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, conductor Duncan Ward, mezzo-soprano Marta Fontanals-Simmons and countertenor Cameron Shahbazi. It will form part of a nautical-themed programme also featuring Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony, with soprano Anita Watson and the festival’s Honorary Patron, Roderick Williams.

A new festival commission from Dobrinka Tabakova will receive its world premiere in a concert also featuring Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music and the first public performance of David Owen Norris’ new realisation of Elgar’s Piano Concerto.

Other highlights include I Fagiolini performing Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas; a recital by organist Nathan Laube; and an RSCM Youth Choir Evensong marking the organisation’s centenary. The Gesualdo Six, Tenebrae and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain will also appear, with Tenebrae pairing Howells’ Requiem with a new Eric Whitacre commission and the National Youth Choir performing Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles.

The daytime programme will include a Come and Sing session devoted to Elgar’s The Music Makers, chamber music and song recitals, and a concert marking the 125th anniversary of Gerald Finzi’s birth.

Samuel Hudson, Artistic Director of the Worcester festival, said, ‘After months of planning with Festival colleagues, it is wonderful to lift the covers on our exciting plans for 2027. There is, as ever, plenty on offer, which I hope will attract people from far and wide to Worcester next summer.’

The Three Choirs Festival traces its history to musical gatherings between the cathedral communities of Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester around the beginning of the 18th century. Rotating annually between the three cities, it is recognised as the world’s oldest continuously running classical music festival.