This annual appearance by the popular local choir named after Sir Edward Elgar sees the Elgar Chorale return to the Cornmarket for a programme of works by British composers under the charismatic direction of Piers Maxim. This concert has no interval and will last approximately 1 hour
Lauded as ‘Critic’s Pick’ in both The Guardian and The Times, The Elgar Festival is an annual live celebration of the life and music of Worcester’s most famous son and Britain’s great composer, Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934). Set in and around the composer’s home city, the event comprises concerts given by the resident English Symphony Orchestra and their Conductor and Festival Artistic Director, Kenneth Woods, as well as guest artists, and features composers working today as well as those luminaries from the past.
Embodying the ethos ‘Elgar for Everyone’, the Festival engages with those of all ages and backgrounds in music and legacy at a number of integral venues of both historic interest and personal significance to the composer, including Worcester Cathedral and Guildhall, and Great Malvern Priory.
Kenneth Woods said: “Our festival culminates in Elgar’s ‘The Music Makers’, a setting of Arthur O’Shaughnessy’s ‘Ode’. We read the poem’s opening line, ‘We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams’ as a call to action and unity for our community. Our celebration of the life and music of Elgar in the city of his birth engages and embraces people of all backgrounds. It is a programme which celebrates sense of place and community, Elgar’s music, the music of today, and which provides a showcase for music of composers of diverse backgrounds.”
Music of today is represented by this year’s Featured Composer, Michael Berkeley, and includes his ‘Visions of Piers Ploughman’, amongst other works. Berkeley will also speak about Elgar’s legacy and what it means to composers today, and how Elgar’s sense of place in music resonates in the compositions of our own time.
There are free conducting masterclasses, an open rehearsal, talks, films and illuminating exhibitions, including the opportunity to view original manuscripts, letters, photographs and personal possessions, telling the story of how Worcester’s Ted Elgar became Sir Edward Elgar, First Baronet of Broadheath, as well as ’10 Things you Didn’t know about Elgar’, while an enchanting 30-minute film explores ‘Elgar’s Worcestershire’.
Find details of other concerts at this year's Elgar Festival on ConcertDiary.