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The Three Choirs Festival in Gloucester

5 nights Price from £1,496 per person
Departs: 25 Jul 2023
Departs: 25 Jul 2023

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Our annual visit to the Three Choirs Festival, which rotates between the cathedral cities of Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester, is one of our most popular music holidays every summer, so we are delighted to reveal details of our planned return this July.

It is the turn of Gloucester to take centre stage at the 2023 Three Choirs Festival, with performances taking place in the city’s magnificent 11th century cathedral, renowned for its matchless fan-vaulting – a technique thought to have been invented here. There are also other superb examples of mediaeval architecture which we will see in the city, as well as making excursions to a number of famous houses and gardens in the area.

The Itinerary

We stay at the 3-star Mercure Bowden Hall Hotel, an elegant Georgian house set in parkland, five miles from the cathedral. Two excursions are included. We will visit Painswick Rococo Garden, which was designed in the 1740s as a pleasure garden and remains one of the most complete Rococo gardens in Europe. There will also be a visit to Stanway House, a mellow Jacobean country house and the seat of the Earl of Wemyss. The water garden here is one of the finest masterpieces of the landscape designer, Charles Bridgeman. 

What's included

...when you travel with Kirker

  • Accommodation with breakfast and dinner each evening
  • Tickets for concerts as described
  • Return transfers between the hotel and each concert
  • All sightseeing, entrance fees and gratuities as described
  • Services of the Kirker Tour Leader

Departure Dates and Prices

25 Jul 2023

Status Limited

Price from£1496

Single Supp.£275

Call 020 7593 2284
Andrew Biggs

Andrew Biggs

Tour leader

More Info

Music Programme

 

26 July, 7.30 - 9.30 pm: Gloucester Cathedral

ORA Singers: A Choral Fantasia


Under the direction of its founder, Suzi Digby, the forty members of Ora Singers perform music from across the centuries including an arrangement by Greg Murray of Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams.

Byrd Ave Verum Corpus
Tallis Spem in Alium
Byrd Ad Dominum Cum Tribularer
Roxanna Panufnik Kyrie after Byrd
Vaughan Williams arr. Greg Murray Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. Version premiere.
Byrd Laudibus in Sanctis
James MacMillan Lux Aeterna
Hildegard of Bingen O Viridissima Virga
Janet Wheeler Alleluia, I heard a voice
Roderick Williams Ave Verum Corpus Re-imagined


 

27 July, 7.30 - 10.00 pm: Gloucester Cathedral

JS Bach's St Johns Passion


Three Cathedral Choirs
Corelli Chamber Orchestra

Geraint Bowen conductor
James Gilchrist tenor


 

28 July, 7.30 - 9.30 pm: Gloucester Cathedral

The Age of Aspiration


Philharmonia Orchestra
Samuel Hudson conductor
Worcester Cathedral Choristers
Three Choirs Festival Voices
James Hall countertenor
James Newby baritone
Samuel West narrator

Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs
Vaughan Williams Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Graham Fitkin The Age of Aspiration


 

29 July, 2.00 - 4.00 pm: Gloucester Cathedral

Flowers Band: Fanfares and Love Songs


Flowers Band was established fifty-four years ago and takes its name from the Flowers brewery. It is one the country’s leading brass band orchestras.

Michael Fowles conductor

Paul Lovatt-Cooper Home of Legends
Vaughan Williams English Folk Song Suite
Jan van der Roost Canterbury Chorale 
John McCabe Cloudcatcher Fells
Gavin Higgins Fanfares and Love Songs
Elgar arr. Denis Wright Nimrod from Enigma Variations
Liz Lane Time and Tide
Elgar arr. J. Ord Hume Pomp and Circumstance March No 1

 

29 July, 7.30 - 9.45 pm: Gloucester Cathedral

Elgar: The Apostles


The first performance was given on 14 October 1903 as part of the Birmingham Triennial Festival and was conducted by the composer.

Three Choirs Festival Chorus
Philharmonia Orchestra
Adrian Partington conductor

 

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