Southern Cathedrals Festival 2023
The Southern Cathedrals Festival brings together the renowned choirs of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester, offering sacred choral and organ music performed to the very highest standard.
Download the SCF 2023 Brochure
Friday 14 July
10:00 Choral Mattins
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir. Music by Thomas Morley and Thomas Weelkes
11:00 Lecture: Dr Geoffrey Webber - "For the King’s Day: Thomas Weelkes and the history of royal anthems"
Held at Chichester Masonic Hall, South Pallant
Hosted by the Church Music Society
To mark the Coronation of King Charles III the Church Music Society has recently published some anthems that were written for Kings Charles I and Charles II. This lecture will explore the tradition of royal anthems in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries with a particular focus on music by the famous Organist of Chichester Cathedral, Thomas Weelkes, who died four hundred years ago this year, including his anthem 'O Lord, grant the King a long life'. The lecture will feature audio clips from the new recording of music by Weelkes sung by the Cathedral Choir.
14:00 Recital: Natasha Page (soprano) and Ella O’Neill (piano)
Held at Pallant House Gallery, North Pallant
Featuring music by Richard Strauss, Claude Debussy, Frank Bridge, John Ireland, Roger Quilter, William Walton, Margaret Schweikert and Ingeborg Bronsart
Click here for booking details>>
16:00 Choral Evensong
Recorded by BBC Radio 3 for future broadcast
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir, and the combined girl choristers and lay clerks of Salisbury and Winchester
Introit: O Lord, grant the King a long life Thomas Weelkes
Responses: Kenneth Leighton
Canticles: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in D George Dyson
Anthem: The Star Christopher Hussey
Please be seated by 3.45pm
17:30 Patrons' and Sponsors' Reception
Attendance by invitation only.
More information on becoming a patron.
19:30 Organ Recital: Colin Walsh
Music by Louis Vierne, Joseph Jongen, J.S. Bach, Charles Tournemire and Marcel Dupré
Click here for booking details>>
Saturday 15 July
11:00 Festival Eucharist
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir, and the combined boy choristers and lay clerks of Salisbury and Winchester
Preacher: The Reverend Canon Dr Mark Oakley, Dean of St John’s College, Cambridge
Featuring the Mass for Double Choir by Frank Martin
12.30 Festival Lunch
Held at The Festival Marquee, The Bishop’s Palace Garden
Catering provided by Seasoned
Click here for booking details>>
18:30 Concert: Alleluia! I heard a voice
Performed by the combined senior choristers and lay clerks of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester,
with The Rose Consort of Viols
Featuring music by Thomas Weelkes, William Byrd, Thomas Tallis, Orlando Gibbons, C.V. Stanford, and Hubert Parry
Click here for booking details>>
Sunday 16 July
10:15 Choral Mattins
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir
11:15 Sung Eucharist
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir
15:00 Choral Evensong with Dismissal of Choristers
Sung by Chichester Cathedral Choir