The Southern Cathedrals Festival is a five-day music festival held in rotation among the English cathedrals of Chichester, Winchester and Salisbury, in the penultimate week of July. The festival was restored in 1960 after initial attempts to create the annual occasion were followed by 28 years without it. The respective director of music acts as festival director when it is that cathedral's turn to host the event.
History
In September 1904, a service was held in Chichester Cathedral to celebrate the reopening of the main organ of that cathedral following its restoration by Hele of Plymouth. This brought together the cathedral choirs of Chichester, Winchesterand Salisbury. In 1905, the cathedral choirs met in Salisbury, followed by Winchester in 1906. Bishop Wilberforce of Chichester died in September 1907, so the return to Chichester had to be delayed until 1908. Thereafter, the Three Choirs Festival, as it was then known, continued until 1913 when the annual meeting was suspended because of the First World War. The festival was revived in 1920 and continued to be held until 1932. At that time the annual meeting consisted of a single day and the joint performance by the three choirs of a choral evensong.
In 1960, the festival was re-established by John Birch (Chichester), Reginald Alwyn Surplice (Winchester) and Christopher Dearnley (Salisbury), with the title changed to the Southern Cathedrals Festival, and the length increased to two days, with two joint evensong services and the addition of a concert.
The festival is now three days long, consisting of three concerts, a choral masterclass, an organ recital, a Festival Eucharist, buffet lunches, three evensong services sung separately by each choir and a "Fringe" event. The Fringe is an entertainment which is written and performed by the hosting cathedral. It consists of solos sung by lay clerks, comedy acts by organists and vicars, and so on.
Commissioned works
1965 Bryan Kelly: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in C
1965 Leonard Bernstein: Chichester Psalms
1991 Patrick Gowers: Cantata
1996 Francis Jackson: I will extol Thee
1999 Francis Grier: A Prayer of St. Augustine
2004 Malcolm Archer: Benedicite
2005 Simon Lole: O Holy Ghost, O Paraclete
2008 Tarik O'Regan: Nunc Dimittis
2009 Will Todd: Psalm 146
2012 Neil Cox: The River of Life
2013 James MacMillan: The Offered Christ
2015 Howard Moody: In the hand of God
2016 Ned Bigham: Music to hear
2018 Marco Galvani: O Sacrum Convivium
2019 Frederick Stocken: Chichester Service (Evening Canticles) 2021 Joseph Twist: How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? 2023 Christopher Hussey: The Star
List of organ recitalists
An organ recital is given in the evening of the first day of the festival. Recitalists since 1986 have included: