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The Cathedral’s Music Department organises a range of events throughout the year, including organ concerts, song recitals, and orchestrally-accompanied performances given by the Choir. Additionally, the Cathedral’s musicians frequently give concerts further afield. Details of all forthcoming performances can be found below.
Highlighted Music events
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MONTHLY
FRIENDly Singing for Wellbeing
St Paul’s Church Hall, Canterbury, CT1 1NH
ALL welcome – rusty singers included!
Turn up for a cuppa and a biscuit, followed by sociable singing to put a smile on your face, led by Jamie Rogers, Assistant Director of Music, and our Choral Scholars.
Please join us between 14:00-15:00 on the following Mondays:
*The Big FRIENDly Sing! - Saturday 10 May*
- 12 May
- 9 June
- 14 July
NEW DATES ADDED REGULARLY
Free to attend but donations welcomed.
All welcome. No need to book.
Organised by and in support of The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral (Charity No 1210093).
Friday 6 June, 18:15 in the Quire after 17:30 Evensong
FREE Informal Organ Recital
with Simon Hogan, Southwark Cathedral
One in our series of informal organ recitals, featuring the Cathedral’s resident organists and guests.
Free and un-ticketed, with a retiring collection.
See recital programme in the monthly Services and Music List
Dates in June, 13:15-14:00 in the Crypt
FREE* Summer Recitals
with our Cathedral Choral and Organ Scholars
Wed 11 June - Ellen Griffiths (Alto)
Wed 18 June - Benjamin Ferriby (Bass)
Wed 25 June - Ivan Leung and Jamie Rogers (Piano)
*Included free with a valid Cathedral Admission Ticket, Cathedral Pass or Friends’ Card. Children aged 17 and under go free (T&Cs apply).
A Memorial Concert for The Very Rev’d Dr Robert Willis Dean Emeritus
Saturday 28 June, 19:30 in the Cathedral Nave*
A concert of music, sung by the Canterbury Cathedral Choirs, and members of the Crypt Choir from the King’s School (of which Robert was Chair of Governors).
All are welcome to attend.
Free event; with donations encouraged in Dean Robert’s memory,
to The Friends of Canterbury Cathedral (Charity No: 1210093).
Booking required to reserve a seat.
* This event is in person only, and will not be live streamed or recorded.
Friday 4 July, 18:15 in the Quire after 17:30 Evensong
FREE Informal Organ Recital
with Will Fairbairn, London
One in our series of informal organ recitals, featuring the Cathedral’s resident organists and guests.
Free and un-ticketed, with a retiring collection.
See recital programme in the monthly Services and Music List
The Canterbury Festival
CANTERBURY FESTIVAL
MUSIC: Tenebrae Path of Miracles
Saturday 19 October, 19:00 in the Cathedral Nave
Joby Talbot’s modern masterpiece, Path of Miracles was Tenebrae’s first major commission in 2005 and has been captivating audiences worldwide ever since.
The work is based on the most enduring route of Catholic pilgrimage - the great Pilgrimage to Santiago.
The four movements are titled with the names of the four main staging posts of the ‘Camino Frances’ - the central axis of a network of pilgrimage routes to Santiago. This unique, dramatic work, ‘an evocative odyssey’ (The Times), showcases the voices of Tenebrae’s world-class singers.
Tickets: £23 - £34, Listening Seats £15
Sponsored by Craven Street Wealth.
Image credit: Sim Canetty-Clarke
CANTERBURY FESTIVAL
MUSIC: Festival Evensong
Sunday 20 October, 17:30 in the Quire
A sung service gives thanks and blessings for the performers and audiences taking part in the Festival.
Free event.
CANTERBURY FESTIVAL
MUSIC: Secret Byrd
Thursday 24 October, 18:30 & 20:45 in the Cathedral Crypt
Secret Byrd celebrates the 400-year legacy of William Byrd, one of England’s finest composers, in an immersive performance by candlelight featuring The Gesualdo Six and Fretwork, created and directed by Bill Barclay and produced by Concert Theatre Works.
Byrd was a recusant Catholic writing secret Masses to be sung by worshippers during the Reformation. These Masses were held in people’s homes with smuggled priests and hidden Catholic artifacts.
This extraordinary theatrical concert recreates the sense of danger of these secret gatherings in the atmospheric setting of Canterbury Cathedral’s Eastern Crypt.
Audiences rove freely among the costumed artists feeling the original hand-made part-books, all illuminated by candlelight.
Tickets: £36 - Capacity for this event is limited.
This roving event will require audience members to stand and move during the immersive performance. However, there will be chairs available for those that need them.
CANTERBURY FESTIVAL
MUSIC: Canterbury Choral Society Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610
Saturday 2 November, 19:30 in the Cathedral Nave
The Canterbury Festival is delighted to close this year’s Festival and mark its Ruby Jubilee with Canterbury Choral Society, who also celebrate Conductor Richard Cooke’s 40th year at the helm.
They will be joined by the Meridian Sinfonia to share its sheer beauty and greatness with a Festival audience, in the spectacular setting of the Cathedral Nave.
Tickets: £23 - £34, Listening Seats £15
Sponsored by South Canterbury and Fenwick Canterbury.
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