Wells launch Sound of Wells Music Festival

Wells Cathedral has unveiled its plans for the Sound of Wells Festival in May which will feature a series of concerts and services and the debut performance of the Wells Cathedral Coronation Choir.

Sound of Wells Festival.

There are four days of performances starting on May 18 and include Wells Cathedral Choir, Wells Cathedral Chamber Choir and Wells Cathedral Oratorio Society.

The Wells Cathedral Coronation Choir was specially formed for this festival and is made up of over forty local schoolchildren from eleven primary schools who have all been involved in Cathedral’s Primary Musical Outreach Programme during the past year.

They will perform alongside Wells Cathedral Choir and sing a newly-commissioned work.

The choirs will be joined by professional ensembles Rejouissance and Festival Brass, as well as the Wells Cathedral School Chamber Orchestra and will feature favourite pieces by Vivaldi, Handel, and John Rutter, as well as showcase the talents of student composers,with two new works by distinguished composers Grayston Ives and Patrick Hawes.

Alexander Hamilton, the Sound of Wells Artistic Director, said:

“I am hugely excited about the forthcoming Sound of Wells Festival. Wells is a place overflowing with musical talent, and the Festival will bring, for the very first time, more than 300 musicians together aged 8-80, to perform in our magnificent Cathedral over four days of wonderful music-making.

“Saturday 6th May will of course see our new King and Queen crowned at Westminster Abbey, and so the Festival this year has a distinct Coronation flavour. Across the Festival weekend, audiences will enjoy performances of well-known works that have featured in coronations over the centuries, including Parry’s I Was Glad and Handel’s Zadok the Priest.”