Cathedral Festival goes online for first time in 70 year history
Salisbury, Winchester and Chichester combine for a new look 'Covid age' concert
Last updated 16th Jul 2021
The annual Southern Cathedrals Festival featuring the choirs and music from Salisbury, Winchester, and Chichester is set to reach EVEN MORE people than ever thanks to the pandemic.
The Festival, which starts today (Friday 16 July 2021), and runs over the weekend, has moved partly online due to Covid restrictions.
It means the event will be available to viewers across the world.
After a turbulent 15 months, which has seen choral singing brought to an abrupt halt across the country, the annual Southern Cathedrals Festival, hosted this year by Winchester Cathedral, has been digitally transformed for 2021. Founded in 1905, the Southern Cathedrals Festival has traditionally brought the choirs of Winchester, Salisbury and Chichester under one roof to perform sacred choral and organ music together. But 2021 sees the long-standing tradition adapted for a COVID age, and allows people, on a global scale, to experience and enjoy a live-streamed forty-minute concert, hosted by Aled Jones this evening (Friday 16 July).
WATCH ONLINE
The online concert will premiere at 7pm and will be available to watch on the Winchester Cathedral website, YouTube channel and Facebook page.
The Very Revd Nicholas Papadopulos, Dean of Salisbury said:
"It is wonderful that our three choirs are able to come together both digitally and in person to make this festival happen. It has been a long, hard year for all musicians: a year that has tested their faith, adaptability, and resilience; and a year in which they have found new ways to work together to share the joy of music. This festival is a fitting tribute to their skill, their teamwork, and their passion for the glory of music."
With research showing that the connections that people experience by singing in a choir positively contribute to their wellbeing and mental health, this year's online festival marks a step in regaining a sense of community, brought together by music, that has been lost in recent months. The festival has a special place in the artistic life of the south of England, and now more than ever, the friendship and unity between the three cathedrals should be celebrated.
A number of online videos filmed 'behind the scenes' also give you a glimpse of life in a Cathedral choir during lockdown and across the years. Yesterday's video release (the fourth in the series) was made with Steve Abbott, a lay Vicar (or adult singer) at Salisbury Cathedral:
Steve gets together with a group of former choristers who sang with him as a boy, to reminisce about festivals past and the things they got up to:
There's also a film with Richard Seale, a former master of the choir at Salisbury Cathedral, who introduced the girls choir back in 1991:
Salisbury's girls choir celebrates its 30 anniversary this October.