The Three Choirs Festival
RETURNS TO GLOUCESTER from 25 July – 1 August 2026
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The Three Choirs Festival returns to Gloucester from 25 July – 1 August 2026, bringing eight days of music, performance, and cultural events to venues across the city. Alongside its renowned choral concerts in Gloucester Cathedral, the Festival offers chamber recitals, late-night performances, family events, talks, and guided walks around the city.
At the heart of the Festival are the large-scale evening concerts performed by the Festival’s own choirs – the Three Cathedral Choirs, Festival Chorus and Youth Choir – alongside the Philharmonia and visiting ensembles. The 2026 programme includes Walton’s dramatic Belshazzar’s Feast, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C, Janáček’s Glagolitic Mass, and Monteverdi’s and Rachmaninov’s contrasting settings of the Vespers. The Festival closes with Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, alongside further performances celebrating the 75th anniversary year of the Elgar Society.
A major focus of the 2026 Festival is Gloucester Cathedral’s newly refurbished organ, heard in Poulenc’s Organ Concerto, the Celebrity Organ Recital by Thomas Ospital, and a late-night screening of The Phantom of the Opera with live improvisation.
Alongside established masterpieces in the programme, the Festival continues its commitment to new music through performances of works by contemporary composers including Cecilia McDowall, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, and Judith Weir. In addition, a new setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis by the Festival’s inaugural Associate Composer, Gavin Higgins, will be premiered during the Festival and broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
Across the week, internationally celebrated artists including Roderick Williams, Ian Bostridge, Mark Padmore, VOCES8, and APOLLO5 appear in recitals and late-night concerts throughout Gloucester’s historic churches.
The Festival also offers a lively family programme, including Meet the Macbeths, a playful retelling of Shakespeare’s famous tragedy, Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off, celebrating musical theatre and classic song, Beside the Seaside, inspired by the British coast, and My Favourite Things, a heartwarming collection of well-loved favourites. Guided city walks exploring Roman, Saxon, and monastic Gloucester, alongside talks, outdoor theatre, open rehearsals, and community events, ensure there is something for audiences of all ages to enjoy throughout the week.
Tickets and further information at:
3choirs.org LIVE24-SEVEN.COM
ENTERTAINMENT THE THREE CHOIRS FESTIVAL
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