The Planets to be performed at this year’s Elgar Festival

The Elgar Festival will be presenting a thrilling concert celebrating the descriptive and evocative power of music featuring Holst’s The Planets suite. The concert – entitled ‘Reaching for the Stars’ – will be performed on Friday 29 May at 7.30pm in Worcester Cathedral.

The programme will focus on music by three notable British composers – Elgar, Holst and Arnold Bax – performed by the English Symphony Orchestra.

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director of the Elgar Festival explained: ‘In all of these works the composer tells a story or evokes a sense of place, and these three are striking examples.  Holst’s ground-breaking suite The Planets, a work of unique and extraordinary power, beauty and immediacy crowns this thrilling evening of music with an invocation of the infinite.  Bax’s masterpiece, Tintagel, is a uniquely stirring evocation of the mysterious hinterlands in which the Arthurian legends were born, while Elgar’s Falstaff is a richly textured portrait of the life and personality of one of Shakespeare’s most memorable characters.”

Tickets costs between £12 and £32.

Set in the composer’s hometown and surrounding areas over the week closest to Elgar’s birthday on 2^nd June – this year’s festival will take place from Saturday 23 May until Sunday 31 May – the festival is an annual celebration of Elgar’s music spanning symphonic and string orchestra concerts by the resident English Symphony Orchestra, along with chamber concerts, choral concerts, recitals, workshops, masterclasses, street performances, a young composers’ competition, exhibits, tours and talks.

Since its inauguration in 2018, when it was a Critic’s Pick in both The Guardian and The Times, the festival has doubled in size and scale and continues to grow annually through an innovative development programme of appealing and accessible events, working with hundreds of both internationally renowned professional artists and amateur musicians and performers of all ages to ensure Elgar really is for everyone.

The music of the festival’s namesake will be the centrepiece of a busy programme of 27 events across 15 different venues with 3 pre-festival events including the relaxed concerts. The full breadth of Elgar’s work will be showcased, including songs, miniatures, chamber music and choral anthems alongside his most beloved orchestral masterpieces.

This year’s festival will bring together world-class professional musicians and artists alongside local choirs and ensembles placing the music of Worcester’s most famous son alongside that of his contemporaries and some of today’s leading composers and arrangers.

For a full list of events, costs and booking information, please visit www.elgarfestival.org.