Explore the life of Elgar on May’s Bank Holiday

The life of Worcestershire’s most famous composer will be on show next month.

As part of this year’s Elgar Festival, Faithful History’s Joe Tierney offers the chance to explore Elgar’s life in unparallelled intimacy.

Held in Worcester’s iconic bookshop, Script Haven, Joe will guide attendees through a treasure trove of Elgar archives including family mementos and photographs offering emotive insights as well as an abundance of personal correspondence and photographs.

The event will be held on Monday 25 May at 4.00pm in the Crown Passage bookshop with tickets costing £5 each.

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director of the Elgar Festival said: “This is an unmissable hour-long event for all Elgar fans, illustrating the story of England’s greatest composer.”

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.