Opportunity for walkers to follow in Elgar’s footsteps

A guided walk and recital to remember Worcestershire’s most famous composer will take place next month.

The Elgar Festival – which takes place from Saturday 24 May until Sunday 1 June this year – is organising the event as part of this year’s festival celebrations.

‘In Elgar’s Footsteps’ will take place on Monday 26 May; walkers will meet at 9.45am at the Black Hill car park behind the Malvern Hills Hotel, with a recital at 11.15am at St Wulstan’s Church in Little Malvern.

The hour’s walk will be guided by experienced walker Carl Flint; tickets cost £10 each and refreshments will be available.

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director of the Elgar Festival said: “We are so excited to introduce this festival first.  The Malvern Hills were an inspiration to the works of Elgar and it will be wonderful to walk in his footsteps.  The recital will feature Elgar’s truly magical Violin Sonata performed by two extremely talented musicians from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, Shuwei Zuo and Jiayi Chen, both part of our Young Performer Showcase Programme.”

Those attending will also have the opportunity to explore the Elgar family graves; approximate return time will be 1.00pm.

Themed ‘Celebrate with Elgar’, 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.

Set in the composer’s hometown and surrounding areas, the festival is an annual celebration of Elgar’s music spanning symphonic and string orchestra concerts by the resident and world renowned English Symphony Orchestra.

Other highlights this year include Elgar’s Symphony No. 2 and John Ireland’s oratorio ‘These Things Shall Be’ performed by the ESO and joined by the 2025 Festival Chorus on Saturday 31 May in Worcester Cathedral. There are further performances by English String and Chamber Orchestras, recitals by world renowned performers Raphael Wallfisch, David Briggs and April Fredrick, several participatory events including ‘Come and Play Elgar 1’ and a Young Singers Masterclass. The ever-popular family concert returns hosted by Classic FM’s Zeb Soanes including the winning pieces of the Festival’s Young Composers’ Competition; the event will also celebrate the work and 70^th birthday of Worcester’s finest living composer Ian Venables. 

There are several free events, relaxed concerts, an exhibition, choral events, a film screening, Q and As, a guided walk and a new performance partnership with students from the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire.

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.

For further information and to book tickets please visit www.elgarfestival.org