Worcester Cathedral to host highlight of Elgar Festival

The Elgar Festival’s Gala Concert will once again be held in the beautiful surroundings of Worcester Cathedral later this year.

The event – which is at the heart of the festival – will take place on Saturday 30 May at 7.30pm, featuring the English Symphony Orchestra and the Elgar Festival Chorus alongside conductor Kenneth Woods and violist Rosalind Ventris.

The programme is built around the two works that frame Elgar’s unique career as a composer of orchestral music. His ‘symphony for chorus and orchestra’ The Black Knight is one of his earliest works.

His final major orchestral work, the Cello Concerto, holds a unique place at the heart of British musical culture. It will be performed in the version for viola prepared by English violist Lionel Tertis. Born in 1876 and a noted teacher, Tertis was one of the first viola players to achieve international fame and this arrangement premiered under Elgar’s baton in 1930 with Elgar’s blessing. The outstanding violist Rosalind Ventris, who wowed Elgar Festival audiences in 2025 with her poetic interpretations of works by Venables and Fribbins performs this beloved work with the English Symphony Orchestra.

The concert will open with a celebration of the festival’s Featured Composer Thea Musgrave with her joyful suite The Seasons.

Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director of the Elgar Festival said: “The Gala Concert which is held in Worcester Cathedral every year is the pinnacle of the Elgar Festival and one that has a special place in so many peoples’ hearts.  It is a true celebration of both the festival and Elgar and is always a joyous celebration.  Come and join us!”

Rosalind Ventris is a leading advocate of the viola and has an international career as a soloist and chamber musician. As a recitalist, she has performed at a host of venues including the Royal Festival Hall and Wigmore Hall.

SOLA, Rosalind’s debut album featuring music by leading women composers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, was released by Delphian Records in January 2023. The disc was Editor’s Choice in BBC Music Magazine and on Presto Music, Instrumental Choice in BBC Music Magazine, a Guardian ‘pick of the week’, and appeared in ‘The Best Classical Music Albums of 2023’ compilations in The Sunday Times and Gramophone Magazine. SOLA was nominated for the BBC Music Magazine’s 2024 Premiere Award.

Rosalind is the Director of Music of the Yehudi Menuhin School in Surrey. She is also one of the Artistic Directors of the Cowbridge Music Festival in Wales and a Professor of Viola at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. She was Director of Musical Performance and Performance Studies at the University of Oxford from 2021 to 2025.

Thea Musgrave CBE – born in 1928 – is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music. She has lived in the United States since 1972.

Tickets for the Gala Concert range in price from £12 to £32, with under 18s attending for free.  To book please visit www.elgarfestival.org/eso-gala-concert.

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.