Lichfield Festival

6A - JORDAN BAK viola & IYAD SUGHAYER piano

Thursday 6th July | Wade Street Church | 12pm

Award-winning Jamaican-American violist Jordan Bak is building an exciting international career as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence and robust alto sound.

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6B - BRODSKY QUARTET at 50 - A Literary Celebration

Thursday 6th July | The Hub at St Mary's| 2.30pm

A rare chance to look back on the history of one of the world’s finest chamber groups, as the longest-serving members of the Brodsky Quartet discuss their memoirs.

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6C - BRODSKY QUARTET - concert

Thursday 6th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7pm

Now Lichfield Festival Associate Artists, the Brodsky Quartet was formed in 1972 – since then, the group has performed over 3000 concerts on the major stages of the world and released more than 60 recordings.

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6D - The LONDON COMMUNITY GOSPEL CHOIR

Thursday 6th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Stars of ITV's Britain's Got Talent 2022, the London Community Gospel Choir have been performing for over 40 years to spread an important message of peace and unity through music and faith. From humble beginnings, the group has risen to fame, and become one of the most in demand choirs across the globe.

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7A - DOMINIC DOUTNEY piano

Friday 7th July | Wade Street Church | 12pm

Dominic Doutney's programme features short works by Scriabin and York Bowen, together with Rachmaninoff Thirteen Preludes, Op. 32 to mark the 150th anniversary of the composer’s birth.

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7B - IT’S A DRAG by Janet Tennant

Friday 7th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 2.15pm

Part of a mini-season of events to look at gender and cross-dressing in theatre, opera, and the arts in general, we welcome Lichfield author Janet Tennant whose book It's A Drag looks at this long tradition - from Greek and Roman theatre, via Shakespeare and Victorian music hall, right through to pantomime and film in the modern era.

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7C - GIRLS WILL BE BOYS Jessica Walker & Joseph Atkins

Friday 7th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 5pm

Join Associate Artist Jessica Walker and pianist Joseph Atkins as they take you on a whistle-stop musical tour of cross-dressing in popular song.

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7D - NITIN SAWHNEY

Friday 7th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Nitin Sawhney CBE recipient of the Ivor Novello 2017 Lifetime Achievement award, is one of the most distinctive and versatile musical voices around today - a world-class producer, songwriter, touring artist, BBC Radio and club DJ, multi-instrumentalist, theatrical, dance, videogame and orchestral composer, as well as a cultural/political commentator.

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7E - JEREMY SASSOON’S ‘MOJO’

Friday 7th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 8.15pm

‘MOJO’ (or Musicians of Jewish Origin) is a foot-stomping, barn-storming celebration of some of the most iconic and best-loved musicians and songwriters of Jewish origin.

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8A - THE LAST OVERLAND - Alex Bescoby

Saturday 8th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 11am

Alex Bescoby is an award-winning documentary filmmaker, author and presenter with a love of history, travel and storytelling.

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8B - TRIO MAZZOLINI and guests

Saturday 8th July | St Michael's Church | 1pm

Returning to the Festival after two wonderful performances in 2021 and 2022 are Trio Mazzolini for a recital of Mozart, Ravel and Schubert's much-loved Trout Quintet.

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8C - ROALD DAHL’S REVOLTING RHYMES Little Red Riding Hood & The Three Little Pigs

Saturday 8th July | Lichfield Cathedral School | 2pm

Through the celebrated words of Roald Dahl, delve into the world of fairy tales and adventure with two special interactive family-friendly stories: Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs.

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8D - WISE WOMAN folk/vocal

Saturday 8th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 3pm

Hailing from the East Anglia and the Welsh wildlands, power-folk four-piece Wise Woman bring their heady collision of lush vocal harmonies, cinematic strings and 90s girl power to the Lichfield Festival for the first time.

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8E - ROALD DAHL’S REVOLTING RHYMES Little Red Riding Hood & The Three Little Pigs

Saturday 8th July | Lichfield Cathedral School | 4pm

Through the celebrated words of Roald Dahl, delve into the world of fairy tales and adventure with two special interactive family-friendly stories: Little Red Riding Hood and The Three Little Pigs.

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8F - DANNY DRIVER piano

Saturday 8th July | St Michael's Church | 6pm

Associate Artist Danny Driver returns to Lichfield with the first of three 2023 Festival programmes.

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8G - GRIMETHORPE COLLIERY BAND

Saturday 8th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Festival Associate Band and now hugely anticipated visitors to Lichfield, the Grimethorpe Colliery Band returns for a summer extravaganza of brass in Lichfield Cathedral!

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8H - ICONIC – The 1960s in SONG Jessica Walker & Joseph Atkins

Saturday 8th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 8.30pm

Continuing their exploration of songs through the decades at the Festival Associate Artist Jessica Walker and pianist Joseph Atkins are joined by cellist Yurie Lee, as they turn their attention to the 1960s with a collection of numbers, both popular and obscure, all arranged in their signature style.

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9A - FRIENDSHIP WALK I

Sunday 9th July | Across Lichfield City Centre | 10.30am

The Johnson Society of Lichfield invite you to join them for our now annual walk to Johnson’s Willow and around some city landmarks, with the theme of Friendship and Refreshment.

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9B - FRIENDSHIP WALK

Sunday 9th July | Across Lichfield City Centre | 1.00pm

The Johnson Society of Lichfield invite you to join them for our now annual walk to Johnson’s Willow and around some city landmarks, with the theme of Friendship and Refreshment.

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9C - THE MIKADO Charles Court Opera

Sunday 9th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 1pm

The ‘masters of G&S in small spaces’ are back! Once again, Charles Court Opera present their intimate, highly successful 5-star London production of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic masterpieces, The Mikado.

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9D - The 4Ms: A Man on a Maths Media Mission

Sunday 9th July | Lichfield Guildhall | 1.30pm

Today, Bobby will be sharing engaging and amusing stories of how he has tried to persuade the nation to enjoy Maths!

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9E - WEARING THE TROUSERS Polly Leech mezzo soprano

Sunday 9th July | The Hub St Mary's | 5pm

Award-winning mezzo soprano, Polly Leech - our 2019 Artist in Residence - returns to the Festival for the first of two 2023 events, here in the company of pianist Florent Mourier.

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9F - THE MIKADO Charles Court Opera

Sunday 9th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7.15pm

The ‘masters of G&S in small spaces’ are back! Once again, Charles Court Opera present their intimate, highly successful 5-star London production of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic masterpieces, The Mikado.

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9G - RACHEL PODGER baroque violin DANIELE CAMINITI theorbo Hidden in Plain Sight

Sunday 9th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Festival Associate Artist Rachel Podger returns to Lichfield after her superb solo recitals in 2021 and 2022. Her most recent album release Tutta sola has recently been named both 2023 Recording of the Year and Instrumental Album of the Year by BBC Music Magazine.

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9H - THE DOORKNOBS & guests Jazz Through the Decades

Sunday 9th July | Lichfield Guildhall | 7.30pm

In a unique collaboration between Lichfield Festival, Young Enterprise and King Edward VI School, students of KES have formed an arts company, KESFEST23, to organise and run this event.

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10A - KIERAN GUNTER guitar

Monday 10th July | Swinfen Hall Hotel | 12pm

Kieran Gunter is an award-winning performer, composer and arranger currently based in London. A guitarist at ease in a great many styles.

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10B - RICHARD HILLS organ

Monday 10th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 2.30pm

Named ‘Organist of the Year’ in 2010 by the American Theatre Organ Society, Richard Hills made his solo debut at the BBC Proms in 2013 and appears regularly on national and international TV and radio in programmes as diverse as BBC Radio 3’s Choral Evensong and BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night. His Festival programme will include works by Sullivan, Coates, Whitlock, Vierne and Quilter.

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10C - ROMEO & JULIET The Lord Chamberlain's Men

Monday 10th July | Lichfield Cathedral (West Front) | 6.30pm

The Lord Chamberlain’s Men - with a history stretching back to William Shakespeare himself - invite you to join them this summer for the timeless and classic love story, Romeo and Juliet. They present this great play as the Bard first saw it, in the open air, with an all-male cast and Elizabethan costumes, music and dance. Packed with memorable poetry, devastating twists and turns, and burning passion this is without doubt the greatest love story ever told. A play about the power of true love, the extraordinary sacrifices we make for it and the futility and devastating consequences of entrenched conflict.

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10D - KABANTU

Monday 10th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7.15pm

Kabantu is a band of virtuosi wielding an expansive sonic arsenal; originally classically trained, they draw on an intricate palette of colours curated from their own listening to write original music influenced by folk music from around the globe. The sheer musicianship of each member, an exhilarating collective unexpectedness and an infectious joy on stage is mind-blowing, cultivated by a shared immediacy of expression forged by total trust.

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10E - Tommy Smith OBE saxophone

Monday 10th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 9.30pm

Tommy Smith OBE is one of the world’s leading saxophonists. As witnessed by an enraptured audience on his last visit to the Festival in 2021, his solo saxophone concerts feature entirely acoustic performances of spontaneously chosen melodies drawn from the jazz, folk, classical, pop and praise song traditions and highlight his wonderful tone production and consummate improvising capabilities in an intimate conversation with the audience.

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11A - ARCHIE MCVICAR tuba & JOANNE SEALEY piano

Tuesday 11th July | Wade Street Church | 12pm

Young Artist Series: Archie McVicar studies at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Since arriving at RBC, he has seen major successes as a soloist, winning both the Brass Concerto and Solo Prizes, as well as being named Best Soloist at the Unibrass National Championships. Orchestrally, he has already performed with the CBSO. Joined today by Joanne Sealey, RBC’s Head of Piano Accompaniment (Wind/Brass), his programme includes works by Schumann, Arnold and Alec Wilder, whose Effie Suite depicts six imaginary experiences of an elephant named ‘Effie’!

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11C - HANDEL's 'ORLANDO' Liberata Collective & Ensemble Hesperi

Tuesday 11th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7pm

The exciting young singers of Liberata Collective join forces with the dynamic and innovative musicians of Ensemble Hesperi (Festival visitors in 2019) playing on period instruments and performed in the art of Baroque Gesture for a Festival production of Handel's opera Orlando.

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11D - THE LIFE AND LOVES OF A BROADWAY BABY

Tuesday 11th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Tony Award-nominated Broadway star and recording artist, Melissa Errico, makes her Lichfield Festival debut in a stunning evening featuring songs by Lerner & Loewe and Rodgers & Hart, alongside show-stopping standards from The Great American Songbook, and the most powerful songs by her long-term collaborators, the late and much-missed music theatre legends, Stephen Sondheim and Michel Legrand.

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12A - YEHUDI MENUHIN SCHOOL Young Artists

Wednesday 12th July | St Michael's Church | 12pm

Young Artist Series: Yehudi Menuhin, the celebrated violinist, founded his school in Surrey in 1963 to provide a place for musically gifted children from around the world regardless of economic background. In the first of two events today to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the School, some of their most talented students join our 2023 Young Artist Series, to play Brahms Piano Trio No. 3 in C minor, Op. 101, and Bridge 3 Idylls for String Quartet.

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12B - AN A to Z OF ORCHESTRAL TRIANGLE PLAYING with Mick Doran

Wednesday 12th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 3pm

Join Mick Doran, Principal Percussionist of English National Opera Orchestra, as he invites you into the real world of the orchestral musician and its many interesting characters. Drawn from over 30 years’ experience working with the world’s greatest orchestras, conductors and soloists both on the concert platform and in the studio, this irreverent account will have you glued to your seat and helpless with laughter.

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12C - YEHUDI MENUHIN SCHOOL ORCHESTRA

Wedneday 12th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

The second of our two special events featuring students of the Yehudi Menuhin School as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations.

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12D - N’FAMADY KOUYATE 'balafon' & GASPER NALI 'babatoni'

Wednesday 12th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7.45pm

A double-bill of African music featuring the sublime talents of two top musicians from Guinea and Malawi.

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13A - MAJA HORVAT violin

Thursday 13th July | Wade Street Church | 12pm

Maja Horvat made her Wigmore Hall debut as first violinist of the Brompton Quartet, of which she is a founding member, and in 2019 she was awarded the RPS’s Emily Anderson Prize

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13C - NEW FOCUS jazz The Classical Connection

Thursday 13th July| The Hub at St Mary's | 6pm

Award-winning piano-sax duo Euan Stevenson & Konrad Wiszniewski’s New Focus: The Classical Connection gives fascinating insights into the relationship between classical music and jazz.

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13D - KATE RUSBY

Thursday 13th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

Kate Rusby is often hailed as the ‘first lady of folk’. Announcing herself to the music press in 1999 with a Mercury Music Prize, she has forged an impressive 30-year career, breaking records and headlining everywhere from the Royal Albert Hall to Cambridge Folk Festival.

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13E - KATIE ARNSTEIN comedy The Long Run

Thursday 13th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 9pm

Lichfield’s multi-award-winning writer Katie Arnstein is back with her new show, The Long Run.

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14A - HUGH MACKAY cello

Friday 14th July | Wade Street Church | 12pm

Hugh Mackay studies at the Royal Academy of Music, where he holds the Yadegar-Hall Award and was the recipient of a Regency Award and the Sir John Barbirolli Memorial Award, supported by Help Musicians UK, Talent Unlimited, Countess of Munster Trust and Battersea United Charities.

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14B - LESLEY SMITH ELIZABETH I

Friday 14th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 2pm

Well-known for her highly entertaining and informative costumed portrayals of a variety of historical characters, Lesley Smith pictured has been the Curator of Tutbury Castle in Staffordshire since 2000.

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14C - TRACY BORMAN Anne Boleyn & Elizabeth I

Friday 14th July | Wade Street Church | 4.30pm

A regular visitor to the Festival, Tracy Borman joins the Festival as our first writer/historian in residence.

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14D - CELEBRATING THE SONG-WRITERS with James Pearson & Lizzie Ball

Friday 14th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7.30pm

After their stunning debuts at the 2022 Festival, we’re delighted to welcome back the superb talents of our now Associate Artists, violinist and vocalist Lizzie Ball pictured (see Event 16C) and world-renowned pianist and Ronnie Scott’s Artistic Director, James Pearson (see Event 11D).

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14E - MOTHER’S RUIN comedy

Friday 14th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7.45pm

A heart-warming exploration of modern motherhood, full of original music and tips on how to fail miserably at meeting everybody’s expectations (including your own).

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15A - HENRY LEWIS piano

Saturday 15th July | St Michael's Church | 12pm

Henry Lewis was born in Somerset and is already the recipient of multiple awards including the Royal Northern College of Music’s Gold Medal 2022, the College’s most prestigious award for instrumental performance

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15B - TRACY BORMAN Tudors to Windsors: Elizabeth II and the Queens of England

Saturday 15th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 2.30pm

Our writer and historian in residence, Tracy Borman returns for a second Festival event to give a special lecture to mark the death and service of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

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15C - JACK LIEBECK violin & DANNY DRIVER piano

Saturday 15th July | St Michael's Church | 3.45pm

The second of Associate Artist Danny Driver's concerts sees Danny joined at the Festival for the first time by British/German violinist Jack Liebeck.

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15D - BBC NATIONAL ORCHESTRA OF WALES

Saturday 15th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 7pm

The BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the Festival’s Associate Orchestra, returns with its RPS award-winning Principal Conductor, Ryan Bancroft, for an evening of song and stunning orchestral music by Hector Berlioz and Jean Sibelius.

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15E - Richard Shelton in Sinatra: RAW

Saturday 15th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7.45pm

Richard Shelton is internationally acclaimed as one of the world's best interpreters of Frank Sinatra's music. With Sinatra: RAW he brings to life the man behind the music, catching him in confessional mood as he contemplates the end of a career that defined an era…

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16A - DANNY DRIVER piano - Goldberg Variations

Sunday 16th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 1.30pm

Associate Artist Danny Driver plays his final 2023 Festival concert - a Sunday morning performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations, a masterpiece with a main theme (bookending the 30 variations which sit within) that is one of the most famous in all classical music. A regular at the Festival since 2018, Danny is one of the most respected pianists of his generation. His acclaimed discography has taken him from C.P.E. Bach and Handel to his most recent release of Ligeti’s complete Piano Études¸ which was nominated for best solo instrument recording in the 2021 International Classical Music Awards.

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16B - HSUAN WU percussion

Sunday 16th July | Lichfield Guildhall | 1.30pm

Young Artist Series: Percussionist Hsuan Wu recently finished her postgraduate studies with distinction at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Her performance to close our Young Artist Series will be a feast for both the ears and eyes - a programme of exciting repertoire for marimba, tom-toms and a variety of other drums, as well as multi-media and body percussion!

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16C - COCO CHANEL & IGOR STRAVINSKY: A MUSICAL PORTRAIT

Sunday 16th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 3.15pm

The relationship between Coco Chanel and Igor Stravinsky is one that is discussed as a constant source of fascination by historians, music/fashion experts, and many more. Together with virtuoso accordionist Miloš Milivojević, Associate Artist Lizzie Ball above explores this fascinating part of musical and fashion history.

Sponsored by Shirley & Richard Newby

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16D - COR BACH (Midlands Choir of the Year winners 2022)

Sunday 16th July | The Hub at St Mary's | 7pm

In a packed Cathedral last year, an enraptured Festival audience saw Cor Bach walk away with both the winners’ trophy and the Audience Prize at the inaugural Midlands Choir of the Year final! Now they’re back to delight again with numbers by Seal, ELO, The Beatles, Queen, The Eagles and Billy Joel, alongside traditional male voice choir pieces...

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16E - JULIAN & JIAXIN LLOYD WEBBER

Sunday 16th July | Lichfield Cathedral | 9pm

A candle-lit concert to close the 2023 Festival, as our Patron Julian Lloyd Webber hosts a concert of solo cello works performed by his wife, international cellist Jiaxin Lloyd Webber, featuring
J.S. Bach Cello Suites Nos 1 & 3, as well as Malcolm Arnold Fantasy for Cello, a work that was written for and premiered by Julian in 1987.

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Ex Cathedra - Christmas Music by Candlelight

ON SALE SOON

Thursday 7th December 2023 | Lichfield Cathedral | 7pm

Ex Cathedra / Jeffrey Skidmore conductor

In the stillness of a church, where candles glow… comes the luminous sound of a choir in quiet harmony.

This concert promises a magical start to your Christmas season, as the singers of world-class choir Ex Cathedra – conducted by Lichfield’s own Jeffrey Skidmore - envelop you with a spellbinding sequence of seasonal favourites, little-known gems, and inspirational new music. Add a selection of readings that capture the mystery - and humour - of Christmas, and you won’t want to miss this popular, atmospheric concert.

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