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Register by October 17 to Secure Your Spot!
| Registration Type | Member Price |
|---|---|
| Early Bird Registration (Sept. 11-Oct.3) | $750 |
| General Registration (Oct. 4-Oct.17) | $850 |
The Three Choirs Festival truly shows the enduring power of choral music. The festival dates to the early 18th century and has continuously rotated between the cathedrals of Hereford, Worcester, and Gloucester for over three centuries. This festival began as a gathering of regional cathedral choirs and has since evolved into an eight-day celebration that features over 80 events and hosts auditioned amateur singers ages 14-25 from across the cities of the three cathedrals.
This year’s festival filled Hereford Cathedral with the sounds of choral music from July 26 to August 2 and included two significant contributions from the American choral community. The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers performed as only the third American choir to ever be presented at the Three Choirs Festival. The festival also included a performance of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's oratorio The Atonement, which was brought back into the light by American scholar Dr. Bryan Ijames.
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VocalEssence Ensemble Singers at Three Choirs-Photo Credit Ethan Kellum Johnson
VocalEssence: Third American Chorus to Ever be Included
The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers performed at the festival as part of a ten-day tour of England. When asked about the preparation for this festival, founder and artistic director Philip Brunelle said “It was wonderful to consider many possibilities for repertoire knowing that it needed to be an a cappella program. Another factor was that the great English baritone Roderick Williams would be appearing with us—so it was a particular delight to dive into repertoire for baritone and chorus. Roddy is a marvelous artist and very willing to perform a variety of repertoire. He joined us for music of Grieg, Copland, Vaughan Williams, Ken Burton, and Jester Hairston."
VocalEssence’s carefully curated program reflected the beauty of cultural exchange by featuring American composers Aaron Copland, Dominick Argento, Eric Whitacre, Jester Hairston, and Moses Hogan alongside British composers Ken Burton and Ralph Vaughan Williams. The program also featured three short pieces by American composer Alice Parker's music, including “On The Common Ground” which Brunelle had previously premiered. The performance honored the centenary of Parker’s birth.
“It is a great honor for VocalEssence to be invited to this prestigious festival,” said director of marketing and communications Amanda Timmer. Beyond the festival, VocalEssence will perform an Evensong at Westminster Abbey, a concert at Bath Abbey, and record a concert at the Voces8 studio for worldwide release in December as part of the "Live from London" series.
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The Atonement: A Lost Oratorio Returns
This year's festival also featured the revival of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's oratorio The Atonement, in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth. The oratorio was originally premiered at the 1903 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford, and it is very likely that it is the first work of its kind ever written by a composer of color. After it premiered, the work remained unpublished and existed only in manuscript form at the Royal College of Music for over a century.
Dr. Bryan Ijames discovered Coleridge-Taylor's original handwritten manuscript as part of his archival research as a doctoral student at the University of Michigan. He then took on the immense task of digitizing and engraving the 350-page score, which lead to the first full recording project of the work.
"My personal connection to The Atonement lies in the extraordinary achievement of Alice Parsons," Ijames explained, referring to the librettist with whom Coleridge-Taylor collaborated. Parsons "truly fulfilled what Samuel Coleridge-Taylor set out for her to do: to craft something absolutely different from anything that had come before. That spirit of innovation—of breaking new ground—resonates deeply with me."
For Ijames, bringing the oratorio back to the festival where it premiered is the climax of a four-year-long dream. "This moment is more than symbolic; it’s an act of restoration," he stated. "Reviving this work here is no small feat—it honors Coleridge-Taylor’s legacy, reaffirms the power of his voice, and invites new generations to experience the beauty and originality of this long-silent masterpiece."
Ultimately, Ijames hopes that audiences took away a new perspective from the performance. He explained that Alice Parsons’s libretto views Christ’s passion through the eyes of the women who loved and supported him, a perspective "that is often overlooked." He added, "I hope this performance invites people to reflect on those voices and consider how much depth and humanity they bring to the story."
The inclusion of the VocalEssence Ensemble Singers and Coleridge-Taylor's rediscovered oratorio demonstrates how American musicians and researchers continue to enrich the global classical music landscape. “It’s important for Americans to engage with the Three Choirs Festival because this festival is, in many ways, the blueprint for so many American choral festivals and organizations,” said Ijames. “The Three Choirs Festival has commissioned and premiered some of the most enduring works in the choral-orchestral repertoire, shaping the tradition we’ve inherited.”
Featured Image of Leominster Cathedral Photo Credit Joseph Ellickson
