Belfast Cathedral to host its first ever Music Festival
St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, will host its first ever Music Festival next month with a variety of concerts both instrumental and vocal.
This is an opportunity for the Cathedral to display the talents of its own musicians and to provide a platform for visiting performers.
The festival will open on June 7 with a concert by the Edinburgh University Music Society with a three–choirs concert featuring the choirs of St Anne’s Cathedral, St George’s Parish and St Peter’s Roman Catholic Cathedral on June 14 before the closing Festival Eucharist at 11.00 am on June 15.
Over the course of the week, Jonah–Man Jazz will be supported by the young singers from the Cathedral’s ambitious Choir School Project, the girls’ choir and the Cathedral Jazz band. There will be organ recitals, Choral Evensong, Sung Compline and Baroque Favourites featuring Belfast Baroque and others.
The Dean of Belfast, the Very Revd John Mann, will join professional violinist Katie Stevens in a performance of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto accompanied by Master of the Choristers David Stevens on harpsichord.
David said: “Many organisations use this Cathedral as a venue for concerts but St Anne’s did not run any concerts of its own so there was no focal point for our music outside of our services.
“The Music Festival, which we hope will become an annual event, will allow the Cathedral to share its music with people from far and wide and from all backgrounds.”
A full programme for the Music Festival will be available shortly.