Shropshire Represented at the Historic 2025 Three Choirs Festival in Hereford

The Three Choirs Festival, revered as one of the oldest classical music gatherings in the world, made a triumphant return to Hereford Cathedral at the end of July.  

Mrs Katherine Garnier DL, represented Shropshire at the Opening Service, attending on behalf of Mrs Anna Turner, the Lord-Lieutenant of Shropshire, who holds the role of Vice President of the Hereford Cathedral Perpetual Trust. This long-standing connection between Shropshire and Hereford Cathedral reflects the close historical and cultural links between the two counties. It highlights Shropshire’s ongoing role in supporting the Diocese of Hereford and its place in one of the region’s most significant cultural traditions.

The 2025 festival began with the Opening Service on Saturday 26th July.  This magnificent spectacle set within the grandeur of the cathedral nave symbolises unity and shared heritage by bringing together music, religion, civic life and centuries of tradition.  

With the peal of ancient bells echoing across the sunlit streets of Hereford,  the Opening Procession moving into the cathedral was a scene of majestic pageantry.  Choirs from the three host cities – Hereford, Worcester and Gloucester – wearing their white surplices and colourful cassocks moved as one in solemn splendour. Bishops in mitres and copes, Deans, Archdeacons, Precentors, Canons and many other visiting clergy, signified the spiritual heart of the occasion while Mayors, local councillors and other dignitaries represented the civic authorities.  High Sheriffs brought a reminder of public duties with the Lord-Lieutenant of Hereford and Deputy Lieutenant of Shropshire representing the Crown. The congregation, filling every space in the cathedral,  completed a ritual that has characterised the festival since its inception in the early 18th century. 

Presiding over the week-long choral and orchestral celebration was Hereford Cathedral’s Artistic Director Geraint Bowen, together with cathedral organist Peter Dyke.   The Three Choirs Festival Chorus, Hereford Cathedral Choir and the renowned Flowers Band combined to deliver a programme of musical excellence at the festival that featured 71 concerts and events, with more than 22 performances completely sold out.  Five major concerts were held in Hereford Cathedral with other performances from the Philharmonia Orchestra (the festival’s resident orchestra) and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. Six world premieres included The Black Lake by Richard Blackford and a revival of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s The Atonement – described as a moving rediscovery of a forgotten masterpiece.

As President of the Festival, His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester attended with Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester on Tuesday 29th July,  to enjoy a performance of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, a musical banquet that drew widespread acclaim. The classical music website Bachtrack praised the concert as “certainly a performance that even the great Handel might have envisaged.” 

The eight-day celebration of choral and classical music drew in over 16,500 ticket sales.  In a time when many question the role of tradition in modern life, the Three Choirs Festival offers an unambiguous reply: that beauty, ceremony and communal song remain not only relevant, but essential. It is, in every sense, a festival for the ages.

Booking for the 2026 Three Choirs Festival, which will be held in Gloucester from 25 July to 1 August,   opens on 13 April for the general public. Full programme details can be found at 3choirs.org from March 2026