The region’s leading large classical choir, Worcester Festival Choral Society, has announced a trio of major concerts for its 2026-27 season, each held in the magnificent surroundings of Worcester Cathedral and expected to attract more than 500 music lovers.

The highly respected 140-strong choir, which was established in 1861 and often conducted by Sir Edward Elgar in its early days, opens its season on Saturday 21 November with three 20th century British and American classics: Ralph Vaughan Williams’s powerful cantata Dona Nobis Pacem (“Give us peace”); Leonard Bernstein’s exciting choral masterpiece, Chichester Psalms; and Aaron Copland’s invigorating orchestral, Appalachian Spring. 

Its popular, annual candlelit performance of George Frideric Handel’s glittering Messiah - whose highlights include the stirring Hallelujah chorus - follows on Saturday 6 December, for the perfect pre-Christmas treat. Inspired by the philanthropic origins of Messiah, charitable donations are also invited for local young people’s causes, in partnership with grant-giving charity the Worcestershire Community Foundation. In addition, the performance marks the Choral Society’s inaugural Hallelujah! Young Singers Opportunity, a new initiative encouraging a number of students and teachers from local secondary schools to experience the thrill of taking part in one of the most beloved choral works of all time.

Worcester Festival Choral Society’s season then closes with Sir Edward Elgar’s monumental oratorio, The Kingdom, on Saturday 13 March 2027 - a profoundly beautiful work containing some of Elgar’s finest choral and orchestral writing. 

Each concert features internationally acclaimed soloists and the Meridian Sinfonia orchestra, all under the baton of Worcester Cathedral’s director of music, Samuel Hudson.

For tickets visit www.wfcs.online or call TicketSource 0333 666 3366 (local call rate).

Image Credit: © Michael Whitefoot