In memory of her daughter, Clarissa, friend of the Festival Hilary Nicholls has commissioned three renowned composers – Cecilia McDowall, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange and Joanna Gill – to each compose a piece reflecting on different stages of Clarissa’s life. The pieces sit together in a triptych which we will be learning led by Festival Conductor Neil Ferris, with additional direction from the composers themselves who will each be there with us on the day. We will also be singing The Promise, the newest choral work by Will Todd. All music will be provided.

Embrace the thrill of choir in our afternoon vocal workshop. In an informal and relaxed atmosphere, the expert BFCS musical team of Thomas Leech and Chris Pulleyn will lead us through the most beautiful movements of Howard Goodall’s Eternal Light, together with Cecilia McDowall’s Ave maris stella and a movement from Tarik O’Regan’s Triptych.

Our programme’s theme is Mysticism through the Ages. As an upper voices group, we have a particular focus on women’s contributions, and the programme centres around three inspirational women: a mystic, a mother, and a musician. Two contemporary female composers, Cecilia McDowall and Rebecca Clarke, provide contrasting settings of the same text.

Suffolk Chamber Choir
Dominic Ellis-Peckham, Artistic Director
An evening of sublime choral pieces by celebrated women composers, from Hildegard of Bingen to Amy Beach and Florence Price, to contemporary names such as Cecilia McDowall and Anna Disley-Simpso

MyLetter to the World

Georgie Malcolm, soprano
Paul St-Georges, piano
Soprano Georgie Malcolm and pianist Paul St-Georges present a recital tracing the poetic voices of women across two centuries of art song. The programme explores female poets set to music by composers including Schubert, Mozart, Cecilia McDowall, Jonathan Dove, Aaron Copland, Sergei Prokofiev, and Francis Poulenc, highlighting themes of nature, motherhood, and love from women’s own perspectives.

ORA Singers
Suzi Digby, conductor
The award-winning ORA Singers celebrates its 10th anniversary year with a choral highlights programme featuring key works from its first decade.
Concert to include:

Cecilia McDowall: O clap your hands reimagined

Dresdner Motettenchor
Joyful Company of Singers
Matthias Jung, conductor
Peter Broadbent, conductor
Programme to include:

Cecilia McDowall: I know that my Redeemer liveth

Concert in memory of Dame Felicity Lott

Musical Director: Thomas Mottershead
Organist: Alison Howell
Soprano: Brittany King
Mezzo-soprano: Catherine Wyn-Rogers
Tenor: Gareth Dafydd Morris
Bass: Philip Lloyd-Evans

Cecilia McDowall: Ave Maris Stella
Antonio Vivaldi: Magnificat (RV610)
W. A. Mozart: Coronation Mass (Mass in C Major)

Engadine Choir
Sarah Giger and Katharina Jud, directors
Programme to include works by Claude Le Jeune, Henry Purcell, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jonathan Lane, Cecilia McDowall and others

Cecilia McDowall: Of a Rose

Engadine Choir
Programme to include works by Claude Le Jeune, Henry Purcell, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jonathan Lane, Cecilia McDowall and others

Cecilia McDowall: Of a Rose