Summer Organ Festival

Our Summer Organ Festival runs through June, July and September with some incredible musicians joining us at St Edmundsbury Cathedral. Please book your free ticket for each date you wish to attend. Recitals start at 5.00 pm.

Sunday 9 June

ORGAN PROM!

with Timothy Parsons and Richard Cook

The Cathedral’s Director and Assistant Director of Music, Timothy Parsons and Richard Cook, team up to present an evening of fun and familiar music on the magnificent Cathedral organ. Tim and Richard’s programme will include some duets and will feature the Cathedral’s beautiful chamber organ. The evening will also include a unique guided tour of the organ from inside – we will show you the thousands of pipes, show you how they work and what they sound like, and explain how the organ works, all relayed to the screens in the Nave!

Sunday 30 June

Mark Blatchly

Join Mark Blatchly, Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral from 1990 to 1992, as he presents a programme of organ music including J. S. Bach’s exhilarating but rarely heard Prelude and Fugue in G major, BWV 550, and César Franck’s magnificent Choral no. 1 in E major.

Sunday 21 July

John Williams’ music from the Harry Potter films

with Ewa Belmas

This is an organ recital unlike any other! Ewa Belmas, Ukrainian concert organist, will perform her own transcription of John Williams’ music from the Harry Potter films on the Cathedral organ. Come and hear this iconic and much-loved soundtrack brought to life as you’ve never heard it before!

Sunday 28 July

Michael Bawtree

Michael Bawtree was the Assistant Director of Music at St Edmundsbury Cathedral from 1999 to 2004. Come and hear him play a varied programme of organ music, to include music by Bach, Elgar, and a brand-new work by celebrated contemporary composer, Judith Bingham.

Sunday 1 September

Livre du Saint Sacrament

with Tom Bell

A rare chance to hear one of the great organ works of the twentieth century in an epic performance by one of the UK’s leading concert organists, Tom Bell, of Olivier Messiaen’s monumental Livre du Saint Sacrament. This is extraordinary music which will be brought to life on our magnificent Harrison & Harrison organ, which was partly designed with Messiaen’s music in mind. Includes an explanatory talk from the performer before the concert.

Sunday 15 September

David Poulter

David Poulter presents a programme of organ music entitled Te Deum. Including inspiring music from French composers Jean Langlais and Charles Tournemire, as well as the German Romantic composer Max Reger, this promises to be a fabulous way to conclude our series of organ recitals in 2024.

There is no charge to attend recitals but there will be a retiring collection.