Overview
Quite simply, there is no prettier part of England than the Cotswolds...
The topography of hills and hidden valleys, the exquisitely variegated textures from centuries of farming and grazing, myriad dry-stone walls and ancient hedges, abundant broadleaf woodland and exceptionally picturesque villages: these are reasons enough to visit.
There is also a cluster of capacious, grandly conceived and magnificently wrought churches. Products of the wealth generated in the Middle Ages by the wool trade, these mini-cathedrals are among the most beautiful parish churches in Europe.
Toss in a couple of hugely handsome secular halls – one Regency, one in a Tudor manor – and the Cotswolds comes as close to perfection as the location for a music festival as is imaginable.
Two of the hotels are in Burford, than which a lovelier and livelier little town does not exist. A further three are in Lower Slaughter and Bibury, both even smaller communities but also blisteringly picturesque. In both places, walk five or ten minutes in any direction and you will find yourself in the quietly beautiful countryside.
...and the music will be as beautiful as you would wish to hear.
Though this is primarily a festival of choral music, there is tremendous variety of sound world – a real spectrum of repertoire, of era and place of composition, and of ensemble size.
The 500th anniversary of Palestrina’s birth is acknowledged in a couple of concerts, and due attention is paid to ‘local’ composers. For nearly 200 years, a quite disproportionate number of English composers were born or lived in the region. These include Hubert Parry, Edward Elgar, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney and Gerald Finzi. But many other composers will be featured: British, foreign (largely Italian), historical and contemporary.
We are delighted to be able to present eight top class ensembles, all choirs except for one vocal ensemble (of some of the finest voices of our time), and an instrumental group from Italy and Switzerland. Some of the choirs enjoy world-wide fame, others are closer to the beginning of their careers but will be the stars of the future.
This is as fine and as concentrated a celebration of music of the voice as you are likely to come across in a long while.
Meet the musicians
BBC Singers
The BBC Singers has held a unique place at the heart of the UK’s choral scene for almost 100 years and has collaborated with many of the world’s leading composers, conductors and soloists. Awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society’s prestigious Ensemble Award in March 2024, they are also celebrating their 100 year anniversary in the 24/25 season.
The choir records music for broadcast on BBC Radio 3 alongside work for other network radio, television and commercial release. It also appears at major festivals in the UK and abroad, notably at the BBC Proms. At the heart of its work is a wide-ranging programme of learning activities working with children and adults in schools, music colleges, universities and community groups. The group is Britain’s only full-time salaried choral ensemble.
Echo Vocal Ensemble
Described as ‘sublime, spirited…completely assured’ (The Arts Desk), Echo Vocal Ensemble is an adventurous group of singers known for their flexibility, innovation and excellence. Since its inception, the group has developed a reputation for innovative programming and multi-disciplinary collaborations, including with poet Roger McGough, composer James MacMillan, visual artist Polly Apfelbaum and the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Echo aims to explore the full range of what ensemble singing can achieve, including improvisation and audience-immersive concert experiences, while achieving musical excellence at all times.
Echo’s conductor, Sarah Latto, held a choral scholarship at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge and a fellowship at Yale. Among the other ensembles she has conducted are Ex Cathedra and the National Youth Choir of Great Britain; she made her debut with BBC Singers in 2024.
Gloucester Cathedral Choir
Nine centuries ago the boys and monks of the then Benedictine Abbey of St Peter sang for daily worship. Today’s choir stems from that established by Henry VIII, and consists of nine professional lay clerks, 16 boy choristers and, since 2016, 16 girls. In addition to eight services each week they perform in concerts at home and abroad and in live BBC broadcasts. They are key participants in the Three Choirs Festival, the world’s oldest music festival.
Adrian Partington is one of the UK’s most renowned choral conductors, Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral, Artistic Director of the Gloucester Three Choirs Festival and Artistic Director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales.
Theatro dei Cervelli
Theatro dei Cervelli (Theatre of the Brains!) is a recently created ensemble devoted to Renaissance and Early Baroque Italian music directed by musician and musicologist Andrés Locatelli. It brings together singers and instrumentalists from across Europe (though a preponderance from Italy and Switzerland) who share a passion for Italian music c. 1500–1650.
Their mission is to explore the interaction between thought, music and emotion from a historical perspective and through study of historical performance. The ensemble’s name is taken from a treatise by the Italian humanist Tommaso Garzoni, Theatro de’ vari e diversi cervelli mondani (1583), an early-modern attempt to categorise the human mind and personality.
Roberta Mameli
Born in Rome and now based near Milan, Roberta Mameli is an Italian soprano who sings in opera houses and concert halls across Europe. She is particularly in demand for earlier repertoire, Monteverdi to Mozart via Vivaldi, her voice distinguished by exceptional subtlety and expressiveness.
The Carice Singers
The Carice Singers was founded by George Parris in 2011. Since being described as having a ‘beauty of tone’ and ‘musicality’ that ‘few can match’ by Gramophone magazine in 2016, it has carved out a unique place in the UK’s choral scene, defined by its sound, imagination and sense of adventure. Named after Elgar’s daughter, the group mixes a sustained focus on British music with a broader European outlook, aiming for fresh perspectives and performances of exceptional quality.
Recently, the group gave its debut performance at the Three Choirs Festival alongside concerts for Music at Oxford’s festival ‘Arvo Pärt… and a Littlemore’ and the Joy & Devotion Festival of Polish Choral Music. They appear regularly at London’s St Martin-in-the-Fields and were Ensemble in Residence at Cheltenham Music Festival in 2021 and 2023.
The Gesualdo Six
The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers. The director is Owain Park, who is also a composer. Praised for their imaginative programming and impeccable blend, the ensemble formed in Cambridge in 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories and has gone on to perform at numerous festivals across the UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Venues include London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Miller Theatre, Sydney’s Opera House and the Albert Hall for BBC Proms (2023). They have enjoyed great success with a work of concert-theatre titled Secret Byrd, a collaboration with Fretwork and director Bill Barclay, and have released seven critically acclaimed albums.
The Myrthen Ensemble
An ensemble of some of the finest voices of our time – Mary Bevan (soprano), Clara Mouriz (mezzo-soprano), Nicky Spence (tenor), Marcus Farnsworth (baritone) – and pianist, Joseph Middleton. They can be heard in the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls and on numerous award-winning recordings, but they periodically come together, all friends, to indulge their love of Lieder.
As The Myrthen Ensemble they have enjoyed performances at halls in several European countries and for BBC Radio 3. Their debut CD, Songs to the Moon, was released in 2016. The group takes its name from the composition Robert Schumann wrote as a wedding present for his wife Clara in 1840.
The Tallis Scholars
Through five decades of performance and award-winning recordings, Peter Phillips and The Tallis Scholars have done more than any other group to establish sacred vocal music of the Renaissance as one of the great repertoires of Western music.
They have brought the works to a wider audience on six continents, venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sistine Chapel, Carnegie Hall, Philharmonie Berlin, San Marco Venice, Shakespeare’s Globe London, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Beijing Concert Hall, Seoul Arts Centre Korea, Megaron Athens and Sydney Opera House.
They continue to develop their exclusive sound, praised by reviewers for its supple clarity and tone, and to bring fresh interpretations to music by contemporary as well as past composers.
Day 1
Monday 16 June
Burford
Getting there
Travelling by car. There is parking at all hotels, free of charge (The Lamb is the slight exception). The car parks are of variable size – The Lamb, Bay Tree and Swan hotels have relatively limited capacity, but the Country Inn and Manor House have more space.
By rail to Kemble. Coaches meet the direct 11.32–12.56 London Paddington to Kemble direct train (March 2024 timetable, subject to change). We recommend that you book train tickets as soon as possible after they are put on sale about three months before the festival.
Taxis from other stations: from Swindon, Oxford or Cheltenham will take 35 to 50 minutes, depending on the hotel chosen (not included in the package price).
Bedrooms at the hotels should be ready for occupation from 2.00 or 2.30pm.
The first event
Coaches leave Bibury and Lower Slaughter shortly after 3.30pm for the first concert at Burford.
The exceptional loveliness of the little town of Burford is not let down by its church, which Simon Jenkins rates as the finest in Oxfordshire. Unlike the other major Cotswolds churches, St John the Baptist is the outcome of piecemeal accretion from the 12th century onwards, funded by individual families rather than a syndicate of citizens. Nor is the church let down by its excellent Victorian glass, which is largely by Charles Kempe.
A talk on the music precedes the concert.
Concert, 5.30pm: Burford, St John the Baptist
The English Verse Anthem
The Gesualdo Six
Owain Park director
In the English Reformation, new and vibrant forms of vernacular music-making emerged, including the verse anthem. Unlike the traditional ‘full’ anthem, where the choir maintains a continuous presence, the verse anthem introduced an interplay between solo voices and the full consort, providing rich opportunity for narrative expression and musical development. This programme celebrates composers who specialised in this distinctive form.
Highlights include the Star Anthem by John Bull, a quintessential Jacobean verse anthem celebrated across contemporary sources. The best-known in the 21st century is This is the Record of John written by Orlando Gibbons for a visit of Archbishop Laud to his alma mater St John’s College Oxford.
Return to festival hotels for dinner – Burford returns on foot, Lower Slaughter by coach; Bibury dines in Burford and then returns to Bibury by coach.
Day 2
Tuesday 17 June
Northleach, Fairford
Coaches depart for Northleach.
In the 15th century Northleach was the premier wool town of the Cotswolds. The wealth this brought found magnificent expression in the staggeringly beautiful Perpendicular church of St Peter and St Paul, which is situated in a tree-lined churchyard on the edge of the village. The interior, brilliantly lit through large clear windows, is full of fascinating medieval features including the country’s finest assembly of monumental brasses.
Concert, 11.30am: Northleach, St Peter & St Paul
A Song of June
The Carice Singers, George Parris director
The Cotswolds are perhaps at their best in late June, and this programme sings a song of that landscape: of skylarks keeping their summer music, the hum of village life and the distant tolling of church bells. The music is exclusively by British composers until a deviation to Finland for a midsummer night’s song and the gorgeously steamy embrace of a Saturday sauna.
Coaches return you to your festival hotel for an independent lunch and some free time, before departing for Fairford in the late afternoon.
One of England’s greatest wool churches, the chief glory of St Mary’s at Fairford is the stained glass – the only complete set of medieval narrative glass in England. In this sequence the artist and royal glazier, Barnard Flower, portrays the history of the Christian Church. Remarkably, Fairford also holds the largest surviving collection of late medieval woodwork.
Concert, 5.00pm: Fairford, St Mary’s
BBC Singers
Programme to be confirmed.
Return to festival hotels for dinner.
Day 3
Wednesday 18 June
Cheltenham, Gloucester
Coaches depart festival hotels for Cheltenham. There is a choice between either leaving earlier (for free time and an independent lunch in Cheltenham), or after an early independent lunch at your festival hotel (to go directly to the talk and concert).
The Pittville Pump Room is the magnificent centrepiece of comprehensive development of an estate on the edge of Cheltenham built in the 1820s. In Greek Revival style, it is the last and largest of the buildings erected to cater for visitors to Cheltenham in the wake of the discovery of curative waters in the early 18th century and overlooks the lawns and lakes of Pittville Park. The Main Hall is in regular use for concerts.
A talk on the music precedes the concert.
Concert, 2.30pm: Cheltenham, Pittville Pump Room
The Myrthen Ensemble:
Mary Bevan soprano
Clara Mouriz mezzo-soprano
Nicky Spence tenor
Marcus Farnsworth baritone
Joseph Middleton piano
Programme to be confirmed.
Transfer to Gloucester by coach.
The 15th-century tower of Gloucester Cathedral is one of the most beautiful architectural creations of medieval England, the procession of massive cylindrical piers in the nave a potent expression of Norman rule. The cathedral’s fame, however, derives from its eastern parts, whose exquisite 14th-century remodelling is the earliest large-scale manifestation of the Perpendicular style. Superlatives continue: the east window is the largest expanse of glass of the Middle Ages, the cloister is the most homogeneous and the tomb of Edward II may justifiably claim to be the finest medieval monument in England.
Concert, 6.00pm: Gloucester Cathedral
Sons of Gloucestershire
Gloucester Cathedral Choir, Adrian Partington director
For nearly two centuries, Gloucestershire has been the birthplace or permanent home of many of the UK’s greatest composers: Vaughan Williams, Holst, Parry, Howells, Finzi and Gurney to name a few. No other English county can claim such a constellation of musical stars as its own. All these composers gained inspiration from both Gloucestershire’s uniquely beautiful and varied countryside, and also its majestic cathedral, with its famous acoustic. The Cathedral Choir will be performing music by each of these sons of Gloucestershire, all of whom loved this ancient and spectacular building.
Return to festival hotels for dinner apart from Bibury, who eat in Burford and then transfer back to Bibury.
Day 4
Thursday 19 June
Tetbury, Chavenage
Coaches depart festival hotels for Tetbury.
The church of St Mary is Gothic, but only the tower and spire are medieval. The rest dates to a rebuild 1771–81, a rare and eccentric instance of large-scale Georgian Gothic. The medievalising style was apparently demanded by the parishioners in preference to ‘modern’ classicism. The type of Gothic chosen was the latest phase of Perpendicular, and though gauche by purist Victorian standards, the vast windows and the light-filled spaciousness make for a special kind of loveliness. It is fortunate the galleries and complete set of box pews have been retained.
Concert, 11.30am: Tetbury, St Mary’s
A Blue True Dream of Sky
Echo Vocal Ensemble, Sarah Latto director
The programme is carefully curated to reflect the beauty and splendour of the natural world. It features sumptuous music by Kenneth Leighton, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Judith Weir, goes on to examine man’s historical and current relationship with nature with works by Palestrina and Shruthi Rajasekar and then looks forward to the future in the work of Philip Glass, Rory Wainwright Johnston and Anohni.
Independent lunch in Tetbury. After lunch, the audience is split into two as the hall in Chavenage House cannot accommodate everyone at once.
When not attending a concert this afternoon, festival participants are given a private tour of Rodmarton Manor, one of the finest secular accomplishments of the Arts and Crafts movement.
Described as ‘the ideal 16th-century Cotswold stone manor house’ by the Pevsner Architectural Guide, Chavenage House was built in 1576 in Elizabethan style, with regular enlargements through subsequent centuries, consistent with the original style and materials. The oak-panelled, portrait-laden ballroom where our concert takes place was one of these later additions, but original 16th-century features remain such as various fireplaces, and elaborate panelling in the Oak Room. The house has been owned by the Lowsley-Williams family since 1891, and is still very much a family home.
Concert, 2.00pm or 4.30pm: Chavenage House
Ariadne’s Resonance
Theatro dei Cervelli, Andrés Locatelli director
Roberta Mameli soprano
The voice of Ariadne lamenting on the shore of Naxos has been an obsessive presence in poetry and music since Catullus and Ovid. Abandoned by Theseus, Ariadne laments her fate, moving from anger and regret to hope and forgiveness. This concert is a musical exploration of the ways in which Ariadne’s voice came back to life in early modern Italy and has haunted vocal music ever since. Starting with an 1890 arrangement by Alessandro Parisotti of the Monteverdi-Ottavio Rinuccini 1608 aria from the otherwise lost opera, the programme presents a range of 17th-century composers and a focus on the baroque cantata.
Return to festival hotels for dinner.
Day 5
Friday 20 June
Cirencester
Depart hotels for the final concert of the festival, in Cirencester.
By some measures the largest parish church in the country, St John the Baptist is the most splendid of the Cotswolds
wool churches. Its celebrated three-storey south porch is also the largest in England. Inside, the sheer height and width of the three great aisles of the nave, rebuilt 1516–30, are breathtaking. The chancel is 13th- and 14th-century. The organ was built by Father Willis in 1895 and rebuilt by Harrison & Harrison in 2009.
Concert, 11.00am: Cirencester, St John the Baptist
Palestrina, Pärt & Shakespeare
The Tallis Scholars, Peter Phillips director
This programme could almost be called Music for the Sistine Chapel, but there are two twists. Instead of the five movements of a single mass by Palestrina, there are five different movements interspersed with pieces by other composers. For the second twist we owe thanks to the Communist Party of China. Shortly before recent Tallis Scholars performances in Beijing and Shanghai, the censor indicated that the words of the Miserere set by Allegri were unacceptable, being religious. Peter Phillips’s solution was to substitute ‘Fear no more the heat of the sun’ from Shakespeare’s Cymbeline. This will be the European première of what may well become a concert hall classic.
Leaving the festival
Return to the hotel. After the final concert, in Cirencester, coaches return to the hotels by 3.30pm. You will need to have checked out in the morning, before departing for Cirencester. Reception can store luggage.
By rail from Kemble. Alternatively, you can travel by coach directly from Cirencester to Kemble railway station, arriving by 3.30pm. There are direct trains from Kemble to London every hour (e.g. 15.46–16.58, March 2024 timetable).
Travelling by car. Cirencester has many paid car parks, we will send more details of these closer to the festival.
The festival package
The price includes:
– All eight concerts.
– Accommodation for four nights – choose between five hotels.
– Breakfasts, all four dinners, and interval drinks; talks on the music by Professor Stephen Darlington.
– All coach transfers, including (for those who need) to/from railway stations on the first and final days – see Day 1 of the itinerary.
– All tips and taxes.
– The assistance of festival staff and a detailed programme booklet.
Accommodation and prices
There is a choice of five hotels in Lower Slaughter, Burford and Bibury. For location, amenities, comfort, service and price, we believe these are the best in the area.
Your choice of hotel is the sole determinant of the different prices.
Rooms vary. As is inevitable in historic buildings, rooms vary in size and outlook.
Traffic noise may affect some rooms, but generally the hotels are in quiet areas with little traffic in the evenings, especially in Lower Slaughter.
If you would like extra nights in Bibury, Burford or Lower Slaughter before or after the festival, ask us or contact the hotel directly. This would be better done sooner rather than later.
All prices given here are per person.
The Lamb, Burford
Bedrooms are spread through several cottages and a main building which was originally a 15th-century weaver’s house – a charming warren of corridors and steps with low ceilings and exposed timber beams, comfortable and cosy. Bedrooms are individually decorated and with antique furnishings and modern touches. Classic rooms mostly have a shower only; other rooms have a bath with shower fitment and a few have both a bath and a shower.
There are two lounges, as well as a terrace and garden, a good restaurant (two AA rosettes), and a bar which is popular with locals.
There is roadside parking only, but participants are welcome to park in The Bay Tree’s car park just next door.
cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-lamb-inn
Prices, per person
Two sharing:
Superior £2,690
Suite £2,940
Single occupancy:
Classic £2,780
The Bay Tree, Burford
Bedrooms are spread between the main house and garden rooms, which are located just outside the main building. All are individually decorated in a charming, traditional style but with a few contemporary twists. Due to the nature of the building, there are lots of stairs and some floors are uneven. Bathrooms vary in size; some have a shower only, others have a bath with shower fitment or a bath and a shower.
The restaurant is bright and contemporary with a flagstone floor and there are two cosy lounges as well as a pretty garden.
There is a small hotel car park, free of charge.
cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-bay-tree-hotel
Prices, per person
Two sharing:
Superior £2,890
Deluxe £2,990
Suite £3,190
Single occupancy:
Classic £2,880
Superior £2,990
The Country Inn, Lower Slaughter
A couple of minutes from The Manor, this is a more informal and less glitzy hotel (it is in fact technically a 5-star ‘Inn’ in terms of classification). Externally traditional, the modernised interiors still retain the charm of a country inn. Bedrooms are spacious, simply decorated and well equipped. Classic and Deluxe rooms have a shower only; Superior and above have a bath with shower fitment, and a further few rooms have a separate bath and shower.
For dining, there is a traditional bar area with beamed ceilings or a bright and contemporary restaurant (same menu, two AA rosettes). The Inn sits within four acres of informal seasonal gardens.
There is a large hotel car park adjacent to the hotel, free of charge.
Prices, per person
Two sharing:
Superior £3,290
Junior Suite £3,440
Suite £3,590
Garden Suite £3,790
Single occupancy:
Classic £2,990
Deluxe £3,190
Superior £3,640
The Swan, Bibury
Located in a famously pretty village, The Swan is a 17th-century former coaching inn on the banks of the River Coln. Bedrooms are spread between the main house, garden rooms and cottages, and are individually and tastefully decorated with traditional furnishings brought up to date with modern touches. Bathrooms vary in size; some have a shower only, others have a bath with shower fitment or a bath and a shower.
There is a fairly small but airy ‘writing room’ at the front, a cosy bar and a garden with seating. Food in the contemporary brasserie is good. This is the only hotel with a lift, and it only provides access to the first floor.
There is a small hotel car park, free of charge.
cotswold-inns-hotels.co.uk/the-swan-hotel
Prices, per person
Two sharing:
Superior £3,290
Deluxe £3,390
Cottage £3,390
Single occupancy:
Classic £3,090
Superior £3,540
The Manor House, Lower Slaughter
Built in the 17th century as a private mansion, this very comfortable 4-star hotel stands in its own grounds in the centre of the village. Bedrooms vary but are a good size, stylishly furnished and well equipped. Bathrooms are generous in size and well lit; some have a glass door to the bedroom. Most have a bath with shower fitment, while higher category rooms have both a bath and a shower.
The downstairs area is spacious, with three elegant lounges and other amenities. The renowned contemporary restaurant has been rewarded three AA rosettes. The Manor is surrounded by five acres of landscaped gardens, set in the picturesque village of Lower Slaughter which borders the River Eye.
There is a good size hotel car park behind the hotel, free of charge.
Prices, per person
Two sharing:
Deluxe £3,640
Junior Suite £3,790
Suite £4,020
Garden Suite £4,240
Single occupancy:
Classic £3,390
Deluxe £3,990
Joining and leaving the festival
See the Itinerary section for options.
More about the concerts
Private. All the performances are planned and administered by us, and the audience consists exclusively of those who have taken the festival package.
Seating. Specific seats are not reserved. You sit where you want.
Audience size. There will be up to 140 participants on the festival. One of our venues cannot hold this number, so at this the performance will be repeated.
Acoustics. This festival is more concerned with locale and authenticity than with acoustic perfection. The venues may have idiosyncrasies or reverberations of the sort not found in modern concert halls.
Changes. Musicians fall ill, venues may close for repairs: there are various circumstances which could necessitate changes to the programme. We ask you to be understanding should they occur.
Participation in our festivals...
...is a very different experience from conventional group travel.
No repetitive or redundant announcements, no herding by elevated umbrella, no unnecessary roll calls, little hanging around. We work on the assumption that you are adults, and our staff cultivate the virtue of unobtrusiveness.
Though there will be up to 140 participants, you will often find yourself in smaller groups – the audience is divided between five hotels, and into different restaurants for most of the dinners.
We provide sufficient information to enable you to navigate the festival events without needing to be led. However, festival staff are also stationed around the events to direct you if needed.
Fitness for the festival
Some walking is unavoidable on this festival, between coach and venues and to get around towns and villages visited. Four out of the five hotels do not have a lift; The Swan in Bibury is the exception (and this lift only accesses the first floor).
Participants need to be sure-footed and able to manage everyday walking and stairclimbing without difficulty.
We ask that you take our fitness tests before booking.
If you have a medical condition or a disability which may affect your holiday or necessitate special arrangements being made for you, please discuss these with us before booking – or, if the condition develops or changes subsequently, as soon as possible before departure.
'There was a lovely variety of music and it was all wonderful. My first love is choral, and I was thrilled to hear the Tallis Scholars.'
'Thank you for such a great experience. Now I know why friends speak so highly of Martin Randall Travel.'
'The music was exceptional. Venues well chosen and beautiful.'
'Perfect concerts... Each one a joy.'
'Excellent. Actually, better than excellent.'