Currently a full time farming estate, Childerley dates back to Tudor times and its wonderful gardens and Jacobean Chapel look set to provide a picturesque and unusual backdrop for a memorable evening.

Andrew Nethsingha director
Leon Charles organ
Alison Martin harp
Cameron Sinclair percussion

Other works include: Purcell's Hear my prayer and Jehova, quam multi sunt hostes mei, Guerrero's O sacrum convivium, Viadana's Exultate justi, Francis Grier's Three devotions to Christ our Redeemer, and Elgar's Give unto the Lord.

For devotees of excellent choral music, no trip to Cambridge would be complete without hearing one of the University's best chapel choirs. We welcome St John's College Choir to the Festival for the first time in a programme with the favourite Bernstein's Chichester Psalms as its central choral work, as well as some of the loveliest Continental and English sacred choral masterpieces.The concert also features harp solos and a duet for percussion and organ.

Oliver Brett Organ Scholar, Westminster Cathedral

Oliver was last year's organ scholar graduate of King's College. He is now at Westminster Cathedral as organ scholar and Director of Music at the Westmister Cathedral Choir School. For this first lunchtime concert of the Festival he plays works by Bach and Vierne's 3rd Symphony.

Bring picnics, (no glass bottles please) pals, family, inflatable crocodiles, rugs, brollies (we'll be there rain or shine...) Synchronised swimming and joining in with the singing positively encouraged!

  All proceeds go to Water Aid, to provide clean water and hygienic sanitation

To communities in Ghana and Malawi

Vaughan Williams
Toward the Unknown Region

Walton
Belshazzar's Feast

Hertfordshire Chorus is one of the finest large choirs in the country with a repertoire that spans traditional and contemporary works, including several new commissions. Recent performances have included concerts in the Royal Albert Hall with Daniele Gatti and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and a Christmas concert there with José Carreras broadcast on Radio 2. The Chorus performs in other major venues including the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican, the Sage in Gateshead and Durham Cathedral, as well as in Hertfordshire. It regularly tours abroad, to Sicily, Seville, Perugia, Valencia and, most recently, Krakow.

Holst and Vaughan Williams were close friends: Vaughan Williams wrote at least one major work for Holst's Whitsuntide Singers in Thaxted Church. Both will often have played the Lincoln organ in the North Transept. The Festival closes with one of the most exciting choral works ever written - Walton's dramatic masterpiece charting the downfall of King Belshazzar!

Melanie, Laura, Daisy and Charlotte are a unique vocal quartet. The four girls were selected following an extensive nationwide search of schools, choirs and music schools. Each brings a different quality to the group: in combination their fresh, artless voices and outstanding musicianship are heart-rendingly beautiful

The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge is one of the finest collegiate choirs in the world - known and loved by millions from its recordings, broadcasts and concert tours.