Download our Festival Programme
The Charles Wood Festival and Summer School is back with a unique mix of live and digital events in Armagh’s sacred spaces from Sunday 22nd to Sunday 29th August. The week will be packed with top-quality music, worship and performance.
The opening days of the Festival can be enjoyed via digital platforms, from song recitals to workshops and special features. Contributors include Patron John Rutter, vocal impresario Paul Farrington, and top Northern Irish performers Ruth McGinley and Carolyn Dobbin.
On Wednesday 25th the doors will open once again to live audiences with a Bach at Twilight organ recital in St. Malachy’s Church. Matthew Owens, from Belfast Cathedral, will be at the console. Stars of the future appear in the Lunchtime Concert in the First Presbyterian Church on Saturday 28th – including violinist Julie Piggott, winner of the Northern Ireland Young Musician of the Year 2021. That same evening St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral will host a large-scale programme entitled ‘Sing Unto the Lord’, sure to uplift, comfort and inspire.
Across this busy backdrop, the Charles Wood Singers will be broadcasting Choral Evensong for BBC Radio 3, performing Sung Mass in St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral, and making their first-ever professional album.
If you’d be more comfortable with an outdoor event, the Festival will be presenting a free Musical Trail on the Mall on Thursday 26th . It’s a chance to enjoy the Charles Wood Singers in one of the city’s prime locations, with costume, speech and music.
Also, being marked is the 250th anniversary of Armagh’s Robinson Library with an illustrated lecture on Charles Wood by Dr David O’Shea and leading Irish soprano Aisling Kenny.
With a mix of indoor, outdoor, in-person or digital, there’s something for everyone this August. Click below to download the 2021 brochure.
