Ex Cathedra Choral Concerts UK Tour

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Fri 06 Jun 2025 - Tue 17 Jun 2025

Choral music will include a world premiere by singers at Ex Cathedra as the acclaimed group embarks on its Summer season of concerts. A UK tour of Music for a Summer’s Evening includes candlelit performances in Birmingham, London, Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Hereford during June.

Along with uplifting choral music to celebrate the season with guest conductor Steven Grahl - Director of Music at Trinity College, Cambridge - there will be a world premiere live performance of Songs by Piers Connor Kennedy.

Songs was previously recorded by the Choir of Trinity College Cambridge and this will be the first time the work is performed by live voices in a concert setting. Kennedy, who is based in Suffolk, has received international acclaim for his work, and in January this year joined The King’s Singers.

Music will fill iconic venues from historic Hereford Cathedral to St Martin-in-the-Fields in London, St Mary's Church in Moseley, St Peter's Church in Wolverhampton and St Chad's Church in Shrewsbury between June 6 and 12. Full details are below.



The two-hour concerts feature madrigals, part-songs, close harmony, and readings from across the ages, all performed in atmospheric surroundings by candlelight.

There's a richly varied programme to celebrate music and nature that will use words and music from the 13th century to the present day. The set list features everything from George Gershwin and Duke Ellington to Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Orlando Gibbons, Joanna Marsh and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Music for a Summer’s Evening is performed by Ex Cathedra alongside guest conductor Grahl, who is renowned as a Chorus-Master on TV and film productions including The Crown, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.



Conductor Grahl said: “Music for a Summer’s Evening is a joyful mixture of music, with pieces by English madrigalists John Wilbye and Orlando Gibbons. The 400th anniversary of his death is marked this year.

"It's set against vibrant works by several living composers. Poets represented include Gerard Manley Hopkins, Robert Herrick, and Emily Dickinson, and the striking literary works of William Shakespeare and E.E. Cummings are a particular feature.”

The concert will include:
Benjamin Britten's Flower Songs
Cheryl Frances-Hoad's So True A Fool Is Love
Orlando Gibbons' The Silver Swan
Duke Ellington arranged by Ben Parry - It Don’t Mean A Thing
Piers Connor Kennedy - world premiere of Songs
Joanna Marsh's Now I Lay(with everywhere around)
Ralph Vaughan Williams - Three Shakespeare Songs

Ex Cathedra Music for a Summer's Evening - UK Tour dates

For tickets and more details visit The Ex Cathedra website here Tickets cost from £5 to £45

St Chad's Church, Shrewsbury
Fri 6 June, 7.30pm

St Peter's Church, Wolverhampton
Sat 7 June, 7pm

Hereford Cathedral
Wed 11 June, 7.30pm

St Martin-in-the-Fields, London
Thu 12 June, 7.30pm

St Mary's Church, Moseley in Birmingham
Tue 17 June, 7.30pm


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