The 2026 Elgar Festival has announced its program, running May 23–31 across Worcester, Malvern, and surrounding Worcestershire venues. Here are the vocal performances on offer.

The Jenny Lind Singers, directed by Lynne Lindner, perform a program of works by women composers including Imogen Holst, Cecilia McDowall, Joanna Forbes L’Estrange, Elizabeth Poston, Sarah Quartel, and others, alongside Liz Dilnot Johnson’s “Nimrod Reimagined.”

Performance Date: May 24, 2026

Soprano April Fredrick and pianist Eric McElroy present “This Fragile Beauty,” a recital of songs and poems by Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, John Ireland, Arthur Bliss, Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Elgar, with violinist Grace Shepherd and narrator Joseph Campbell Powell.

Performance Date: May 26, 2026

I Fagiolini, directed by Robert Hollingworth, performs its 40th Anniversary Tour program spanning works by Victoria, Monteverdi, Wilbye, Weelkes, Elgar, Thea Musgrave, and Joanna Marsh. The ensemble features sopranos Anna Crookes and Rebecca Lea, altos Martha McLorinan and Tania Murphy, tenors Matthew Long and Jacob Ewens, and basses Sam Gilliatt and Frederick Long, with Anna Markland at the piano.

Performance Date: May 26, 2026

The English Symphony Orchestra and ESO Chorus, conducted by Kenneth Woods, perform Holst’s “The Planets” alongside Bax’s “Tintagel” and Elgar’s “Falstaff” in a program titled “Reaching for the Stars.”

Performance Date: May 29, 2026

The Elgar Chorale, directed by Piers Maxim, presents a program of works by Coleridge-Taylor, Thea Musgrave, and Elgar.

Performance Date: May 30, 2026

The Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir, directed by Stephen Shellard, performs “Festival Evensong” featuring responses by David Briggs, canticles by Paviour in G, and Stainer’s anthem I Saw the Lord.

Performance Date: May 30, 2026

The English Symphony Orchestra and Elgar Festival Chorus, conducted by Kenneth Woods with chorus director Stephen Shellard, perform the “ESO Gala Concert” featuring Thea Musgrave’s “The Seasons” and Elgar’s “The Black Knight” alongside the Elgar Cello Concerto arranged by Lionel Tertis and performed by violist Rosalind Ventris.

Performance Date: May 30, 2026

The Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir, directed by Stephen Shellard, performs a second “Festival Evensong” featuring responses by David Briggs, Dyson in D canticles, and Elgar anthems Great is the Lord and They are at Rest.

Performance Date: May 31, 2026