Summer Music in City Churches - 'Eternal Light'

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Kestrel Music presents its seventh annual festival, 'Summer Music in City Churches', 18 - 27 June 2025 – an eight-day celebration of music in the City of London. Choral requiem settings form the cornerstones, inspiring this year's theme 'Eternal Light'. Guest artists are drawn from the finest musicians performing internationally today, including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and City of London Choir, conductors Sir John Rutter and Daniel Hyde, and soloists including guitarists Jack Hancher and Gus McQuade, pianists Iain Farrington, Lucy Parham, Mark Bebbington and Viv McLean, and singers Eleanor Grant, Edward Grint and Rachel Nicholls. Embracing the theme of 'Eternal Light' – sunrise, moonlight and reflected light in nature, as well as the everlasting light of remembrance – live music takes place in four of the historic churches in the City of London.

Summer Music in City Churches was founded in 2018, presenting beautiful music to engage, divert and inspire, in ancient and architecturally stunning churches in London's Square Mile. Standing cheek by jowl with City offices, these churches are glorious settings in which to listen and reflect: oases of history, beauty and peace amidst the 24-7 hurly-burly of City life.

Raising the baton for the opening concert at St Giles Cripplegate is Sir John Rutter; one of this country's most respected choral composers and maestros, and this year celebrating his 80th birthday. He is joined by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) and City of London Choir (CLC), for reflective French repertoire to include Debussy's exquisite Danse Sacrée et Danse Profane for harp and strings together with Fauré's luminous Cantique de Jean Racine and his timeless and ethereal Requiem, both in the orchestration by Rutter himself. Rutter will also conduct the RPO in his own delightful Suite Antique for flute and strings. Soloists featured in this programme are soprano Hannah Dienes-Williams, baritone Edward Grint, flautist Emer McDonough and harpist Suzy Willison-Kawalec.

Closing the Festival in a blaze of glory, at St Giles, CLC also performs Verdi's Requiem complete with all its passion and drama in the arrangement by Richard Blackford for two pianos, organ and percussion. Daniel Hyde, the recently appointed conductor of CLC, directs with Iain Farrington and Libby Burgess at two pianos, Paul Greally at the organ and Tristan Fry playing percussion. Soloists are soprano Rachel Nicholls, mezzo Claire Barnett-Jones, tenor David Kim, and baritone Edward Grint.

Renowned for their pellucid sound, Corvus Consort, directed by Freddie Crowley, fill St Giles with light when they sing Requiem Mass settings by Duruflé and Morten Lauridsen (best known for his beautiful setting of O magnum mysterium), in a programme entitled Lux Aeterna. The innovative choir also include a short piece with the same title by contemporary composer Britta Byström.

Pianistic excellence forms a central part of the Festival programme and acclaimed pianists featured this year at St Giles include Mark Bebbington who joins principals of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to perform a programme of works by Poulenc, John Ireland, Manu Martin, and Schubert's delightful 'Trout' Quintet evoking bucolic sunshine.

More evergreen repertoire follows in Viv McLean's Moonlighting, following his sell-out performance in last year's festival; a programme of piano solos for a midsummer night, with works by Debussy, Fauré and Schumann alongside ever-popular crowd-pleasers: Beethoven's 'Moonlight' Sonata and Nocturnes by Chopin.

Rêverie – The Life and Loves of Claude Debussy is pianist Lucy Parham's highly acclaimed portrait of the ground-breaking impressionist composer. Taking the form of a personal journal, read by actor Henry Goodman and punctuated with lyrical piano solos, Rêverie depicts Debussy's complex intellectual and emotional world, complete with entangled love life.

Returning to St Giles by popular demand, the brass players of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra present a lustrous selection of music entitled Shining Brass, with Walton, Prokofiev, Mahler, Rachmaninov, and Wagner in regal and celebratory mode, and more reflective works by Morten Lauridsen, Bruckner, Fauré and Bach.

Lunchtime concerts are a particularly accessible attraction both for City workers and visitors. This year Tier3 Trio – Joseph Wolfe (violin), Jonathan Ayling (cello) and Daniel Grimwood (piano) - returns to St Giles, in a programme Light and Shade; eloquent works by three brilliant young composers confronting tragedy – Mozart, Lilli Boulanger and Smetana.

Festival favourites, string quartet Brother Tree Sound – Anna de Bruin (violin), Thea Spiers (violin), Triona Milne (viola) and Clare O'Connell (cello) – perform Sunrise and Sunset: Haydn's magical 'Sunrise' Quartet and Mendelssohn's ultimate work, his Sixth Quartet, written after the death of his beloved sister and shortly before his own. Hear them at St Mary Abchurch.

Breaking down musical barriers over at St James Garlickhythe (appropriately nicknamed "Christopher Wren's lantern" due to its profusion of windows), rising stars Eleanor Grant (voice and double bass) and Gus McQuade (guitar) bring a delightfully eclectic programme focusing on hope and comfort to be found around us in light. This performance coincides with the release of their debut album Seasons in Time.

Under the barrel-vaulted ceiling of St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, award-winning classical guitarist Jack Hancher performs solo works programmed around a theme of remembrance, including works by Debussy, Ravel and Antonio José. There is also the opportunity to hear excerpts from his new album The Memory Garden, named after a commission from Laura Snowden, and Dani Howard's You Don't Have To Tell Me Twice, replete with the guitar's richest tones and colours.

Concerts take place in the following churches:
St Giles-without-Cripplegate, Fore Street, Barbican EC2Y 8DA
St James Garlickhythe, Garlick Hill EC4V 2AF
St Mary Abchurch, Abchurch Yard EC4N 7BA
St Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, Bishopsgate EC2M 3TL

Please refer to the website for full details of dates, venues, times and prices. Tickets (including a festival season ticket) are on sale from the website and are half-price for students and under-30s.