The 2021 Stanford Festival Weekend was held in Gloucester between the 2 – 3 October after being postponed from 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We were delighted to have a fantastic programme, a great venue and a really good turn out of attendees.
On Saturday 2 October, our symposium was kicked off with a talk given by Professor Jeremy Dibble on Stanford, Parry and the Three Choirs Festival. This was followed by a Chamber Recital given by Professor Jeremy Dibble on the piano and Dr Colleen Ferguson (Stanford Society Trustee) on the violin.
After lunch we enjoyed talks on Ivor Gurney, given by Chairman of the Ivor Gurney Society Ian Venables, and Herbert Howells, given by Howells scholar Dr Jonathan Clinch. These were separated by a fantastic song recital given by tenor James Gilchrist with Adrian Partington, Honorary Vice President of the Stanford Society and Director of Music for Gloucester Cathedral, on the piano.
In the evening, we enjoyed a Stanford-packed evensong in Gloucester Cathedral followed by an organ recital given by Adrian Partington which included music by Stanford, Bach and Smyth. This was followed by our traditional Stanford Festival Dinner which was held in The Fountain Inn with an after-dinner talk given by Professor Jeremy Dibble on Hubert Parry’s creative process.
On Sunday 3 October, we were able to attend Eucharist and Evensong in Gloucester Cathedral accompanied by music by Stanford.
Stanford Festival 2021 Programme
