Venues:

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

Festival Director Ian Maclay said: “We’re delighted to welcome some very exciting new young artists this year alongside a number of the festival’s greatest friends. We’re grateful to them all for their imaginative ideas for programming on this year’s theme, ‘Eternal Light’. Similarly, our audiences know as well as we do what a fabulous venue St Giles Cripplegate is for making music; we look forward to being back there every evening, and also to hosting excellent lunchtime concerts in some really beautiful churches that are new to us this year.”

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.

On the choir’s behalf, Director Jenny Robinson said: “The City of London Choir is excited to be singing some of the most greatly loved choral repertoire in the opening and closing concerts here in the City this summer. Richard Blackford’s arrangement of the Verdi Requiem has had tremendous reviews; it’s thrilling that it’s now possible to perform that roof-raising piece in an intimate space like St Giles Cripplegate. And the choir is delighted to be conducted by the legendary Sir John Rutter for the first time, especially in the wonderful Fauré Requiem which is so closely identified with him.”

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’sMoonlighting, 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.

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

Photo shows the City of London Choir with their Conductor, Daniel Hyde. (Photo credit, Sim Canetti-Clarke)