Westminster Cathedral Choir | mosel musikfestival

Program: Works by S. de Vivanco, Andrea and Giovanni Gabrieli, Thomas Tallis, Herbert Howells, Charles Wood, Francis Poulenc, and Magnus Williamson

Night at the Cathedral

At this year’s grand A Cappella concert in Germany's oldest bishop's church, we are pleased to welcome the British Westminster Cathedral Choir – one of the best choirs in the world. In this captivating setting, the boys' and men's voices will provide a breathtaking late evening with their repertoire.

Since its founding in 1901, the Westminster Cathedral Choir has held a unique position at the forefront of English church music. Sir Richard Terry, the choir's first Master of Music, laid the foundation for its outstanding reputation by reviving the great works of English and continental Renaissance composers and presenting this once-forgotten music. Innovation continued under George Malcolm, who pioneered the development of sound after a continental model. For now, this choir – both in terms of what it sang and how it sang – was truly revolutionary.

The choir continues this tradition under Simon Johnson, who was appointed Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral in 2021. He previously served for thirteen years as organist and deputy music director at St. Paul's Cathedral. Gramophone magazine describes him as a “brilliant and sensitive musician.” He has performed before Queen Elizabeth II and the Dalai Lama, collaborated with NASA and the International Space Station, and contributed to the Oscar-winning score for The Grand Budapest Hotel.

The Westminster Cathedral Choir’s latest release 2024 has been praised by Gramophone Magazine as “consistently refined, with exquisite and effortless singing” and by MusicWeb International as “as much an enrichment for spiritual elevation as a musical experience.” The choir has a long tradition of commissioning and performing new music. Notable examples include Britten's “Missa Brevis” for boys' voices, Vaughan Williams' Mass in g minor, and compositions by Wood, Holst, and Howells. In the past ten years, the choir has commissioned new masses from James MacMillan, Peter Maxwell Davies, Judith Bingham, John Tavener, Matthew Martin, and Stephen Hough, all of which have premiered in the context of regular liturgies at Westminster Cathedral. The choir regularly performs on radio and television. If its full liturgical calendar allows – still, it is the only Catholic cathedral choir in the world that sings the Mass and Vespers daily – it also takes its music far and wide. In 2025, the singers will visit the United States as well as the Italian city of Palestrina to commemorate the 500th birthday of Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

Westminster Cathedral Choir
Simon Johnson – Musical Direction