Westminster Abbey has announced its Summer Organ Festival, which will take place from 12 July to 6 August.

This year sees an extension of previous festivals, to include Discovery Events complementing recitals. Drawing on the organ’s role in the recent coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla, the festival will have a royal theme.

There will be three main Festival concerts on Tuesday evenings at 7pm, given by concert and theatre organist Richard Hills (18 July), presenting a programme of coronation-inspired music; Abbey assistant organist Matthew Jorysz (25 July), playing works by Elgar and Holst alongside Iain Farrington’s Voices of the World, the premiere of which he gave at the coronation service in May; and Abbey sub-organist Peter Holder (1 August), performing works by Handel and Parry as well as the world premiere of Errollyn Wallen’s Variations on a Dance (commissioned by the Eric Thompson Trust). Tickets for each concert are £15 (concessions £12).

Discovery events will include special music-themed ‘Abbey Lates’ exploring the Abbey’s rich musical heritage and the role of its musicians and organ in the great State occasions which take place there. The first event will take place from 4.30pm on Wednesday 12 July, with further dates to be announced. Most activities are included in the price of Abbey Late admission (£13 adults; £6 children).

Completing the festival are three Young Artist Platform recitals on Sunday afternoons at 5pm: Efisio Aresu, from the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music (23 July); Miriam Reveley, organ scholar at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle (30 July); and Westminster Abbey’s organ scholar, Dewi Rees (6 August). Admission is free, with no tickets required.

westminster-abbey.org