A Moment of Stillness from the Heart of the City

Each year, we partner with St. John’s Smith Square to present our annual Holy Week Festival. Showcasing some of the world’s finest ensembles, this week-long programme celebrates the vast range of music composed for Lent and Easter. Following the cancellation of our 2020 festival due to the pandemic, this year we’re taking a specially designed collection of unique performances and atmospheric liturgical events online, free for everyone to enjoy, and also available on demand for 30 days.

The 2021 Festival  – recorded live at St John’s Smith Square:

Sun 28 Mar – Tenebrae: Palm Sunday Sequence ‘Into The Hands of Sinners’
Mon 29 Mar – Lana Trotovsek (violin) & Associate Artists: J. S. Bach Partita No. 2 in D Minor
Tue 30 Mar – Revolutionary Drawing Room: Haydn Seven Last Words from the Cross
Wed 31 Mar – Tenebrae: Spy Wednesday liturgical event
Thu 1 Apr – Tenebrae: Maundy Thursday liturgical event
Fri 2 Apr – Tenebrae: Good Friday liturgical event
Sat 3 Apr – Amici Voices: Bach St. Matthew Passion
Sun 4 April – Bojan Čičić (violin) & Steven Devine (organ): Biber Rosary Sonatas
Mon 5 April – London Handel Festival: Messiah Reimagined

The festival’s ethos, a ‘moment of stillness’, has never been so important. Born from Tenebrae’s director Nigel Short’s past experience as a musician at Easter dashing across London from services to concerts, it now takes on a different meaning. This year, Holy Week Festival provides all of us with the opportunity to reflect, from our enforced stillness, and enjoy a range of outstanding performances. We are working hard to ensure the Holy Week Festival can survive and reach even more people by making the performances available free of charge, for everyone to enjoy all over the world. We are committed to supporting and providing key performance opportunities for our musicians, all of whom have had their income decimated over the last 12 months, with nearly all of their work cancelled.

We need your help to raise £12,000, supporting the festival’s world-class musicians and covering the costs of recording and presenting them online. With no box office income this year, your support is vital if we are to make this year’s programme a reality and secure the festival’s future. In place of buying a ticket for the festival this year, please support our Crowdfunding campaign.

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