español | français Festival of Saint Cecilia 22-10-2007 21 November. The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund’s Festival of Saint Cecilia is held each year on or near Saint Cecilia’s Day. This year it will be on Wednesday 21 November and includes a service at Westminster Abbey followed by a luncheon at the historic Banqueting House, which was the only part of the Palace of Whitehall to survive a fire in 1698. In late 17th and 18-century London the annual celebrations of St Cecilia –patron saint of music– were both an occasion to celebrate music and musicians, and an opportunity to raise money for the support of musicians who had fallen on hard times. Each year new odes to St. Cecilia were composed for the festivities by London’s leading composers, including Purcell, Blow, Handel and Boyce. It’s a sad coincidence that Purcell also died on the feast of St Cecilia (in 1695). The Musicians’ Benevolent Fund was founded in 1921, and its annual festival is also a celebration and a way of raising money to support musicians. It now helps around 1,500 people each year who are in need as a result of illness, accident or misfortune, and has an ever-expanding role in music education and helping the next generation of musicians. The present-day festivals follow in the tradition of presenting new music, with this year’s festival anthem having been commissioned from Gabriel Jackson. It will be sung by the combined choirs of Westminster Abbey, Westminster Cathedral and St Paul’s Cathedral under the direction of James O’Donnell, the Abbey’s Organist and Master of the Choristers. Other works to be performed include Great is the Lord by Elgar, celebrating the 150th Anniversary of his birth, and Purcell’s Hear my prayer, O Lord. The address will be given by The Very Reverend John Drury, Chaplain of All Souls College, Oxford and the reader will be soprano Dame Felicity Lott. Many of the City of London Livery Companies will be represented and the event will begin with a spectacular robed procession. The festival luncheon is attended by leading lights in the music profession as well as music lovers from across the country. Pre-lunch drinks will be held in the Banqueting House Undercroft, the vaulted basement designed as a drinking den for James I. The sumptuous lunch will be served in the main hall under the splendid Rubens ceiling and followed by a speech from journalist, broadcaster and writer Matthew Parris. Tickets for the luncheon are £65 (including drinks) and those for the service are free. To reserve tickets please call the MBF on 020 7299 8357, email to festival@mbf.org.uk or visit www.mbf.org.uk St Paul's Cathedral ABOUT US | CONTRIBUTE   web map - home page - cover Legal warning Copyright 2003, Goldberg. info@goldberg-magazine.com