The St Birinus Festival brings together outstanding musicians, scholars, and communities for a celebration of sacred music in the beautiful setting of Dorchester-on-Thames.
Over four days, experience concerts, liturgies, workshops, and talks that explore the rich heritage of Catholic musical tradition.
Please note the Festival Events take place across multiple sites – Dorchester-on-Thames Village hall, The Catholic Church of St Birinus Dorchester on Thames, & Dorchester Abbey. Please note that the services that form part of the festival are Catholic Celebrations.
For full details of this wonderful programme and for tickets visit www.thedaveyconsort.co.uk/#festival-schedule Or click on the ticket link above .
Ticket prices From free events to £35.00 depending on which event it is within the Festival’s programme.
| A Message from the Artistic Director – |
Welcome to the 4th annual St Birinus Festival. I warmly invite you to come and explore our busy schedule of wonderful events over these four days.
You might ask: Why St Birinus? And why a sacred music Festival here? Many will be discovering for the first time the historical significance of Dorchester-on-Thames as the place where a monk, St Birinus, sent from Rome in the early 7th century, baptised the king of Wessex and brought about the formal transition of England to Christianity.
But it was’t just Christianity that Birinus brought to England; it was also music. With fellow Benedictine monks, our own Saint Birinus brought the liturgy and the Gregorian chant that accompanies it. Thus, Dorchester-on-Thames found itself at the centre of a cultural and musical phenomenon.
The enormous and beautiful medieval abbey that stands there today, a great shrine and place of pilgrimage to those seeking the intercession of the saint that brought about England’s faith, will host the majority of the festival events. Those who love early music and early history will be drawn to hear these ancient walls once more echo to the sounds of Gregorian Chant (some of which has been painstakingly revived from the Winchester Troper for this event), as well as polyphonic music from the treasures of the Iberian Renaissance. All of this music will be sung within the context of the ancient Latin liturgical rites that St Birinus would have known.
Alongside the liturgies that form the daily pulse of the Festival, there are lectures, talks, workshops, children’s activities, recitals and concerts. The great Festival concert will be a performance of the Monteverdi Vespers in the abbey, directed by Simon Over
(of Sinfonia Smith Square) and accompanied by the period instruments of the
Guerrero Baroque Collective.
We are lucky to have enough to have among our patrons the great English composers of our day such as Ryan Wigglesworth, who will be directing many of the Festival services, Sir Stephen Hough and Sir James MacMillan. It is a huge honour for me to organise these events and to see the impact on all participants, young and old alike, for this extraordinary ancient music never ceases to amaze and inspire.
Have a wonderful festival!
Dominic Bevan
Artistic Director
The Saint Birinus Festival 2026
