Free but ticketed

Discover the remarkable history of the Three Choirs Festival, the world’s oldest music festival, founded in Gloucester in 1715.

Here, giants such as Ralph Vaughan Williams premiered Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis in 1910 before a packed cathedral nave that included Edward Elgar, while young Ivor Gurney and Herbert Howells looked on.

From the first BBC live broadcasts in 1925 to moments of wartime uncertainty, 2026 Artistic Director Adrian Partington, archivist Simon Carpenter and Chief Executive David Francis reveal triumph, turbulence and tenacity across three centuries of Festivals in Gloucester.