Events · Salisbury
Salisbury's Celebrate Voice festival set for record-breaking year
By Swindon Now Editorial Team · Published
The 13th annual Celebrate Voice festival in Salisbury is seeing record ticket sales ahead of its October run, featuring a diverse programme of opera, jazz, and community performances.
Salisbury is preparing for a record-breaking cultural season as the 13th annual Celebrate Voice festival reports unprecedented demand for tickets. Organisers have confirmed that sales for the 11-day event, which runs from 21 October to 31 October, are outpacing all previous years.
The festival aims to bring international talent to the city's historic venues while fostering local community spirit. This year's programme is extensive, covering genres from choral and operatic performances to jazz, folk, and theatre. Founder and artistic director Lynsey Docherty noted that while the festival regularly sees sell-out crowds, the current pace of bookings is the fastest in its history.
Programme highlights
The event opens on 21 October at St Thomas’s Church with a performance by The Sixteen, titled An Immortal Legacy, featuring over 500 years of British choral music. Other major acts include the viral folk group The Wellermen and celebrated bass-baritone Sir Willard White, who will appear alongside the Brodsky Quartet.
A centrepiece of the schedule is a reimagined production of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld . The production casts the opera as a 1970s sitcom, continuing the festival's tradition of presenting classical works in an intimate, accessible style. Theatre enthusiasts can also look forward to Alaa Shehada’s award-winning The Horse of Jenin , and the musical comedy show FLOP! – Best Songs from the Worst Musicals .
Community and youth engagement
The festival maintains a strong local focus through its Emerging Voices platform, which offers aspiring singers aged 12 to 20 from across Wiltshire the chance to perform in a professional setting. Younger audiences are also catered for with Simon Panrucker’s Ridiculous Songs for Kids .
Events will be hosted across several city landmarks, including Salisbury Medieval Hall, Salisbury Arts Centre, Salisbury Methodist Church, and St Thomas’s Church. The festival concludes with a jazz performance by Norma Winstone and Nikki Iles at the Medieval Hall.
Since its inception in 2013, the festival has relied on the support of more than 50 volunteers to help manage its operations. Residents interested in attending are encouraged to check the full schedule and secure tickets via the official website at celebratevoice.co.uk.
Source: Salisbury Journal — Salisbury · View original