Leith Hill Music Festival

An annual celebration of music

Each year in April, the town of Dorking plays host to the prestigious Leith Hill Music Festival for local choral societies. This was founded in 1905 by Margaret Vaughan Williams, sister of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Lady (Evangeline) Farrer, wife of Lord Farrer of Abinger Hall. Ralph Vaughan Williams was the Festival Conductor from 1905 to 1953. The present Festival Conductor is Jonathan Willcocks.

It is a competitive festival lasting two days, each day with a different group of choirs competing against each other. In the evening the choirs then come together to give a joint concert of a major work with full orchestra and soloists.

Following the tradition established by Vaughan Williams, the St. Matthew Passion or the St. John Passion of J. S. Bach are also frequently performed by the combined choral societies.

For more information on the Leith Hill Music Festival visit their website – www.lhmf.org.uk

Photo by Bogdan Schiteanu