Fund Events

The Festival of Saint Cecilia has been held each year since 1946. It is a celebration of the Patron Saint of Music and Musicians.

Festival of Saint Cecilia 2010 - Wednesday 24 November

This year's Festival Service will be held at Westminster Abbey at 11am. The anthem will be by the outstanding composer Jonathan Dove.

The Festival Lunch will be held at Banqueting House from 12.30pm and will feature Sir Michael Parkinson as the speaker. Television broadcaster and journalist, Sir Michael presented his interview programme, Parkinson, from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007. In June of 2000, Michael was delighted and proud to be included in the Queen's Birthday Honours List and was awarded a CBE. He was knighted in June 2008 and was also installed as the first Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University in November.  His love of music is apparent on his 2008 album Sir Michael Parkinson - My Life In Music, a two disc compilation album of his favourite songs.

We are delighted that Sir Michael will be joining us at this year's festival as our guest speaker.

Tickets will be on sale from Tuesday 1 June and will be available by calling the Communications and Fundraising Team on 020 7239 9114. Tickets will also be available online shortly.

Tickets for Service are free and tickets for the Lunch are £90 or £85 for Friends of the Musicians Benevolent Fund. If you would like to become a Friend of the Musicians Benevolent Fund please visit the Friends area of our website.

To be added to the Festival mailing list please email festival@helpmusicians.org.uk

We look forward to seeing you there.

About the Festival of Saint Cecilia

The Festival is held in London on the Wednesday nearest to St Cecilia's Day, 22nd November.

The Festival Service is held in the morning and rotates between St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. The music is sung by the combined choirs of the three churches, the only time in the year when they sing together. A new anthem is specially commissioned each year. Previous anthem composers have included John Tavener, Roxanna Panufnik, John Rutter, Tarik O'Regan and Cecilia McDowall to name but a few.

The Service is followed by Lunch at a historic location close to the Cathedral where a speech is given by a leading figure in the arts. Previous speakers have included Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, Tony Hall (Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House), Sir David Willcocks and Sir Nicholas Kenyon (Managing Director of the Barbican Centre and former Director of the BBC Proms).