Buckfast Abbey has announced an exciting new line-up of concerts and organ recitals for 2022.

Recognised as a centre of culture and the arts in the South West of England, the Abbey Church is known for its popular series of annual concerts and recitals, which hosts choirs and performers from the local area and further afield.  

Highlights of the 2022 series include a performance of the Mozart Requiem by the abbey’s own choir and orchestra on Saturday May 21 and a splendid evening of choral music spanning Byrd to Chilcott on the July 23, performed by the boy choristers and lay vicars of Truro Cathedral.

Following the success of their sold-out concert in the 2018 Festival of Sacred Music, the world-renowned choir of Westminster Cathedral returns to Buckfast on Saturday April 23, to give a recital of music for Eastertide.

With its dramatic Lantern ceiling, various art treasures and renowned Ruffatti organ situated at the very heart of the building, which is only one of its type in the UK, the Abbey Church is known as both a place of worship and a centre of musical excellence.

This year, alongside the abbey’s own musicians, the organ will be put through its paces by two distinguished visiting recitalists: Simon Johnson (formally of St Paul’s Cathedral and the newly appointed master of music at Westminster Cathedral) on Saturday September 17, and Olivier Houette, professor at the Paris Conservatoire, whose recital on the July 16b concludes with Widor’s famous Toccata.

Philip Arkwright, the abbey’s organist and master of music, said: “Amidst an increasingly busy and complicated world, we believe the Abbey provides a haven of tranquillity to replenish the soul, as well as the opportunity to be uplifted by sacred music of the utmost quality. 

“With everything from hauntingly beautiful and ancient Gregorian chants, sung by the Monastic Community, to sonorous, polyphonic music of the sixteenth-century sung by the Abbey Choir, which includes many semi-professional singers, there really is something for everyone.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled to be launching our exciting 2022 series.

“We look forward to welcoming our local community choirs, some of the world’s finest organists, singers and audiences back to the abbey this year.” 

For more information visit www.buckfast.org.uk