“A beautiful celebration of Eucharist and sacred music, as the Charles Wood Singers return to St. Patrick’s”
St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh, was delighted to welcome the Charles Wood Singers for the celebration of Sung Mass on Sunday 23 August, as part of the 2026 Charles Wood Festival and Summer School.
Directed by David Hill and accompanied by Philip Scriven, the Charles Wood Singers brought some of the great tradition of sacred choral music into the celebration of the Eucharist. The music for the Mass included Charles Wood’s Hail, Gladdening Light, together with Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Ave Verum Corpus.
The celebration formed part of a particularly significant year for the Charles Wood Festival, marking one hundred years since the death of the Armagh-born composer, Charles Wood, in 1926.
Born in Armagh in 1866, Charles Wood began his musical life as a chorister and teenage organist in the city before going on to study at the Royal College of Music and Cambridge University. He later became Professor of Music at Cambridge and exerted a considerable influence upon generations of composers and church musicians.
His music remains deeply associated with the sacred choral tradition. The Festival which bears his name has grown from its beginnings in Armagh into an annual gathering of singers, organists, composers, conductors and audiences from Ireland, Britain and further afield.
At the heart of the Festival, however, remains the relationship between sacred music and the worship for which so much of it was composed. The celebration of Sung Mass at St Patrick’s Cathedral offered an opportunity not simply to hear this music performed, but to experience it within the prayer of the Church.
The Charles Wood Festival has developed a longstanding relationship with the churches and cathedrals of Armagh, with events taking place throughout the city each August. That relationship has particular resonance during this centenary year as Armagh remembers one of its most distinguished musical sons while also celebrating the living tradition which he helped to shape.
We extend our thanks to the Charles Wood Singers, David Hill, Philip Scriven, the organisers of the Charles Wood Festival and Summer School, and all who joined us in St Patrick’s Cathedral for the celebration of Mass.
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