Events at this location

5th Sunday of Lent/Passiontide begins

Celebrant: The Reverend John Townend

5th Sunday of Lent/Passiontide begins

Celebrant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Preacher: The Reverend Robert Green

Sung by the adult members of the Abbey Choir.

Setting: Mass for three voices, Lotti
Anthems: Out of the deep, Morley
If ye love me, Tallis
Lord Jesus, think on me, Daman
Hymns: 63 & 64, 342, 275, 641

5th Sunday of Lent/Passiontide begins

Officiant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Sung by the adult members of the Abbey Choir.

Introit: Lord Jesus, think on me, Daman
Responses: Plainsong
Psalm: 12, Plainsong
Canticles: Short Dorian Service, Tallis
Anthem: O remember not, Purcell
Hymns: 92, 91

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 27 March 2023 by Simon Clarkson, Yeovil.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

Palm Sunday

Celebrant: The Reverend Hugh Bonsey

Palm Sunday

Celebrant: The Reverend John Townend

Deacon: The Reverend Christopher Huitson

Preceded by The Liturgy of the Palms Procession which starts at 9.15 am at The Green.

Palm Sunday

Officiant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Monday of Holy Week

Officiant: The Reverend Hugh Bonsey

Director of Music: James Henderson

Tuesday of Holy Week

Officiant: The Reverend Robert Green

Tuesday of Holy Week

Officiant: The Reverend Christopher Huitson

Maundy Thursday

Celebrant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Maundy Thursday

Celebrant & Preacher: The Reverend Lesley McCreadie

Deacon: The Reverend John Townend

Sub-Deacon: The Reverend Robert Green

Good Friday

Officiant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Good Friday

Officiant: The Reverend John Townend

Good Friday

Officiant: The Reverend Robert Green

Easter Eve

Celebrants: The Reverend Robert Green, The Reverend Lesley McCreadie & The Reverend Pene Kennedy

Easter Day

Celebrant: The Reverend John Townend

Easter Day

Celebrant: The Rt Reverend Stephen Lake, Bishop of Salisbury

Deacon: The Reverend John Townend

Sub-Deacon: The Reverend Christopher Huitson

Easter Day

Officiant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Easter Day

Officiant: The Reverend John Townend

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 10 April 2023 by Peter King, Concert Organist, Bath.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

2nd Sunday of Easter

Celebrant: The Reverend John Townend

2nd Sunday of Easter

Celebrant: The Reverend Robert Green

Preacher: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Please note: There is a baptism in the Abbey at 11.30 am.

2nd Sunday of Easter

Officiant: Canon Charles Mitchell-Innes

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 17April 2023 by Daniel Blaze, Organ Scholar, Clare College, Cambridge.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

3rd Sunday of Easter/St George’s Day

Celebrant: The Reverend Lesley McCreadie

3rd Sunday of Easter/St George’s Day

Celebrant: The Reverend Christopher Huitson

Preacher: The Reverend Robert Green

Please note: There is a baptism in the Abbey at 2.00 pm.

3rd Sunday of Easter/St George’s Day

Officiant: The Reverend John Townend

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 24 April 2023 by Peter Bray, Assistant Organist, Sherborne Abbey.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

Between heaven and earth

Haydn Mass in B flat, Harmoniemesse
Brahms Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny)
Schubert Symphony No. 8 (Unfinished)

Sherborne Festival Chorus
Chameleon Arts Orchestra
Conductor Paul Ellis

After a triumphant post-Covid return to singing, the Festival’s own Chorus returns with a concert journeying through the nineteenth century, from the trumpets of Haydn to the soaring melodies of Brahms via one of Schubert’s most popular works.

For ticket information, please see Sherborne Abbey Festival website:

Sherborne Festival Chorus – Between heaven and earth

A piano trio, a string quartet and a ‘Scholars’ Brass Ensemble’ are joined by talented soloists from Sherborne School in the glorious surroundings of Sherborne Abbey. This lunchtime recital is part of a weekly platform for solo performances and small ensembles drawn from all year groups that ordinarily takes place in Cheap Street Church every Friday of the school year. Perfect before or after a light lunch!

Free entry.

More information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/sherborne-school-chamber-music/

On Friday 28 April 2023 at 7.30 pm in the Abbey.

Harry Christophers (conductor)

This world famous Choir make a welcome return to the Abbey with a distinctly British programme spanning over 500 years of choral music.  16th-century composers Tallis and Byrd wrote at times of religious turmoil and national upheaval, producing magnificent works of beauty and musical mastery. Their legacy can be traced to some of Britain’s most celebrated 20th and 21st century composers, including Britten, Tippett and Sir James MacMillan, whose works complete this enlightening programme.

For ticket information, please see Sherborne Abbey Festival website:

The Sixteen – An Immortal Legacy

Get your morning off to a great start with this delightful programme from Sherborne School’s outstanding chamber choir. Close harmony arrangements of well-known classics from the shows rub shoulders with some more contemporary numbers, plus a Barbershop group, consisting almost entirely of ex-cathedral choristers, sings humorous and light-hearted songs.

Director: James Henderson

Free entry.

More information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/sherborne-school-chamber-choir-close-harmony-barbershop/

On Saturday 29 April 2023 at 7.30 pm in the Abbey.

Steven Isserlis (cello)
Ruth Rogers (soloist/leader)
Thomas Hull (conductor)

The Iuventus Chamber Orchestra will be joined by the charismatic cellist Steven Isserlis who will play the exuberant Saint Saens Cello Concerto No. 2. The concert will also feature another joyful and virtuosic piece by Saint Saens – ‘Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso’ – performed by violinist Ruth Rogers who is well known to local audiences. The orchestra will open and close the concert with marvellous works by Mendelssohn – the overture ‘Die Schone Melusine’ and the ever popular Italian Symphony. Mendelssohn described this work as the “happiest piece I have ever written.”Conducted by Thomas Hull and led by Ruth Rogers, this ensemble features some of London’s finest freelance musicians and this is a programme full of ebullient, enthusiastic music which is surely not to be missed!

For ticket information, please see Sherborne Abbey Festival website:

Steven Isserlis – Iuventus Chamber Orchestra

4th Sunday of Easter

Celebrant: The Reverend Hugh Bonsey

4th Sunday of Easter

Celebrant: The Reverend John Townend

Preacher: The Reverend Christopher Huitson

Join the weekly Eucharist in the Abbey for a liturgical performance of Palestrina’s Missa Brevis with motets by Thomas Tallis and William Byrd. For the Festival, the Abbey Choir is joined in Choral Evensong by Sherborne School Chamber Choir for a rendition of Herbert Howells’ superb canticles the St Paul’s Service and Charles Villiers Stanford’s mighty For lo, I raise up that bitter and hasty nation.

Free entry.

For more information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/festal-eucharist/

Get set for tales of smuggling, young romance, treachery and shipwreck. Gryphon School presents the world premiere of choruses and solos from Moonfleet – a new musical theatre work composed by Head of Music, Valdon Mizen, and based on J. Meade Faulkner’s classic dashing tale set on the Dorset coast, involving students from across the whole school!

Free entry.

More information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/gryphon-school-choir-and-orchestra/

4th Sunday of Easter

Officiant: The Reverend John Townend

For the Festival, the Abbey Choir is joined in Choral Evensong by Sherborne School Chamber Choir for a rendition of Herbert Howells’ superb canticles the St Paul’s Service and Charles Villiers Stanford’s mighty For lo, I raise up that bitter and hasty nation.

Free entry.

For more information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/choral-evensong/

Secreted high in the organ loft, unseen by the congregation navigating an often dazzling array of stops, keyboards and pedals, organists have been described as a kind of Wizard of Oz. Drawing an extraordinary breadth of sounds – from the most delicate to the most cavernous – and with fiendish fingerwork and chordal grandeur – an organist’s recital can leave you breathless with awe as much as the sacred space itself. Matthew Owens is much honoured, and acclaimed as a conductor and an educator as well as an organist with posts as organist/music directorships at Edinburgh, Wells and Belfast cathedrals under his belt. His recital comprises music by some of the greatest organist-composers of all time – J.S. Bach, Pachelbel, Mendelssohn and Widor, alongside pieces by the renowned Victorian organist Edmund Thomas Chipp, and Owens himself.

For more information and to buy tickets (£15.00): https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/matthew-owens-organ-recital/

On Monday 1 May 2023 at 7.30 pm in the Abbey.

Director — James Henderson
Organ — Peter Bray

The Abbey Choir performs well-known and popular choral repertoire in the building in which it has been resident for hundreds of years. The music embraces that by Handel, Wesley, Parry, and includes Zadok the Priest and I was glad in celebration of the coronation.

For ticket information, please see Sherborne Abbey Festival website:

https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/sherborne-abbey-choir-a-celebration-of-choral-favourites/

Sherborne Girls acclaimed Madrigal Society chamber choir consisting of 21 female voices, will give a varied programme of choral music from some of the world’s most renowned composers; from Bach to Lauridson.  Accompanied by organ, piano and singing a cappella please do join us for a special lunchtime to lift the spirit.

Director: Mark Cracknell

Free entry.

For more information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/sherborne-girls-madrigal-society/

On Tuesday 2 May 2023 at 7.30 pm in the Abbey.

Beethoven Symphony 7 as you’ve never heard it before! In this exciting concert, Julian Bliss and friends bring you a demanding and exciting arrangement of Beethoven’s ebullient 7th symphony for nine wind instrumentalists. The programme opens with Beethoven’s Rondino, an early piece that is not often heard but is full of trademark Beethoven character and subtly. To end the first half, the group will play Mozart’s Serenade 11.

Bliss Wind soloists is made up of some of the greatest wind players in this country. The members hold prestigious orchestral positions around the country, teaching positions as well as solo careers.

For ticket information, please see Sherborne Abbey Festival website:

Julian Bliss and Friends!

Leweston School’s senior choir and Music Scholar soloists present a programme showcasing both traditional and contemporary choral works, including Bob Chilcott, Dan Forrest and Karl Jenkins.

Director: Rachel Milestone

Free entry.

For more information: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/leweston-schola-cantorum/

John Lenehan is one of the most versatile and admired pianists on the classical scene today. He has more than 70 albums to his credit, reflecting an enormous variety of genres and styles, he has worked with some of the leading instrumentalists of our time and is a Gramophone Award-winning soloist, appearing with orchestras including the LSO, RPO and LPO. As a composer and orchestrator, too, he has worked with such recording artists as Tasmin Little, Leonidas Kavakos, Yuja Wang, Nigel Kennedy, Joseph Calleja and Nicola Benedetti. For the Festival, John Lenehan showcases the Abbey’s new Yamaha grand piano in a mouth-watering recital programme to put the new piano through its paces. Look forward to music from Bach to Schubert, and Chopin to Duke Ellington!

For more information and to buy tickets: https://www.sherborneabbeyfestival.org/portfolio/john-lenehan-piano-music-and-all-that-jazz/

The PCC AGM will be held in Sherborne Abbey at 7.00 pm after the Choral Evensong.  All are welcome to attend.

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 8 May 2023 by James Henderson, Director of Music, Sherborne Abbey.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

There is not an Organ Recital on this date.

All welcome to attend the Friends of Sherborne Abbey Evensong at 6.00 pm in Sherborne Abbey followed by the Friends AGM at 7.00 pm.

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 22 May 2023 by Stephen Binnington, Concert Organist.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

Sung by visiting choir: Danensian Choir

(For more details contact James Henderson (James.Henderson@sherborneabbey.com))

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 29 May 2023 by Mark Shepherd, Director of Music, Charterhouse.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

Mondays in The Abbey at 1.30 pm.

On Monday 5 June 2023 by Harry Stansfield, Birmingham Conservatoire.

(free entry, retiring collection, all welcome)

James Henderson, Director of Music

Sung by visiting choir: RSCM West

(For more details contact James Henderson (James.Henderson@sherborneabbey.com))

All welcome to attend the Friends’ Evensong and Reception in Sherborne Abbey from 6.00 pm.

Sung by visiting choir: Uppingham Parish Choir

(For more details contact James Henderson (James.Henderson@sherborneabbey.com))