THE English Choral Experience Arts Festival, now in its eighth year, takes place in Dore Abbey from July 20 to July 26, featuring a week’s choral course for experienced singers, led by directed by the renowned choral conductor, Paul Spicer, as well as evening events and a mixed media arts exhibition, to be opened this year by The Lord-Lieutenant of Herefordshire, The Countess Darnley.

The course closes with a final concert on Saturday, July 26, with events every evening during the week, starting with a recital in Dore Abbey by Jack McNeill (clarinet) and David Quigley (piano) on Modany, July 21 at 9pm. On Tuesday at 8.45pm, there will be a talk - Visions of Babylon: musical representations of the Old Testament King - by Philip Lancaster in Ewyas Harold Memorial Hall .

On Friday, July 25 at 9pm in Dore Abbey, there will be a light-hearted take-off of the incomparable Michael Flanders and Donald Swann, by Paul Spicer (alias Flanders) and Mark Opstad (alias Swann) in ‘At the Drop of yet Another Hat’.

The closing choral concert on Saturday evening at 7.30pm features works by Dyson, Vaughan Williams, Weelkes, Dering, Mundy, Armstrong Gibbs and the first performance of a piece by Tony Hemson, a distinguished local musician. The words of this anthem are from the 1634 Service of re-Consecration in Dore Abbey and its re-dedication as an English Parish Church. Entitled The Prayer of this Place, it is for six choral parts and organ.

Tickets available on the door for each event. For further information, visit englishchoralexperience.co.uk