Festival Origins

Fiori Musicali first came to Stationers' Hall, in the City of London, in 1992 to perform Purcell's Hail! Bright Cecilia on the exact tercentenary of the ode's first performance there on St Cecilia's Day 1692.

This event pointed up a rather important connection between Stationers' Hall (home of the Worshipful Company of Stationers and Newspaper Makers) and St Cecilia, patron saint of music. Before the 1670s public concerts in England were a rarity. Amongst the very first were concerts at Stationers' Hall; and by the 1680s the custom had grown of celebrating St Cecilia's Day there with publicly attended performances and banqueting.

For these occasions composers of the day wrote odes in honour of music's patron saint; and one such composer was the eminent Henry Purcell, Master of the King's Music. Fiori's serendipitous performance of Hail! Bright Cecilia in 1992 stirred an interest in these historical events.

It was then a small step to conceive the idea of reviving the link between Stationers' Hall and its Cecilian past: and within a couple of years the annual St Ceciliatide International Festival of Music was born.

Now the Festival attracts artists from across the world. Amongst those who have graced the Festival are John Lill, Jordi Savall, Geoffrey Burgon, Monica Huggett, the Lindsays, James Bowman, the Skampas and many more. Young artists have also had a platform, including conductor Daniel Harding and Marie Macleod, prize winner in the BBC Young Musician Competition.

There are daytime events to complement the evening concerts. This year Wieland Kuijken gives a master class on the viola da gamba, and the Festival continues its ancient links with St Bride's, where it is still customary to honour St Cecilia on her Feast Day through the church liturgy.

For those with more worldly proclivities there is also a wine tasting, since the modern day Festival (like its 17th-century predecessor) seeks to fête music's patron saint in the fullest manner possible - through good food, fine wine, convivial company and, most importantly, first-rate music.

"A splendid entertainment is provided, and
before it always a performance of Music by
the best voices and hands in Town . . . This
Feast is one of the genteelest in the world."
Peter Motteux 1692