Musicians Benevolent Fund

Every year, the MBF co-ordinates the Festival of Saint Cecilia and Royal Concert. The Festival is held in London on the Wednesday nearest to St Cecilia's Day, the 22nd November, and the Royal Concert usually takes place one week earlier.

The Festival Service is held in the morning and rotates annually between St Paul's Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral. The music is sung by the combined choirs of the three churches and a new anthem is specially commissioned each year. This is followed by a Lunch at a location in the city.

Wednesday 19th November 2008
Festival Service: Westminster Cathedral, 11am
Preacher: Father Timothy Radcliffe OP, of Blackfriars Oxford
Commissioned anthem: ‘Voce mea’ by Tarik O'Regan

Festival Lunch: The Banqueting House, Whitehall, 12.30 for 1pm
Speaker: Sir Nicholas Kenyon, Managing Director of the Barbican Centre and former Director of the BBC Proms

Tickets for this year's Festival Service and Lunch will be available online shortly. Tickets can also be purchased by contacting the MBF Communications and Development department on 020 7299 8357 or by email to festival@mbf.org.uk. Please note we will be unable to reserve Lunch tickets without payment and tickets will not be sent out until the beginning of November.

The 2008 Royal Concert moved this year from its usual November setting and took place on Friday 4th April at Barbican Centre. This special change in the MBF's calendar enabled us to join forces with the National Youth Orchestra who were celebrating their 60th anniversary. The concert was attended by HRH The Duke of Kent.

The NYO performed Stravinsky‘s ’The Rite of Spring‘, Strauss’s ‘Four Last Songs’, with soprano Gabriele Fontana, and the concert also featured the premiere of a piece by BBC Young Musician of the Year Mark Simpson (made possible by the financial support of the MBF).