Belshazzar’s Feast

Tuesday 30th June 7pm - Llandaff Cathedral - £18 (under 18s £8)

Soloist: David Walder

Opening the Llandaff Cathedral Festival, this concert celebrates the Welsh choral tradition with William Mathias’s jubilant Let the People Praise Thee, the world premieres of Hiraeth by Heneghan and Chorale for the Valleys by Heneghan and Veitch, and the Welsh premiere of David Briggs’s organ-led arrangement of William Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast.  

Mathias’s anthem was commissioned as the Principality's main musical contribution to the wedding of (then) Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul’s Cathedral in 1981. Ebullient and powerfully individual, Mathias demonstrates an instinctive rhythmic vitality and flair along with a tender central passage over a gently rocking accompaniment.

The composers Ben Heneghan and Iain James Veitch have a long history of collaboration, dating back to their post-graduate studies with Alun Hoddinott at Cardiff University. Since then they have written extensively for choirs and orchestras, with performances throughout the UK and further afield, as well as many recordings and commissions. Hiraeth is a three-movement work for choir, baritone solo and duet piano, specially written for the opening of the 2026 Llandaff Cathedral Festival. The movements reflect on the texts, written by Heneghan, drawing on a rich historical vein of Welsh poetry and song about Hiraeth, or longing for home. Chorale for the Valleys is inspired by the story of the South Wales coalfields.

Walton's epic setting of Belshazzar's Feast was commissioned by the BBC, when they asked him to set Sitwell's text for a small choir, soloist, and an orchestra not exceeding fifteen players. These restrictions did not stick. Indeed, the conductor of the premiere, Sir Thomas Beecham said to Walton, "Well, my boy, as you will probably never hear this work again, you might as well chuck in a couple of brass bands".
Sir Thomas, as it turned out, could not have been more wrong. A London premiere (with Sir Adrian Boult) soon followed, and Karajan who performed it in Vienna in 1948 described it as  "the best choral music that's been written in the last 50 years".
In respect of  the size and possibly the structural integrity of Llandaff Cathedral, the choir will present the Welsh premiere of a version commissioned by renowned choral conductor Suzi Digby OBE from internationally-acclaimed organist, David Briggs. The work has been realised for organ and percussion. The organist for this performance is Llandaff's own Philip Aspden FRCO and the baritone soloist, David Walder. This promises to be a night to remember!

Founded over 80 years ago, the Llandaff Cathedral Choral Society is one of the oldest choirs and the only Cathedral-based choral society in Wales. The Society performs in the glorious setting of the Cathedral on four occasions each year and is pleased to enjoy a special relationship with one of our most historic religious buildings. Over the years and under a succession of outstanding conductors, the choir has performed virtually all of the great choral works. It has also commissioned and performed new works by Wales’ leading composers and has a thriving membership.