Forming strong partnerships and creating historic performances

As the leading festival for choral music, the Three Choirs Festival has always been committed to the future of choral music and has enjoyed enduring relationships with some of the UK’s most celebrated composers for over 300 years.

The aim of the Associate Composer Programme is for the Three Choirs Festival to once again support – and be synonymous with – a cohort of British composers who not only receive commissions and performances of their work but who come to know and love the Festival, are advocates for choral music, and become part of the Three Choirs Festival community.

As the Programme develops, we’ll establish a cohort of composers whose exciting voices in choral composition will be heard at the Festival. Our Associate Composers will be part of our community and will keep in touch with us throughout the year, meaning that we can all feel connected and share in their success beyond the Festival itself.

The Programme at a Glance:

• A Growing Cohort: A new composer is appointed annually, building to a residency of three composers working alongside one another.
• Creative Immersion: Over three years, Associate Composers contribute to the Festival’s artistic life and connect personally with our audiences.
• Major Commissions: Each residency culminates in a landmark choral-orchestral premiere.

We would like to thank the LG Harris Trust and an anonymous donor for supporting the Associate Composer programme

Gavin Higgins - 2026–28

Gavin Higgins is one of the UK’s most exciting compositional voices. Renowned for his "boldly imaginative" style, he has received two Ivor Novello Awards and an RPS Award. Gavin’s prestigious career includes four BBC Proms commissions and a residency with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Grace-Evangeline Mason - 2027–29

Named as the 'Face to Watch' for Classical Music in The Times 2020 Calendar of the Arts, Grace-Evangeline Mason is a British composer of orchestral, chamber, choral, electronic and operatic music, described as a ‘supreme painter in sound’ [Seen and Heard International].