“There is a spirit in St Endellion Church, on which we all feed. The place is a magnet for many of us as well as a refuge. The festival concerts are unique in blending professional and amateur yet the place seems to raise us to musical heights we find difficult to repeat anywhere else.“ 
(Richard Hickox CBE (1948-2008), St Endellion Festivals Artistic Director 1973-2008)

The St Endellion Music Festivals take place at Easter and in the Summer every year, bringing together a wide range of musicians from all over the world to perform opera, choral, orchestral, chamber and recital concerts in the inspiring and intimate atmosphere of the Collegiate Church of St Endellion, North Cornwall and surrounds. St Endellion is near Port Isaac, about a mile from the glorious North Cornwall Coast.

Each year a community forms out of the shared desire to experience music for the sheer joy of it. What makes the Festivals special is that at the heart of everything is an immense spirit of generosity. The aim is to create the best Festival possible on the smallest possible budget – therefore the musicians and singers, the stage managers and administrators, the cooks and washers-up all give their services for free. The chorus and orchestra all contribute to the cost of accommodation and the balance is raised from the box office and the Festival Friends scheme. Ticket prices are kept as low as possible and the aim is to break even, with any surplus being put towards future festivals.   Somehow the freedom from commercial constraints and from the pursuit of success enables every performer to rediscover why music is so important – it forms bonds, it connects people, it speaks as Beethoven desired “from the heart to the heart”. Rather than sharing an expensive bottle of wine in a posh restaurant, St Endellion is like finding a fresh mountain spring on a warm summer’s day and taking great gulps of the most delicious drink imaginable. More...