Glasgow Cathedral Festival returns 17–20 September

Glasgow Cathedral Festival returns to Glasgow Cathedral, Castle Street, from Thursday 17 to Sunday 20 September 2026, opening with an 8pm performance. Booking is open; prices vary by event, while most talks are free.

The four-day programme is open to the general public and brings live music, art, silent cinema and local-history talks into Glasgow’s oldest building. Its 10th-anniversary theme, “Rooted in Discovery”, explores how inherited places can shape communities and inspire new work.

Six performances across four days

The opening commission, Echoes in Stone and Brass, is led by RSNO Principal Trombone Dávur Juul Magnussen. He will perform with the Choir of Glasgow Cathedral and brass players from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in a promenade work tracing Glasgow from the buried Molendinar Burn and its industrial past towards an imagined future.

Music, memories and silent cinema fill the cathedral

Friday begins with Lullaby—Sonic Cradle, an installation-performance by Supriya Nagarajan and Duncan Chapman. Audience lullabies, songs and family memories become part of a soundscape combining South Indian Carnatic music, electronics and environmental sound.

Later, Scottish Ensemble and singers from the National Youth Choir of Scotland present Bach and Blood. The programme places J.S. Bach’s Chaconne and Arvo Pärt’s Greater Antiphons alongside David Fennessy’s Blood, a new work combining ancient chants with strings.

Saturday’s screening of the 1923 silent film The Hunchback of Notre Dame pairs the Gothic setting with a live, improvised soundtrack. Organist Richard Hills will accompany the film on Glasgow Cathedral’s 147-year-old pipe organ.

Sunday offers two quieter closing performances. Soprano Rose Stachniewska and pianist Dylan Perez span a thousand years of musical mysticism in Eternal Song, including works by Bach, Olivier Messiaen and Josephine Foster. Swedish composer Ellen Arkbro then closes the festival with Sculptures, an immersive organ performance built from slowly changing harmonies.

Ten talks explore the building and Glasgow’s story

The anniversary programme also includes “10 Talks for 10 Years”, developed with Glasgow Life, Historic Environment Scotland, St Mungo Museum and Soul Food Sisters. The informal sessions cover conservation, local history, food, culture and community, with most free to attend.

Individual talks will be added to the programme as they are released. The series gives visitors another way to explore the cathedral’s place in Glasgow beyond the six main performances.

Booking and accessibility at Glasgow Cathedral

Booking is now open, with ticket prices varying between events. Glasgow Cathedral is at Castle Street, Glasgow G4 0QZ, and the festival is operated by the charitable, non-religious Society of Friends of Glasgow Cathedral.

Creative Scotland’s programme announcement states that all performances are accessible, with additional arrangements made wherever possible for talks and tours. Reduced-price wheelchair seating includes a free companion ticket, while BSL interpretation and a programme-reading service can be requested. Visitors should check the released programme for individual prices and new details from the “10 Talks for 10 Years” series.

Source: Creative Scotland News