From 24 to 28 September 2025 it is the Chelsea History Festival with a wide range of activities at the National Army Museum, the Chelsea Physic Garden and the Royal Hospital Chelsea. On the opening evening, 24 September 2025, William Vann and the Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea will be giving a concert, The Great English Anthem. The evening is a chance to hear some favourite English anthems in two historic venues as the event begins in the Great Hall and moves on to the Wren Chapel.
The programme consists of music by Elgar, Gibbons, Handel, Holst, Parry, Purcell, Stanford and Vaughan Williams, along with Imogen Holst, Charles Wood, Samuel Sebastian Wesley and Janet Wheeler. It will include include Handel’s Zadok the Priest and Parry’s I was glad accompanied on the Wren Chapel’s organ (organist Mark Zang).
The Chapel Choir of the Royal Hospital Chelsea is a professional choir that sings Choral Matins in the Wren Chapel at the Royal Hospital Chelsea every Sunday at 11am and provides the music at carol services, weddings and other events at the Royal Hospital. The regular choir of 12 singers is enlarged for major concerts, such as this occasion.
The image on the flyer displayed here is part of Sebastiano Ricci’s fine painting of the Resurrection in the half dome of the apse of the Chapel.
Further details from the Chelsea Pensioners website.
