After its highly successful premiere by the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in 2017, The Burning Boy now comes to The Three Choirs Festival.

With a libretto by renowned poet Charles Causley, this 'miracle play for music theatre' weaves the story of Elijah into a harvest-time tale set in a rural England rich in folklore and ritual. A chorus of young harvesters drawn from Gloucestershire are joined by solo treble and BBC Radio 2  Young Chorister of the Year 2018. With the addition of a professional adult cast from the original production, prepare to be enchanted by the immediacy and emotion of this ancient tale.

Stephen McNeff and Charles Causley in 1988 - around the time when the libretto to The Burning Boy was completed (Image: original photo by Renee Smithens)

Cast includes:

Paul Carey Jones Elisha
Tom McKenna Farmer
Katy Huntly Farmer’s Wife
Lucy Bray First Harvester
Charlotte Levesley Second Harvester 
Cassian Pichler-Roca Third Harvester
Ben Sawyer conductor

John Linell, The Harvest Cradle (Image: PD Wikimedia/Three Choirs Festival brochure)