Chief Executive of the Three Choirs Festival Alexis Paterson has announced she will leave the organisation following this summer’s festival in Worcester. She leaves to become the Senior Music Programme Producer with Oxford University’s Cultural Programme ahead of the opening of the new Schwarzman Centre in 2025.

Paterson joined the organisation in 2016 and has since overseen the centralisation and development of a professional team at the Festival, as well as introducing a strand of family events, open-access cathedral rehearsals, an opening celebration on the streets of the host city and a regular free stage for community performers.

Alongside this, over 100 premieres have taken place between 2016 and 2024, overseen by Paterson, along with a number of revivals including Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's forgotten Solemn Prelude. Most recently, the festival has launched the New Voices Academy, supporting early-career composers to develop their choral writing.

Chair of Three Choirs Festival Board, Naomi Belshaw said: 'I want to express my profound gratitude to Dr Alexis Paterson, our Chief Executive, for her pivotal work in professionalising and vitally modernising the Three Choirs Festival ... Alexis’s passion for classical music and unwavering commitment to excellence have been inspirational and I wish her, on behalf of the entire board, great success in her new role.'

Chief Executive Alexis Paterson said: 'It’s been a huge privilege to lead the Three Choirs Festival through such a dynamic time in its history. There are far too many people to thank individually in what is such a complex and interconnected organisation, but they include all my colleagues, the Board, Artistic Directors and collaborators at our host cathedrals, the Philharmonia, our volunteers and singers, our passionate audiences and supporters, and all the other wonderful performers, composers, agents and freelancers I’ve had the pleasure to work with. I know the festival will continue to go from strength to strength because it’s valued by so many.'

Paterson will stand down in mid-August once the festival is Worcester is over, and the Board have begun the recruitment process for a new Chief Executive. Interested applicants are invited to visit 3choirs.org/jobs and requests for an informal discussion are welcome. The closing date for applications is Monday 6 May.

3choirs.org