Herbert Sumsion host cities, along with Worcester and Hereford, of the Three Choirs Festival, an annual festival of choral emphasis first held in the early 18th century. Sumsion would later write of his musically formative experiences at the cathedral: ‘Quite soon after my entry into the choir I was singing with the [Three Choirs] Festival Chorus and gradually absorbing the choral music of the great classical composers and the contemporary writers, of whom the giant was certainly Elgar.' When Sumsion’s treble voice broke at age 15, he became an ‘articled pupil’ to Brewer, a designation connoting a three-year apprenticeship in organ, choral
Herbert Sumsion organist at Gloucester vacant only a few months before the cathedral was to host the Three Choirs Festival. Brewer had expressed a desire that Sumsion succeed him, so although Sumsion had just accepted the position of organist at Coventry cathedral, the Dean and Chapter at Gloucester negotiated his release from this commitment. Sumsion and his wife left America for England in June 1928. Despite his relatively late arrival on the scene, Sumsion's leadership of the 1928 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester impressed both music colleagues and the press. In those days the resident organist bore the burden of conducting, and