THREE special services will be held at Salisbury Cathedral in January to celebrate the Epiphany.

On Monday, January 6 at 5.30pm the cathedral choir will sing Eucharist on the Feast of the Epiphany.

Canon Precentor, Tom Clammer will preside at the service and the preacher is the Canon Chancellor Edward Probert. Choral Evensong at 5.30pm on Friday, January 17 will be sung by candlelight by the lay vicars in the north transept. Atmospheric plainsong will be offset by a performance of Benjamin Britten’s Canticle IV The Journey of the Magi by singers Andrew Stewart, Hugh Hetherington and Alistair Watson accompanied by the international piano recitalist Nicholas Walker.

The Cathedral’s Epiphany Procession, the third and final of its popular processional services celebrating Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, takes place at 5pm on Sunday, January 19. A moving service of words and music, it commemorates the journey of the Magi travelling from the east to worship the infant Jesus, and then follows his life through to adulthood.

Mr Clammer said: “For many people Christmas ends on Boxing Day, but of course the story continues in the journey of the Three Wise Men to visit Jesus. In this special service we travel with them from the east to worship the baby Jesus, and then follow him through his early life and into manhood. Wonderful seasonal music, readings, and congregational carols lead us from Christmas into a new year.”

*The girl choristers and lay vicars, directed by David Halls and accompanied by John Challenger, sing music by Mendelssohn, Messiaen, Poulenc and Tavener, and a new anthem by Richard Shephard which receives its premiere during the BBC Radio 3 broadcast of Choral Evensong live from Salisbury Cathedral at 3.30pm on Wednesday 15 January.