Five-year plan for Baroque Festival
SLIGO Baroque Festival committee have this week launched a strategic plan for the next five years.
The festival is a distinctive fixture in Sligo’s musical scene and has been running every year since 1995 without a break. Even last year’s Covid restrictions did not prevent it taking place as usual in the last weekend of September, though with modifications appropriate for the times.
The strategic plan for 2021-25 was funded by a grant from the Arts Council and sets out the festival’s goals and how it intends to achieve them.
Festival director Nicola Cleary said: “The plan outlines our ambitions for the next five years and marks an exciting new chapter in the festival’s growth, while maintaining the founding vision of an inclusive, welcoming festival with performances of the highest quality and the nurturing of young musicians at its heart.” She said the plan is focused on the core areas of artists, learners, audiences and organisation. “We will continue to bring the finest exponents of Baroque music to Sligo from Ireland and abroad, and will develop partnerships with other arts organisations in Sligo and the region to stage innovative cross-genre productions.
“We intend to expand the range of the festival by presenting full-scale opera and choral works, and commissioning new pieces inspired by Baroque style from Irish composers.”
She said the festival has always had a strong interest in developing the coming generation of musicians and will invest in this even more, for example by sponsoring an annual prize for a young singer at the Sligo Feis Ceoil which will also give the winner the opportunity to perform at the festival. “Bringing Baroque music to people who are new to it is a major ambition of the plan. Last year’s free open-air concert at the City Hall was a great success and we will feature open-access public events as part of the festival every year,” she said.
Plans are well advanced for this year’s festival on September 24 to 26, with a full programme including the lutenist Jonas Norberg playing Dowland, the choral group Sestina singing a Bach Mass and motets, the Sligo Baroque Orchestra and many more.
The planned highlight is the complete set of Bach’s wonderful Brandenburg Concertos, in the first ever performance in Ireland of the full set in one day. It’s a huge undertaking, with 19 musicians needed to play the six pieces, and the festival are fundraising at present to raise the extra funds needed to make this possible. Nicola Cleary said that the preparation of the plan has been of enormous benefit in defining her vision of the character and role of the festival.
“It has always been and will remain a festival in and of Sligo, but with a global perspective, and developing in range and ambition. And the plan begins this year,” she said.
The full details of the plan are available on the festival website: www.sligobaroquefestival.com/news.
Funds for the Brandenburg Concertos are being raised at https://fundit.ie/project/brandenburg-concertos-concertbroadcast/.