Other great festivals
Cambridge Festival of the Voice 9-11 May From Renaissance Florence via the Spanish Golden Age to the Italian madrigal, this mini-fest is small but exquisitely formed. Tel: +44 (0)1223 357851
Web: www.cambridgeearlymusic.org
Bury St Edmunds 17-26 May
Bury’s handsome architecture resounds to an eclectic line-up including Chineke!, Nigel Kennedy and The Tallis Scholars.
Tel: + 44 (0)1284 758000
Web: www.buryfestival.co.uk
Harwich Festival 20-30 June
The visual arts are a Harwich speciality, but feeding attentive ears will be pianist Noriko Ogawa and the Piatti Quartet.
Tel: +44 (0)7425 145022
Web: www.harwichfestival.co.uk Cambridge Summer Music Festival
13-27 July
Bach blossoms in the Fens, what with the complete Brandenburgs from Florilegium, harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani’s Goldbergs and, on opening night, the St John Passion. Tel: + 44 (0)1223 357851
Web: www.cambridgesummermusic.com Holt Festival 21-27 July
In the Norfolk town where he was schooled, the Britten Oboe Quartet performs its namesake composer’s music alongside that of Knussen and Berkeley.
Tel: +44 (0)1603 598699
Web: www.holtfestival.org
Snape Proms 1-31 August
Snape Maltings kicks its heels in a Promsfest where, from tenor Ian Bostridge to country duo The Shires, anything goes. Tel: + 44 (0) 1728 687110
Web: www.snapemaltings.co.uk
Suffolk Villages Festival 23-26 August Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’ulisse launches Peter Holman’s adventurous early music festival that colonises the wool churches of John Constable country.
Tel: +44 (0)1206 366603
Web: www.suffolkvillagesfestival.com