Festivals guide 2021
After a year of cancellations, Paul Riley reveals muchanticipated details of a thrilling musical summer ahead
Welcome!
It’s with a huge amount of pleasure that we welcome you to this year’s summer festival guide! The past year has been one of cancellations and heartbreak as grand, imaginative plans had to be dismantled while quick-thinking artistic directors dreamt up entirely re-imagined o erings in their new world of concert streaming.
This summer, many festivals have still been unable to o er their usual full programmes, if at all, but the future looks increasingly promising. Over the following 30 pages, we explore the events that are celebrating our new freedoms with exciting, innovative concerts against beautiful backdrops from country houses, churches and castles to purposebuilt opera houses and concert halls. Do let us know about your experiences of this very special summer of music. Oliver Condy editor
United Kingdom Brighton Festival
Brighton, 1-31 May Tel: +44 (0)1273 709709 Web: www.brightonfestival.org
After last year’s cancelled festival, Brighton re-invites poet and playwright Lemn Sissay to curate a month-long celebration mustering over 90 events, live and digital. Brighton Dome resounds to Monteverdi’s Vespers with an added sensuously secular twist in La Nuova Musica’s adaptation. Light sculptures and Brighton Festival Chorus cohabit in Stanmer Woods at twilight; baritone Roderick Williams leads an innovative approach to Schubert’s Schwanengesang; and pianist Paul Lewis prefaces a stroll around Musorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition with Mozart and Scriabin.
Bath Festival
Bath, 17-24 May Tel: +44 (0)1225 463362 Web: www.bathfestivals.org.uk
Shared between the Heath and Carducci string quartets, it will be third time lucky for Bath’s twice-postponed Beethoven quartet cycle. Also hoping for lift-off this May is a new incarnation of the long-discontinued Bath Festival Orchestra – originally the brainchild of Yehudi Menuhin back in 1959. It makes its debut in the newly restored Abbey, accompanying soprano Rowan Pierce in a selection of songs by Richard Strauss framed by Weber and Brahms. And in the nearby Roman Baths, the Gesualdo Six vocal ensemble offers a watery sequence flowing through nine centuries. Norfolk and Norwich Festival Norwich and surrounding area, 17-30 May Tel: +44 (0)1603 531800 Web: www.nnfestival.org.uk
This year, Britten Sinfonia’s ‘Surround Sound’ invades Norwich Cathedral where, inspired by TS Eliot, the I Fagiolini choir is ‘Rewilding the Waste Land’. Harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani teams up with Manchester Collective for Bach, Górecki and the premiere of
Laurence Osborn’s Coin Op Automata. Plus, the Elias String Quartet reaches Schumann by way of Haydn and Purcell.
Perth Arts Festival
Perth, 20-29 May
Web: www.perthfestival.co.uk
Aside from a Drive-in Cinema weekend at Scone Castle, Perth is heading online once more. Complementing a cross-genre ‘Scotland Trending’ series showcasing emerging talent, an eight-concert ‘as live’ classical strand opens with the Scottish Ensemble at the restored Inchyra Barn. Pianist Isata Kanneh-mason braves Barber’s Sonata alongside Chopin, Mozart and Gershwin; meanwhile, vocal music comes in solo (soprano Ilona Domnich), consort (The Gesualdo Six) and choral (The Sixteen) instalments.
London Festival of Baroque Music
St John’s Smith Square etc, 21-23 May Tel: +44 (0)20 7222 1061 Web: www.lfbm.org.uk
‘Grounds for Optimism’ is the title this year. Wrapped around short online programmes by harpsichordist Stephen Devine and violinist Bojan i i , three concerts (also streamed) explore late 17th-century English music. Viol music performed by Newe Vialles paves the way to Tenebrae singing verse anthems by Boyce, Purcell and his contemporaries.
English Music Festival
Horsham, 28-31 May Tel: +44 (0)7808 639424 Web: www.englishmusicfestival.org.uk
Horsham beckons as the festival renews its pact with the byways (and some highways) of English music. Vaughan Williams’s Concerto Accademico provides the centrepiece for Orchestra of the Swan’s opening concert, and by way of finale Ensemble Hesperi offers a Baroque perspective that ventures north of the border. In between, the New Foxtrot Serenaders propose a little light relief and, a Purcell digression aside, the Armonico Consort devotes itself exclusively to Handel.
Opera Holland Park
London, 1 June – 7 August Tel: +44 (0)300 999 1000 Web: www.operahollandpark.com
With its canopied theatre reconfigured for social distancing, Opera Holland Park plunges enthusiastically into a full summer season bookended by two contrasted comedies: Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by George Jackson and Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. This year’s verismo rarity is Mascagni’s marital comedy L’amico Fritz which counterpoints Verdi’s tragic La traviata. Injecting a little feral Bohemian rhapsody is Janá ek’s The Cunning Little Vixen, directed by Stephen Barlow and conducted by Jessica Cottis.
Festival of Chichester
Chichester, 12 June – 11 July Tel: +44 (0)1243 816525 Web: www.festivalofchichester.co.uk
Heir to the Chichester Festivities, this festival has become a much-loved, month-long Sussex summer staple. All genres, from rock to world music, feature in its musically capacious big tent, and classical highlights include celebratory Bach from the Bach Players, South Korean pianist Young-choon Park
in Chichester Cathedral, and Beethoven and Brahms from the Castalian Quartet with pianist Daniel Lebhardt.
Summer Music in City Churches
London, 17-26 June Web: summermusiccitychurches.com
A newbie to the London festival scene
(it was founded in 2018), the Summer Music series confines itself to just two venues this summer: St Giles Cripplegate – where Milton was buried and Oliver Cromwell married – and majestic St Bartholomew-the-great. The London Mozart Players open with British music for strings; pianist Lucy Parham’s I,
Clara enlists actress Juliet Stevenson for a portrait of Schumann’s celebrated composer-pianist wife; and pianist
Mark Bebbington joins wind players from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra for playful Poulenc.
St Magnus Festival
Orkney, 18-23 June
Tel: +44 (0)1856 871445
Web: www.stmagnusfestival.com
2021 would have witnessed the 100th birthday of Orkney’s most celebrated literary son, and St Magnus pays fulsome tribute to the late George Mackay Brown in words and music. Much of it is free or pay-to-view on the festival’s website, which reinvents itself as a virtual arts centre. Concerts filmed in St Magnus Cathedral include music by the poet’s great friend (and adopted Orcadian) Peter Maxwell Davies, and the Hebrides Ensemble premieres a new work by Tara Creme. There’s also new music by Sally Beamish and, conditions permitting, a series of live outdoor events feature the first performances of works by Karen Tweed and Lynda Nicholson.
Stour Music
Near Ashford, Kent, 18-27 June Tel: +44 (0)333 666 3366 Web: www.stourmusic.org.uk
Founded by countertenor Alfred Deller and continued by his son Mark, Stour has been a family concern – until now! Conductor Robert Hollingworth assumed the helm last year and his vocal consort I Fagiolini inaugurates the first ‘live’ edition with a nod to the natural world. The Florilegium period ensemble celebrates its 30th birthday in the company of Haydn, and the London Handel Players take a walk on the wild side inspired by the notion of the savage. Each concert is performed twice: once to ‘early Byrds’ at 6pm with a repeat at 8pm for ‘night (H)owells’. Really seasoned night owls, meanwhile, can enjoy four late-nighters ranging from a Cubanbaroque fusion to violinist Rachel Podger’s Bach.
Thaxted Festival
Thaxted, Essex, 24 June – 4 July Tel: +44 (0)1371 831421 Web: www.thaxtedfestival.co.uk
Taking up residence in the town’s medieval parish church, the festival opens with Bach, as the Heath Quartet limbers up for Beethoven’s last string quartet with excerpts from JS’S Art of Fugue. And there’s more music for strings as it draws to a close in the company of the Covent Garden Soloists (who reel in pianist Christopher Weston for Schubert’s Trout Quintet). Kodály crowns a recital by cellist Laura van der Heijden; a new piece by Ben Palmer prefaces Walton’s Façade; and, heading up the London Mozart Players, pianist Howard Shelley directs chamber arrangements of Haydn’s Symphony No. 102 and Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
Proms at St Jude’s
Hampstead, 26 June – 4 July Tel: +44 (0)20 3322 8123 Web: www.promsatstjudes.org.uk
Baritone Roderick Williams is making for ‘The Great Outdoors’ in a programme of English song that takes place midway through Hampstead Garden Suburbs’ answer to South Kensington. A famous Lutyens church, St Jude’s boasts a particularly varied line-up this year, what with a family-friendly Roald
Dahl Musical Extravaganza from the Magnard Ensemble and a Voces8 liaison with Finchley Children’s Music Group. Pianist Leon Mccawley follows Haydn and Grieg with Schumann’s Davidsbündlertänze, while the ‘Last Night’ jollities fall to Fantasia Orchestra with violinist Thomas Gould.
East Neuk Festival
Fife, 1-4 July
Tel: +44 (0)33 022 11 093
Web: www.eastneukfestival.com
No one could accuse East Neuk of failing to respond creatively to the challenges of putting on a festival right now. In-person, online and recorded, it also takes to the
road, with a ‘Band in a Van’ dispensing pop-up performances. But as ever, the ace up East Neuk’s sleeve is its topdrawer repository of artists: from Adès to Zacharias, literally an A-Z to savour. Guitarist Sean Shibe explores a new partnership with violinist Benjamin Baker; The Tallis Scholars remember Josquin’s quincentenary; and a slimmed down Scottish Chamber Orchestra gives the UK premiere of Francisco Coll’s Flamenco-imbued Turia. Fife fizzes!
Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival
Peasmarsh, Sussex, 1 - 4 July Tel: +44 (0)1797 253178 Web: www.peasmarshfestival.co.uk
Co-directed by violinist Anthony Marwood and cellist Richard Lester, Peasmarsh’s credentials are impeccable before a single guest is invited! Guests this year include the Navarra and Barbican string quartets, pianist Katya Apekisheva and horn-player Alec Frank-gemmill, all at the service of a programme that ranges from solo Bach to Ligeti, and Richard Strauss to Mahler.
Manchester International Festival
Manchester, 1-18 July Tel: +44 (0)333 322 8679 Web: www.mif.co.uk
Manchester’s biennial pact with the exclusively new manages to find a distinctive approach to its music programming. It launched in 2007 with Damon Albarn’s genre-bending Monkey: Journey to the West, and pianist Mikhail Rudy found himself playing in the attic of the Museum of Science and Industry. For 2021, the festival teams up with Manchester Camerata to commission an eco-concerto for strings and percussion by Dobrinka Tabakova. Violinist Hugo Ticciati is the soloist.
Deal Festival
Deal, 1-17 July Tel: +44 (0)1304 370220 Web: www.dealmusicandarts.com
Seaside Deal has been enjoying an adroitly planned festival for nearly 40 years now, and 2021 understandably brings a greater emphasis on chamber music and al fresco events such as Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream in the grounds of Walmer
Castle. Oboist Nicholas Daniel and the Academy of Ancient Music both forge collaborations with musical youth; violinist Michael Foyle and pianist Maksim t ura survey the complete Beethoven violin sonatas; and soprano Anna Cavaliero and the Echea Quartet venture a scaled-down version of Britten’s Les Illuminations.
Cheltenham Festival
Cheltenham, 2-9 July
Tel: +44 (0)1242 850270
Web: www.cheltenhamfestivals.com
Propellor Ensemble’s evocation of Gloucestershire and a countryside tour ‘In the Footsteps of Hubert Parry’ speak to a festival rooted in its landscape, rural and Regency. But Cheltenham has always looked outwards, and this year’s line-up includes the Bournemouth Symphony
Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales, mezzo Sarah Connolly with pianist Imogen Cooper, and pianist Steven Osborne. The Carice Singers address the plight of asylum seekers, while pianist Sarah Nicholls and cellist Maja Bugge grapple with climate change.
Buxton International Festival
Buxton, 8-25 July
Tel: +44 (0)1298 72190
Web: www.buxtonfestival.co.uk
With its operatic favours shared between Frank Matcham’s Edwardian Opera House and the Pavilion Arts Centre, Buxton is carving a conspicuously distinctive niche this summer. Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master salutes a centenary that isn’t coming in for much attention at festivals elsewhere (Northampton’s October Arnold Festival apart); Pauline Viardot’s Cendrillon supplants the more familiar version by Massenet; and Errollyn Wallen’s Dido’s Ghost is woven around Purcell and conducted by John Butt. Adding extra lustre to an alluring music series are mezzo Sarah Connolly, bass John Tomlinson and The English Concert.
Lichfield Festival
Lichfield, 8-18 July
Tel: +44 (0)1543 306271
Web: www.lichfieldfestival.org
Lichfield’s triple-spired cathedral is at the heart of summer’s music-making. Pianist Danny Driver and violinist Chloë Hanslip are artists-in-residence and
include a Beethoven sonata in each of three duo programmes. Driver also gives two solo recitals, spanning Musorgsky to Ligeti. The BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Ryan Bancroft frames Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks with Bach and Rameau; I Fagiolini is ‘Re-wilding the Waste Land’; and Baroque violinist Rachel Podger combines JS Bach with Biber and Tartini.
JAM on the Marsh Festival
New Romney, Kent, 8-18 July Tel: +44 (0)800 988 7984 Web: www.jamconcert.org
Over the past two decades, JAM has commissioned some 130 new works, and come July throws a big party across the medieval churches and open spaces of the Romney Marshes. Pianist Anna Tilbrook curates this year’s Jam-boree which marks the centenary of Saint-saëns’s death (with Carnival of the Animals) and the 80th anniversary of Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, and brings together tenor James Gilchrist, hornplayer Ben Goldscheider and the London Mozart Players for Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings alongside a new piece by Cecilia Mcdowall.
York Early Music Festival
York, 12-16 July
Tel: +44 (0)1904 658338
Web: www.ncem.co.uk
Although it’s being distilled into just four days and two venues – historic St Margaret’s Church and St Lawrence’s – York isn’t relinquishing its penchant for an over-arching theme. After months of lockdown, ‘Encounters’ is the encouraging motto that brings together many old festival friends including
The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments, violinist Rachel Podger, Ensemble Clement Janequin and the Monteverdi String Band. Full details will be made available in June.
Music at Paxton
Paxton House, Scottish Borders, 16-25 July Tel: +44 (0)131 226 0009 Web: www.musicatpaxton.co.uk
Palladian Paxton’s summer series might be a Borders institution, but it doesn’t stand still. Four concerts will also be filmed and broadcast ‘as live’. And among Tweed-side visitors are pianists Steven Osborne and Imogen Cooper, the Maxwell Quartet and soprano Elizabeth Watts. There are some site-specific offerings too. The Brook Street Band shadows the Grand Tour undertaken by Patrick Home, who commissioned the house; Concerto Caledonia is inspired by the nearby Union Chain Bridge; and lutenist Alex Mccartney ponders the Flodden Flag, a Paxton heirloom.
Ryedale Festival
North Yorkshire, 16 July – 1 August Tel: +44 (0)1751 475777 Web: www.ryedalefestival.com
Vanbrugh’s stately Castle Howard was the focus of Ryedale’s online Spring mini-festival, but the July edition – a 40th-anniversary celebration – aims to be live, and director Christopher Glynn cautions not to expect a ‘big reveal of the programme’ but a ‘build-as-we-go 40-piece jigsaw that comes into view’. Forty headline events include violinist Nicola Benedetti as artist-in-residence alongside the likes of saxophonist Jess Gillam, pianist Isata Kanneh-mason and, braving the bracing Yorkshire briny, the BBC Big Band at Scarborough Spa.
Cambridge Summer Music
Cambridge, 17-31 July
Web: cambridgesummermusic.co.uk
It started life as a series of organ recitals, but this festival has long slipped the leash to pursue broader pastures. Violinist Freya Goldmark, its artistic director, joins pianist Bengt Forsberg and Quatuor Confluence for Chausson’s voluptuous Concert. Other highlights include Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, the Gavin Bryars Ensemble, an anniversary evening of Josquin, and a new orchestral work by Charlotte Harding.
Dartington Summer Music School and Festival
Dartington, Devon, 24 July – 21 August Tel: +44 (0)1803 847070 Web: www.dartington.org
With over 70 concerts in prospect, those signed up to any of the Summer School’s myriad courses are taking the notion of the ‘busman’s holiday’ to the next level. From drumming in the shrubbery to Monteverdi in the medieval hall, Dartington’s breadth and depth inspires students and festival-goers alike. Choral music includes a new piece by Nico Muhly, and ensembles such as Stile
Antico, Exaudi, Black Voices and The Dunedin Consort are among a strong cohort enlivened with jazz from the Nu Civilisation Orchestra and the longawaited return of the Brodsky Quartet.
BBC Proms
London, 30 July – 11 September
Web: www.bbc.co.uk/proms
There was no audience flag-waving on the Last Night in 2020, but the BBC Proms persevered. There are departures from tradition again this year, but with the hall it calls ‘home’ marking its 150th birthday, there are celebrations to be shared.
Lake District Summer Music
Cumbria, 30 July – 8 August Tel: +44 (0)1539 266200 Web: www.ldsm.org.uk
It might be all change at the top, as founding director Renna Kellaway passes the reins to Stephen Threlfall, but, 35 years in the making, Lake District Summer Music’s individuality remains immutable. Artist James Mayhew gilds The Manchester Collective’s performance of Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht with digital artwork, while dance illuminates music by Huw Watkins in a double bill with Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time. Brahms and Walton receive special attention, and this year’s ‘northern lights’ include pianist Steven Osborne, cellist Robert Cohen and the Gould Piano Trio.
Edinburgh International Festival
Edinburgh, 7-29 August Tel: +44 (0)131 473 2000 Web: www.eif.co.uk
There’s no lack of transparency at this year’s Edinburgh Festival: three specially constructed open-air pavilions with socially-distanced seating will house its trademark opera, theatre, orchestral and chamber music. However, details of the programme remain a closely guarded secret until 2 June. Watch this space…
Clandeboye Festival
Bangor, County Down, 13-21 August Tel: +44 (0)28 9042 7600 Web: www.camerata-ireland.com
The piano music of John Field, a Celtic musical lunchtime, a new work by Derry/ Londonderry-born Seán Doherty: pianist Barry Douglas’s County Down festival might attract artists from across Europe, but it doesn’t forget its roots. There’s a 20th anniversary to be celebrated – hence the commission, premiered in a Gala with Camerata Ireland – and young musicians from past editions return to take part in a rich seam of chamber music that includes Schubert from soprano Ailish Tynan.
Presteigne Festival
Presteigne, Powys, 26-31 August Tel: +44 (0)1544 267800 Web: www.presteignefestival.com
Situated in the border country of the Welsh Marches, Presteigne’s latesummer festival has been criss-crossing musical borders for over 35 years. Cecilia Mcdowall is composer-in-residence and, alongside twin nods to Tippett and Ravel, the Malcolm Arnold centenary isn’t overlooked. Nova Music Opera sets the ball rolling with Luke Styles’s chamber opera Awakening Shadow, a re-imagining of his 2013 Glyndebourne commission. Other guests include the Heath Quartet and Ensemble Perpetuum.
Chipping Campden Festival
Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, 6-18 September Tel: +44 (0)1386 849018 Web: www.campdenmusicfestival.co.uk
For understandable reasons, the jewel in the Cotswolds’ May diary has upped sticks to later in the year. And not every artist scheduled for May is able to make the new dates – not that anyone will quibble with a programme that includes pianists Paul Lewis and Elisabeth Leonskaja. A new work by Cecilia Mcdowall, who celebrates her 70th birthday this year, sits between Haydn and Mozart in the London Mozart Players’ concert, which also marks the centenary of the birth of horn legend Dennis Brain. Tenor Mark Padmore will also be appearing to sing Schumann. To end, conductor Jeffrey Skidmore and Ex Cathedra perform Bach’s magnificent St John Passion.
Lammermuir Festival
East Lothian, 7-20 September Tel: +44 (0)131 226 0004 Web: www.lammermuirfestival.co.uk
Resilient Lammermuir probably surprised itself last year in contriving to deliver a dozen live and as-live performances – several with festival regulars, some of whom now return to the East Lothian churches and stately homes that lend the festival its distinctive backdrop. Pianist Jeremy Denk is artist-in-residence; and with Tenebrae, The Gesualdo Six and Dunedin Consort, this year’s festival certainly has something to sing about!
Vale of Glamorgan Festival
South Wales, 11-17 September
Web: valeofglamorganfestival.org.uk
Five composer portraits are at the heart of a hybrid live and online festival, forsaking May for the hopefully calmer waters of September. Artistic director and composer John Metcalf shares his 75th birthday with Latvian composer P teris Vasks; fellow Welshman Guto Puw is a mere whippersnapper at 50; and completing the composerly quintet are Judith Weir and the BBC Young Composer 2017, Sarah Jenkins. The Solem Quartet and Magnard Ensemble take up residence.
London Festival of American Music
London, 12-18 September Web: www.lontano.co.uk
With more world and UK premieres than you could shake a stick at, the eighth celebration of musical America returns composer-conductor Odaline de la Martinez and her ensemble Lontano to The Warehouse in Waterloo. A panel discussion on ‘The Black Renaissance in the US and Abroad’ sets the scene for a lively series that includes works by Florence Price and William Grant Still and culminates in Laura Kaminsky’s transgender chamber opera As One.
Investec International Music Festival
Surrey, 16-25 September Web: www.iimf.co.uk ‘September is the new May’ declares the Surrey-based festival as it relocates its programme to later in the year. There are new locations too. The Tudor Stone Hall at West Horsley Place is at the disposal of lutenist Paula Chateauneuf, and in the new Hilltop Auditorium at RHS Wisley, saxophonist Jess Gillam and friends acknowledge Piazzolla’s centenary with the Argentinian composer’s The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires. In Holy Trinity Guilford, meanwhile, The Tallis Scholars reprise favourite works by Allegri, Arvo Pärt and Nico Muhly.
The Cumnock Tryst
Cumnock, East Ayrshire, 30 September – 3 October Tel: +44 (0)7958 748293 Web: www.thecumnocktryst.com
After a year of ‘diving into digital’ as well as establishing a centre for composition – it helps that the festival’s artistic director is composer James Macmillan – Cumnock hits the ‘live’ re-set button under the banner ‘Optimism and Renewal’. Those bringing both in plentiful supply to East Ayrshire include pianists Paul Lewis and Steven Osborne, the Hebrides Ensemble and Tenebrae with saxophonist Christian Forshaw.
London Piano Festival
London, 8-10 October Tel: +44 (0)20 7520 1490 Web: www.londonpianofestival.com
Co-artistic directors Katya Apekisheva and Charles Owen muster no fewer than five pianists for the festival’s now-obligatory Two Piano Gala, which includes a new piece by Sally Beamish for six hands inspired by a Shakespearean love triangle. Gabriela Montero is first up, improvising a score to Chaplin’s film The Immigrant, following works by three displaced migrants: Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Stravinsky. ‘Sounding Symmetry’ brings the festival to a close with Bach’s Goldberg Variations.
English Song Weekend
Ludlow, Shropshire, 29-30 October Web: ludlowenglishsongweekend.com
Originally scheduled for April, Ludlow’s English Song Weekend lives to fight another day (albeit in slightly reduced form). Baritone Roderick Williams and mezzo Kathryn Rudge are among the singers gracing pianist Iain Burnside’s songful celebration that includes works by Finzi and Elgar’s Sea Pictures. Premieres include composer-in-residence Rhian Samuel, and Philip Lancaster’s cycle Fallen for tenor and violin.
Wimbledon Music Festival
When: 13-28 November
Tel: +44 (0)333 666 3366
Web: wimbledonmusicfestival.co.uk
Beethoven year might have come and gone, but Wimbledon isn’t letting go without making a stand. Pianist Nikolai Demidenko plays the Emperor Concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra, an all-star quartet joins the Academy Choir for the Missa solemnis, and there’s a new drama with music from the London Mozart Players. The Florilegium ensemble dispatches the complete Bach Brandenburg Concertos in a doubledecker concert with dinner, and there’s more Bach from violinist Viktoria Mullova and cellist Matthew Barley. Willard White (see feature, p26) heads for the Deep South, while the Julian Bliss Septet salutes another barrier-blind clarinettist: Benny Goodman.