Classical music festival faces end of the road over cash crisis

ONE of the country’s oldest and muchloved classical music festivals faces closure after 75 years over a financial crisis.

The artistic director of the Dartington Music Summer School and Festival and her team have resigned saying it would be impossible to stage the event next year with the funds available.

Sara Mohr-Pietsch, a Radio 3 presenter, announced her resignation as artistic director amid ongoing financial problems at the Dartington Trust, which hosts the summer school and festival and where the event has been staged in Devon since 1953.

Her decision came after the trust said it was unable to fund a four-week summer school musical programme at Dartington Hall, near Totnes, next year.

The move has placed a question mark over the future of the festival, which has hosted some of the world’s leading classical musicians over the past eight decades — including Stravinsky, Daniel Barenboim and Neville Marriner.

Ms Mohr-Pietsch, who is also presenter of The Choir and the Discovering Music series, said: “Dartington Trust’s ongoing financial review has made delivering our 2024 plans impossible.

“I really hope the Summer School survives. It is an amazing thing, 75 years old and still utter magic.”

The trust blames the problems on “financial challenges” over the past few years, including the coronavirus pandemic and the cost of living crisis, along with what trustees described as “an over-ambitious programme”.

Dartington Trust said in a statement that it is “grateful to them for their hard work over the years, and for the success of their 2023 programme, which celebrated the 75th anniversary”.