Horsham’s Spring Bank Holiday musical delights
Live music returns to St Mary’s Church, Horsham this Spring Bank Holiday with a delightful programme on offer from the English Music Festival.
It will be an important moment on our path out of lockdown as the arts start to return strongly to the era – and an important opportunity for musicians.
Promised as ‘annual discovery of orchestral, choral and chamber music gems by British composers’, the English Music Festival runs from May 28-31 (www. englishmusicfestival.org.uk).
Concerts run throughout the weekend and take place in St Mary’s Church, Causeway and in the historic 1920s Drill Hall, just five minutes’ walk away.
“The annual English Music Festival celebrates the brilliance, innovation, beauty and rich musical heritage of Britain with a strong focus on unearthing overlooked or forgotten masterpieces of the late nineteenth to mid-twentieth centuries,” explains festival director Em Marshall-Luck.
“With each event that we host, we increasingly realise how inestimably important live music-making is for some people, and how heavily they rely upon it for their emotional, social, mental and spiritual health and well-being.
“We have also become very aware of the plight of musicians, and especially younger artists, now at a vital stage in their careers, but lacking the performance opportunities that they so desperately need.
“Such factors have made us ever more determined to continue putting on concerts wherever and whenever we can, and we are absolutely delighted to be able to return to beautiful and spacious St Mary’s (a Covid-secure venue) for our main Festival, and to be able to support both our loyal audiences and our wonderful musicians in this important way. It promises to be a gloriously exciting event, with dynamic musicians staging fabulous and moving works.”