English Music Festival line-up in full as live music promises a strong comeback in Horsham
Launching the English Music Festival in Horsham this Spring Bank Holiday will be Midlands-based Orchestra of the Swan, under their conductor David le Page, who will also be the soloist in Vaughan Williams’s rarely heard violin concerto, the Concerto Accademico. The programme also includes sparkling string works by Peter Warlock, Walter Leigh, Gustav Holst and John Ireland, who for many years lived a very short distance from Horsham.
Festival director Em Marshall-Luck said: “On Bank Holiday Monday internationally-renowned baritone, Roderick Williams, along with the Bridge Quartet and pianist Michael Dussek, will perform Ivor Gurney’s rarely-heard The Western Playland, which sets words by A E Housman, which work the same performers also recently recorded on the Festival’s acclaimed recording label, EM Records.
“This disc, Those Blue Remembered Hills (EMRCD065), will also be receiving a formal launch and celebration at a reception in the Drill Hall following the concert, at which the performers will discuss the music and recording and prosecco will be served. The recital will also feature Roderick Williams singing Finzi’s Thomas Hardy songcycle I said to Love, and songs by Parry and Stanford while the Bridge Quartet will also perform music by Holst, Parry and Delius.
“Enthusiasts of English song will be well-provided for at the Festival when Lucy Stevens and Elizabeth Marcus perform a selection of Shakespeare songs set by 14 composers over four centuries, interwoven with poetry from his plays and
sonnets.
“The Kathleen Ferrier Award prize-winning baritone Gareth BrynmorJohn and pianist Christopher Glynn will also present a programme of songs showcasing the miniature masterpieces of Peter Warlock, alongside those of his friends and contemporaries Bax, Moeran and Delius.
“Violinist Rupert MarshallLuck and pianist Duncan Honeybourne will be performing sonatas by Bliss, Howells, Delius and Ireland, alongside the world première of a captivating piano piece by Edgar Bainton; and the Aurora Trio, formed by young and brilliant soloists Emma Halnan, Jordan Sian and local harpist Heather Wrighton, will perform works for flute, viola and harp by Arnold Bax, York Bowen, Ralph Vaughan Williams and that local composer of enchantingly attractive music, Paul Lewis.
“For the final concert of the Festival, we take a step back in time, with awardwinning young group, Ensemble Hesperi, whose programme, directed from the harpsichord by Thomas
Allery, will include Scottish Baroque music, famous for its catchy dance rhythms and infectious melodies, alongside lesser-known repertoire by composers of the north of England and the Midlands. Earlier on in the weekend, the celebrated Armonico Consort, under their conductor Christopher Monks, will delight audiences with much-loved works by Handel and Purcell.
“In lighter vein, regular Festival favourites the New Foxtrot Serenaders perform effervescent works by Ivor Novello, Noel Coward, Flanagan and Allen and others in their own engaging style while pianist and broadcaster Paul Guinery presents a selection of light music discoveries by Edward German, Billy Mayerl and Haydn Wood.
“Informative and entertaining talks, setting the composers and their music in context, will take place in the town’s Drill Hall with speakers including cellist, Joseph Spooner, musicologist and conductor Joseph Fort and composer Paul Lewis.”
Tickets available on www. englishmusicfestival.org.uk.