Southwell Music Festival announces 10th anniversary programme

A town is set to teem with musicians this summer for a festival’s 10th anniversary.

The four-day Southwell Music Festival, which runs from Friday, August 23, to Monday, August 26, is set to offer a jam-packed programme of music for all to enjoy.

Audiences can immerse themselves in classical, chamber and choral concerts alongside performances from jazz and folk artists. There will also be pop-up performances, a musical picnic for families and the free Festival Fringe's return, which will raise money for Beaumond House Hospice Care.

At the centre of this year’s festival programme is a Sunday evening performance of Mozart’s Requiem in the awe-inspiring Southwell Minster. This concert, a collaboration of the festival’s resident professional ensembles, the Festival Sinfonia and the Festival Voices, promises to take the audience on an emotional journey of sorrow, hope, and redemption.

The concert will open with the world premiere of a new work by composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad and poet Kate Wakeling. Specially commissioned by Southwell Music Festival to mark this anniversary year, With What Sudden Joy features the words of Southwell residents and school children who were asked to share their personal perspectives on the power of music.

Southwell Music Festival Artistic Director Marcus Farnsworth said: “In our 10th anniversary year, our 2024 Festival will see Southwell teeming with musicians as we celebrate our town and the universal language of music. This year’s programme promises something for everyone, with music ranging from the medieval to the modern and everything in between. I cannot wait to welcome audiences this August to join us for a very special musical celebration.”

Kicking the weekend music off on Friday, August 23, will be the first of the popular Surround Sounds concerts held in the Chapter House.

Starting from 9.30am, The Italian Job is a programme of Italian madrigals from the festival’s vocal apprentices, all graduates of the Genesis Sixteen training scheme.

Also to look forward to on the Friday is the first of the Young Artist Series. The 2024 string apprentices Sonas Quartet, which formed at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 2022, will perform three masterpieces of the string quartet repertoire.

British jazz singer and lyricist Norma Winstone’s trio will feature for a lunchtime concert, while the afternoon boasts the Medieval Masters concert and a pre-show talk with composer Martin Bussey and librettist Anthony Pinching.

In the evening there’s Strings in the Nave with Mark Padmore, with a pre-show talk, and a performance by the Festival Voices to celebrate the music of Anton Bruckner.

It will be celebrated tenor Mark Padmore’s Southwell Music Festival debut and he is the festival’s first-ever artist-in-residence, and he will perform in several concerts.

Surround Sounds again starts the day on Saturday, August 24, with Voices of France. Marcus Farnsworth is joined by Céline Saout, principal harpist of the Orchestra of Opera North, for an intimate programme which celebrates the world of French Mélodie.

The Festival Fringe will see New Orleans-style brass band Head Rush pop-ups across the town all day, while the family-friendly Musical Picnic returns to the Palace Garden for live music, crafts, and face painting.

In the Minster Mark Padmore presents an English Song Recital, featuring Benjamin Britten’s song cycle ‘Winter Words’ — settings of poems by Thomas Hardy.

In the afternoon there’s a festival talk with well-known Byronist, Geoffrey Bond, followed by musical play Don Juan: The Brilliant Irreverence of Lord Byron — in which Pianist Clare Hammond and actor Tama Matheson, celebrate Byron’s inimitable wit in this bicentenary year of his death.

In the evening there’s a talk by mezzo soprano Susan Bickley, before a A Night at the Opera in the Minster Nave — set to explore some of the greatest tunes ever written for the stage. The evening concludes with a performance of Beethoven’s String Quartet No.15 in the Live and Late series.

Sunday, August 25, begins with the festival eucharist, and other acts throughout the day include award-winning folk musicians the Leveret Trio, a talk with pianist and polymath Libby Burgess about Mozart’s Requiem, and a range of classical, jazz and folk musicians playing the festival fringe throughout the day.

The highlight of the day is the 10th Anniversary Concert: Mozart Requiem, by the Festival Sinfonia and Festival Voices, joined by a cast of superb soloists.

The concert, in the Minster Nave, will open with the world premiere of the new work by composer Cheryl Frances-Hoad and poet Kate Wakeling.

The final day of the festival, Monday, August 26, also begins with a Surround Sounds concert. Festival Folk ‘Turned into the Light’ will blend old and new as traditional English folk tunes are reimagined.

There’s also the bank holiday Monday Come and Sing event, where singers of all abilities can join in to rehearse and perform Mozart's Coronation Mass accompanied by the Festival Sinfonia and soloists from the festival’s apprentice scheme.

Led by conductor Marcus Farnsworth, there will be a morning rehearsal followed by an afternoon performance.

The festival fringe boasts a Young Musicians Showcase, and there will be free live blues and acoustic music in the festival marquee.

The festival concludes with an organ recital by assistant director of Music Jonathan Allsopp.

The full programme can be seen at: www.southwellmusicfestival.com