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3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
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Welcome
WELCOME It is customary in the introductions of Festival brochures like this one to exclaim that ‘there’s something for everyone’. Well, there isn’t! No single music festival could ever claim that, because ‘everyone’ is a lot of people and a lot of different musical tastes. Having said that, I will boldly claim that the 2009 HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is an incredibly diverse cultural offering, one of the most vibrant and welcoming you could come across anywhere. If you put together the Shower Scene from Psycho, Robert Winston on composers’ mental health, Zadok the Priest with 16 baroque trumpets, the scabrous wit of Kit and the Widow, a fully-staged production of Mozart’s first opera, a major exhibition of comic-artist Gerard Hoffnung 50 years after his death, jazz-infused klezmer from Swiss quintet Kol Simcha, poet Wendy Cope’s new collaboration with composer Roxanna Panufnik and Michael Morpurgo with his Mozart Question, you have a very rich offering indeed. 3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
In 2009 we celebrate our 65 year past, through a fresh look at some of Cheltenham’s illustrious premieres. We celebrate the inspirational brilliance of young performers - from a role-model star like Nicola Benedetti to performances by our Festival Academy and five youth orchestras, no less. We celebrate 250 years of the string quartet – in honour of Haydn – and music by composers with Jewish heritage – in honour of Mendelssohn. The Overview on the following pages tells you more about how this richly layered programmed binds together, and includes details of our enhanced strand of events for children and families.
3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
In Cheltenham this July, it’s (almost) all here for the taking...
Meurig Bowen Festival Director 3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
PS In case you’re wondering, we’re giving new life to 20 violins, violas and cellos that have lost their will to live as musical instruments. A range of artists are doing wonderful, surprising and lovely things to them, and creating our Painted Quartets exhibition at the Summerfield Gallery (Pittville Campus), the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum and elsewhere around town. Cello by PJ Crook Viola by Anthony Frost Violin by Jackie Morris Cello by Lincoln Seligman
3
Overview
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THE PERFECT FOURSOME
PREMIERES PAST AND PRESENT
Joseph Haydn - who died 200 years ago at the grand old age of 77 - wasn’t the first composer to put two violins, a viola and a cello together for intimate musical conversation. But he can claim the honours for having formalised the string quartet as a four-movement genre all of its own, capable of immense structural and expressive potential. Having written more quartets than any other composer - nearly 70! - it’s no surprise that he’s been dubbed the ‘father of the string quartet’.
Cheltenham audiences have heard a few premieres down the years - well over 200 in fact, since the first, Britten’s Four Sea Interludes in 1945. This year’s programme picks out a few of them for old time’s sake, and delivers quite a few 2009 premieres too. The Back Catalogue... Britten Four Sea Interludes (1945) M70 Hoddinott Clarinet Concerto No 1 (1954) M37 Nicholas Maw Life Studies (1974) M37 Richard Rodney Bennett Duo Concertante (1986) M32 Thomas Adès Powder Her Face (1995)* M70 Judith Weir Piano Quartet (2000) M32
HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival celebrates this huge contribution to western culture with World Quartets - a series of concerts by string quartets from around the globe. Alongside works by Haydn himself and his most illustrious pupil Beethoven, other contributions - country by country - will show just how far Haydn’s perfect foursome has travelled since:
* Adès’ orchestral reworking of material from the chamber opera
...and New Releases Harrison Birtwistle Bogenstrich (UK) M11 Mendelssohn Variations (UK) M34 Michael Zev Gordon Pebble in the Pond (world) M35 Huw Watkins (world) M35 Sally Beamish The Sins (world) M35 Tunde Jegede New work (world) M37 Alexander Goehr Manere (UK) M43 Philip Grange Cloud Atlas (world) M44 Shiva Feshareki insistent distortions (world) M44 Matthias Pintscher Study IV (UK) M53 Michael Zev Gordon Mandelstam settings (world) M54 Sasha Siem from the white dictionary (world) M54
The Quartets Endellion (UK) Haydn, Beethoven, Panufnik M4 Smith (UK) Crumb, Glass, Reich M9 Borodin (Russia) Haydn, Beethoven, Shostakovich M20 Meta4 (Finland) Beethoven, Schumann M31 Royal (Poland) Mozart, Mendelssohn, Szymanowski M46 Diotima (France) Beethoven, Ravel, Pintscher M53 Australian Haydn, Mendelssohn, Sculthorpe M61 Barbirolli (UK) and Australian Beethoven, Britten, Mendelssohn M66
There’s also other ‘new’ music - between 3 months and 40 years old - by David Briggs, George Crumb, Philip Glass, Orlando Gough, Roxanna Panufnik, Steve Reich, Dobrinka Tabakova, Peter Sculthorpe and John Woolrich.
See page 28 for more information on Painted Quartets, Cheltenham’s unique visual arts homage to Haydn
FROM KADDISH TO KLEZMER Hollywood Rhapsody John Wilson Orchestra M2
Mendelssohn’s own religious and cultural origins - he converted to Christianity at the age of seven - are the starting point for a major focus in this year’s Festival on music by composers with Jewish heritage. Look out in the following pages for a lot of music not just by Mendelssohn, but Alkan, Barber, Bernstein, Bloch, Copland, Finzi, Gershwin, Glass, Goehr, Herrmann, Korngold, Mahler, Reich, Schoenberg, Schnittke and Zev Gordon. Other contributions to this strand include:
Klezmer double bill Fiddler on the Hoof / Kol Simcha M28-30 Henry VIII’s emigré composers from Fretwork M41 Sing East Sing West schools performance M48 Norman Lebrecht on Mendelssohn and Mahler M55 Alexander Waugh on Musical Vienna M59 Hoffnung exhibition at the Summerfield Gallery (p28) 4
Overview
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SOMETHING ELSE
FOR THE FAMILY
This isn’t just a festival of classical concerts lining up, one after another. Though these concerts are pretty special in themselves.
We passionately believe that great music can be part of everyone’s lives, whatever their age. Here are some events in this year’s programme that will have huge appeal to children, their parents and grandparents:
As the name suggests, the Something Else element of the programme is all the rest - a fascinating mix of films, talks, children’s events and performances that could never put up their hands and say ‘I’m Classical’. Here’s a few that are, quite simply, Something Else:
Hollywood Rhapsody M2 Meet The Instruments M5 Michael Morpurgo’s The Mozart Question M38 Sing East Sing West M48
Robert Winston and Stephen Johnson discuss composers’ mental health M13
On Saturday 4 July, we are collaborating with the Cheltenham Strategic Partnership on a huge community event in Pittville Park. Please see page 30 for further information on Fiesta in the Park.
Classically-minded jazz from the David Rees-Williams Trio M24 Swiss klezmer band Kol Simcha, plus BBC documentary Fiddler on the Hoof M28-30 A talk on Stradivarius and his Strads M33 Michael Morpurgo’s The Mozart Question M38 1942 feature film The Great Mr Handel M51 Musical cabaret from Kit & the Widow M65 Tea & Opera from Mackwoods Fine Tea M68 Martin Coath and Kai-Thomas Roth on The Science of String Instruments M69 Why not try one of our concert and dining packages? For more information go to cheltenhamfestivals.com
LIKE THIS?
Classical Favourites Here’s a selection of concerts that we are confident you will find - in their different ways - stirring, calming, inspiring…amazing.
M10 M27
Hollywood Rhapsody - a big orchestra, big tunes and a big heart M2 A Handel Celebration featuring Harry Enfield M8 Nicola Benedetti plays Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto M23 Beethoven, Bach and Schumann from Ingrid Fliter and Meta4 M31 Steven Isserlis plays Mendelssohn and Schumann M34 Choral favourites from Gloucester Cathedral Choir M39 Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet with Emma Johnson M46 Angela Hewitt plays Bach, Handel, Haydn and Mendelssohn M52 Mendelssohn’s Octet from an England-Australia quartet coupling M66 Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto and Sibelius’ 5th symphony from the Hallé M70
In the pages that follow, and in At A Glance on page 38, we’ve marked out which events are the closest matches to other events. This should help you travel further on the festival journey and enjoy some more of your favourite things.
HEAR THIS! We’ve also marked up the concerts that you can sample a bit of on our website. You’ll either be able to hear something that’s being played in that concert, or something from one of the featured musicians or both. It’s very easy - just go to cheltenhamfestivals.com/music 5
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Imperial square, Cheltenham
Cheltenham TOWN HALL
PITTVILLE PUmp room
PITTVILLE park & PUmp room
Tewkesbury abbey
Tewkesbury abbey
Gloucester cathedral 6
PUmp room interior
Friday 3 July
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Benjamin Zander: Experiencing the Art of Possibility
HOLLYWOOD RHAPSODY
M2 Cheltenham Town Hall 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.30pm)
M1 Pittville Pump Room 4pm (ends approximately 6pm)
£5 £12 £18 £24 £30
£45
John Wilson Orchestra John Wilson Conductor
An extraordinary opportunity to hear one of the world’s most inspirational speakers.
From Gone with the Wind to Schindler’s List – a treasure trove of sumptuous film music for all the family
World renowned conductor of the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra, Benjamin Zander is often called in to advise world leaders, most recently at Davos earlier this year On this special occasion he will address a Cheltenham audience, using the metaphor of the orchestra and a life-time of experience conducting, coaching and teaching musicians, to show us how to live life fully and get the best from those around us.
Featured films and music include: Gershwin Rhapsody in Blue overture Herrmann Vertigo Kaper Mutiny on the Bounty Korngold The Sea Hawk Raksin Laura Steiner Gone With The Wind Waxman Philadelphia Story John Williams Schindler’s List, Star Wars, Harry Potter
He takes the audience on a journey that offers a new perspective on leadership, ever more crucial in this economic environment. Through stories, music and concepts he causes a radical shift in perception.
The John Wilson Orchestra is no ordinary orchestra. It’s a thrillingly in-your-face, 70-strong big band and symphony orchestra rolled into one. It’s the authentic Hollywood studio sound, combining the full sonic sweep of lush strings, swinging saxes and blazing brass. It features the finest players in the land, all giving 110% as they bring to life music that hasn’t sounded so good since the original soundtrack recording session.
Come alone or bring your colleagues - this is not a speech, it is an experience! ‘His leadership view is unconventional, irreverent and bold. Its impact is without boundaries. I have seen Ben Zander’s teaching transform entire teams...in ways that are nothing short of magical...He is a catalyst for Excellence.’ Roseanna DeMaria, First Vice President, Leadership & Performance, AT&T.
John Wilson’s specially-devised programme celebrates the very best music from seven decades of the silver screen – a feast of gorgeous tunes, big-screen emotion and orchestral climaxes that will pin you to the back of your Town Hall seat.
FESTIVAL EVENSONG
Cheltenham College Chapel 5.30pm (ends approximately 6.15pm) Free (no ticket required) M26
Cheltenham College Chapel Chamber Choir Alexander Ffinch Director Prior to heading off on a tour of the USA, this fine chamber choir marks the start of the 2009 Cheltenham Music Festival with a special evensong, featuring Harris’s Bring Us O Lord God, a Magnificat by Praetorius, Holst’s Nunc Dimittis and Peter Philips’ Ecce Vicit Leo.
Benjamin Zander
John Wilson
7
Saturday 4 July
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WORLD QUARTETS 1 ENDELLION STRING QUARTET WENDY COPE
SOMETHING ELSE MANTRA
M6 St Matthew’s Church, Cheltenham 4pm (ends approximately 5.15pm)
M4 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
£15 unreserved
£14 £18 £22
The Orlando Consort Kuljit Bhamra Tabla, Indian harmonium Jonathan Meyer Sitar Shahid Khan Voice
Haydn String Quartet Op. 76 No 1 21’ Roxanna Panufnik The Audience (text: Wendy Cope) 25’ Beethoven String Quartet Op. 131 42’
Musical Conversations Across The Indian Ocean
The eight-concert World Quartets series in this Festival celebrates Haydn’s legacy as the ‘father of the string quartet’; quartets from around the world perform quartet music from around the world across two and a half centuries.
On arriving in Goa, 16th century Portuguese missionaries set out to win the hearts, minds and souls of the local Goan population through the power of music. The newly built churches of the ‘Pearl of the Orient’ were filled with singing and playing, as western and eastern voices and instruments rang out together - creating an extraordinary blend of exotic and exuberant sounds.
Celebrating their 30th birthday in 2009, the Endellion Quartet launches the series with performances of Haydn himself, one of the late quartets by his most illustrious student Beethoven, and a brand new collaboration between Roxanna Panufnik and poet Wendy Cope. Her newly commissioned comic verse muses on the foibles of classical music concert audiences the world over - mis-timed applause, sweet wrappers, ssshh’ing neighbours and more...
This brand new project Mantra, a search for a lost sound-world, brings such an extraordinary cross-cultural encounter back to life in the 21st century.
M41
This concert celebrates the Golden Jubilee of the St Endellion Festival, from where the quartet took its name.
EXPLORE
SOMETHING ELSE HANDEL, HENDRIX & CORAM boy
Roxanna Panufnik and Wendy Cope in conversation with Christopher Cook M3 Oval Room, Pittville Pump Room 10.15am (ends 10.45am) Free Tickets should be booked in advance Supported by Sir Peter & Lady Marychurch
M7 Queen’s Hotel 5.45pm (ends 6.45pm) £5
Conversation and readings by authors; Jamila Gavin (Coram Boy), Neville Farmer & Alexander Ross (The Devil’s Interval)
M66
It so happens that two writers who have featured Handel as a central character in their work recently are virtually neighbours near Stroud - but until now they’ve never met. Jamila Gavin’s story Coram Boy has recently enjoyed huge success as a musical play at the National Theatre. Alexander Ross’s 2002 play, co-written with Neville Farmer, investigates the quirk of fate that had Jimi Hendrix living next door to Handel behind London’s Oxford Street – but 200 years apart.
SOMETHING ELSE - FAMILY EVENT MEET THE INSTRUMENTS! M5 Pittville Pump Room 3pm (ends approximately 3.50pm)
£5 for children (bring your parents along for free) Ideal for children aged 6–10 Genevieve Helsby, author of My First Classical Music Book and Meet the Instruments of the Orchestra! published by Naxos Books, teams up with some musicians to present a fantastic children’s concert. With famous tunes to spot, games to play, and the chance to join in on percussion instruments, there’s fun for everyone. Bring a silly hat and a piece of percussion! (Anything that makes a noise – even a saucepan lid and a wooden spoon... but don’t worry if you forget – you won’t be left empty-handed!) Part Masekela of Fiesta in the Park – see page 30 Hugh
M38 Kuljit Bhamra
8
Saturday 4 July
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Orchestra of the age of enlightenment & HARRY ENFIELD IN A HANDEL CELEBRATION
WORLD QUARTETS 2 AN AMERICAN TRIPTYCH FOR 4 JULY M9 Pillar Room, Town Hall (bar available) 10pm (ends approximately 11.15pm)
In association with WellChild M8 Cheltenham Town Hall 7pm (ends approximately 9pm)
£15 unreserved
£5 £12 £18 £24 £30 £50
The Smith Quartet
(£50 ticket includes WellChild fundraiser champagne reception)
George Crumb Black Angels 24’ Philip Glass String Quartet No 5 22’ Steve Reich Different Trains 26’
Ruby Hughes Soprano Iestyn Davies Counter-tenor Neal Davies Bass David Blackadder Trumpet Oriel Singers St Cecilia Singers Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment Ben Hoffnung Conductor with Harry Enfield as Handel
No other country’s composers in recent decades have been more enterprising than the USA’s in re-imagining the string quartet’s potential – and not just by going electric, as each of these three remarkable and distinctive pieces do. Black Angels inspired the formation of the Kronos Quartet, who subsequently premiered the other two works.
Divine Music for Trumpets and Voices including: Zadok the Priest The Water Music Music for the Royal Fireworks Dettingen Te Deum Arias and choruses from Messiah, Rinaldo, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus and Acis and Galatea
George Crumb – 80 this year – wrote his dark, dramatic work in 1970 as a Vietnam protest, and its inspired amalgamation of unusual string effects, bowed wineglasses, Schubert quotations and numerical symbolism makes for a strikingly satisfying whole. Reich’s iconic work fuses hypnotic string patterns with sampled voices, each recollecting wartime train journeys in both Nazi Germany and North America. M19
250 years since his death in 1759, the full breadth of Handel’s genius is put on show in this celebratory anniversary programme. One of the world’s most admired period instrument orchestras, the OAE, comes to Cheltenham with a blazing, surround-sound corps of 16 trumpets, stunning soloists and a programme of favourite choruses, orchestral music and showstopping arias. So, Handel as you’ve possibly never heard before. But Handel, too, as you’ve never seen before, in the form of Harry Enfield as 18th century London’s most illustrious European immigrant. From his German youth and Italian apprenticeship to the decades of triumph in England, Enfield applies his formidable acting skills to telling Handel’s story.
Supported by Diana Woolley
Iestyn Davies
Neal Davies
Ruby Hughes
Harry Enfield
Handel had a close association with Thomas Coram and his children’s home, the Foundling Hospital. So it is a pleasure for Cheltenham Music Festival to collaborate on this concert with Cheltenham-based WellChild - the national UK charity dedicated to supporting sick children and their families. WellChild Children’s Nurses across the UK provide expert care for chronically sick children living at home, while the WellChild Helping Hands scheme organises hands-on projects to help families of seriously ill children. For more information: wellchild.org.uk
M21 M39 9
Sunday 5 July
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BRENDEL/FELLNER/WILLIAMS
AN 1100th BIRTHDAY CONCERT
M11 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
M12 Cheltenham Town Hall 2pm (ends approximately 4pm)
£14 £18 £22
£10 £5 under 18, unreserved
Adrian Brendel Cello Till Fellner Piano Roderick Williams Baritone
Wells Cathedral School Symphony Orchestra Kate Suthers Violin Christopher Adey Conductor
Bach Solo Cello suite No 1 in G major, BWV 1007 20’ Beethoven Piano Sonata No 5 in C minor, Op. 10/1 17’ Beethoven Lieder tba 15’ Harrison Birtwistle Bogenstrich (UK premiere) 20’
Copland Fanfare for the Common Man 4’ Korngold Violin Concerto 26’ Tchaikovsky Symphony No 5 46’
Acclaimed Austrian pianist Till Fellner, in the middle of a three-year worldwide Beethoven sonata cycle, brings one of the Op.10 set to Cheltenham alongside the UK premiere of Birtwistle’s five-part sequence for piano, cello and baritone. Co-commissioned with the Wattens Festival in the Italian Alps, where the world premiere takes place in May 2009, this major new work from Britain’s most internationally celebrated composer features settings of the early 20th century poet Rainer Maria Rilke.
We welcome the flagship orchestra of the specialist music school at Wells Cathedral, an institution celebrating its 1100th anniversary – no less - in 2009! Their programme includes Korngold’s luscious, highly-charged concerto, much of it a reworking of tunes from four Warner Brothers film scores, including The Prince and the Pauper starring Errol Flynn. Dedicated to Mahler’s widow Alma, the concerto was premiered by the pre-eminent mid-20th century virtuoso, Jascha Heifitz, in 1947.
EXPLORE
Supported by Lloyd & Anne Surgenor
Harrison Birtwistle in conversation with Christopher Cook M10 Oval Room, Pittville Pump Room 10.15am (ends 10.45am) Free Tickets should be booked in advance Supported by Neil & Ann Parrack
M56
M53
Adrian Brendel
Roderick Williams
10
Sunday 5 July
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SOMETHING ELSE ROBERT WINSTON & STEPHEN JOHNSON
BAMPTON CLASSICAL OPERA MOZART & GLUCK DOUBLE BILL
M13 Drawing Room, Town Hall 4.30pm (ends approximately 5.30pm)
M15 Pittville Pump Room 6.30pm (ends approximately 9.40pm, including 75 minute interval - why not bring your own picnic?)
£8 unreserved
£25 £30 £35 performance only
Great creators: genius or madness?
M14 Pittville Bistro/Pittville Pump Room 5.45pm arrival drinks & canapés 7.30pm 75 minute dinner interval
Is genius close to madness or are great creators essentially sane? Robert Winston discusses the mental health of various composers - including Schumann, Wolf, Tchaikovsky, Ravel and Mahler - with writer and broadcaster Stephen Johnson, who contributed to Professor Winston’s recent Radio 4 series on the same subject, Musical Analysis. They will look at how, and why the brain is driven to create, and at what music can do for us, the listeners.
£70 performance (top price ticket), dinner and wine Cast includes Martene Grimson, Amanda Pitt, Serena Kay Lina Markeby, Tom Raskin and Edmund Connolly Bampton Classical Players on period instruments Murray Hipkin Conductor Jeremy Gray Director Gluck Le Cinesi 50’ Mozart Apollo and Hyacinth 55’ (Fully staged performances in English)
M69
Described as ‘a delightful, spirited evening’ in Opera magazine, we are pleased to present this entertaining double bill from Bampton Classical Opera, established in 1993 and dedicated to breathing new life into little-known works of the classical period. Apollo and Hyacinth is Mozart’s first opera, composed when he was only 12 and telling of love, jealousy, revenge and metamorphosis amongst the gods. Gluck’s Le Cinesi, first seen in 1754, is a comedic look at how three young Chinese ladies, confined to quarters, amuse themselves. ‘There isn’t a company in England with as sharp a sense of fun as Bampton. Season after season they dig up rare gems, served up with canny wit, visual deftness and a musical spring that make them one of the high pleasures of an English summer.’ Opera Now
Robert Winston
Le Cinesi
Apollo and Hyacinth
11
Monday 6 July
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CHAMBER MENDELSSOHN 1 BBC RADIO 3 NEW GENERATION ARTISTS
CHOIR of TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE M17 Tewkesbury Abbey 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.30pm)
M16 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.45pm)
£8* £13 £16 £20
£10 £14 £18
Stephen Layton Conductor David Briggs Organ
Tai Murray Violin Andreas Brantelid Cello Ashley Wass Piano
Mendelssohn Richte mich, Gott 4’ Bach Jesu meine Freude 25’ Stanford Beati quorum via 4’ Finzi Lo, the full final sacrifice 12’ David Briggs Mass of Notre Dame 30’
Copland Vitebsk Trio 13’ Mendelssohn Piano Trio in D minor Op. 49 30’ Korngold Much Ado About Nothing suite 12’ Shostakovich Piano Trio No 2 24’
In the 800th anniversary year of Cambridge University, one of their most admired college choirs exchanges its magnificent 16th century chapel for the medieval splendour of Tewkesbury Abbey. Two years into his time as Director, top-rank choral conductor Stephen Layton is bringing his trademark delivery of fire and precision to the choir’s sound, and this varied programme will display their quality to the full.
BBC Radio 3’s New Generation Artist scheme is 10 years old this year, and we welcome a number of the newest participants in the 2009 Festival. New York-based violinist Tai Murray and Danish cellist Andreas Brantelid are joined in a pair of concerts by previous NGA Ashley Wass for programmes revolving around works by Mendelssohn. Korngold’s Much Ado...music was written for a Viennese production of the play in 1920, 14 years before he fled Nazi Europe for California. Copland connected with his RussianLithuanian Jewish heritage in the 1928 trio, his intention ‘to reflect the harshness and drama of Jewish life in White Russia’. And the full disclosure in 1944 of the horrors of the concentration camps prompted one of Shostakovich’s most striking works, with its distinctively fraught demeanour and concluding Jewish death dance.
They are joined by virtuoso organist David Briggs, Director of Music at Gloucester Cathedral from 1994 to 2002, for a performance of his French-inspired Notre Dame mass promising spectacular, often-improvised outbursts from the Abbey’s magnificent Milton organ. Lie back and think of… * For £8, soak up the sounds and sights of this stunning building in an area at the back of the Abbey where seats are replaced by your own rugs, blankets or cushions.
M20 M26
M39
Tai Murray
Andreas Brantelid
12
Tuesday 7 July
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CHAMBER MENDELSSOHN 2 BBC RADIO 3 NEW GENERATION ARTISTS
SOMETHING ELSE - FILM STOCKHAUSEN & HELICOPTERS
M18 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.45pm)
M19 Pittville Campus 5pm (ends 6.20pm) £5 unreserved
£10 £14 £18 Tai Murray Violin Maxim Rysanov Viola Andreas Brantelid Cello Ashley Wass Piano
Helicopter String Quartet A film by Frank Scheffer, featuring the Arditti Quartet Prior to the no-frills, unapologetically mainstream programme from the Borodin Quartet, this is the tale of just how far a composer can take the string quartet medium. Inspired by a dream of flying musicians, Karlheinz Stockhausen created a work for four helicopters, four string players and a mixing desk. Frank Scheffer’s film documents the complex preparations for the 1995 Holland Festival premiere, and includes typically off-the-wall insights from Stockhausen himself. As Chicago’s Time Out wrote, this film is the ‘story of a laughably absurdist vision powerfully realised.’
Mendelssohn Songs without words (selection) 20’ Bruch Kol Nidre - Adagio on Hebrew melodies 12’ Dobrinka Tabakova Jazz Suite 10’ Mendelssohn Piano Quartet in F minor, Op. 2 25’ Russian viola master Maxim Rysanov joins his fellow BBC New Generation Artists for one of Mendelssohn’s spirited, life-affirming Piano Quartets. He and Ashley Wass also perform a new work by London-raised Bulgarian composer Dobrinka Tabakova, infused with the spirit of her jazz favourites Oscar Peterson, Jacques Loussier, Keith Jarrett and Art Tatum. The cello and piano pairing of Brantelid and Wass perform Max Bruch’s soulful Kol Nidre meditation, and Wass alone presents a selection of Mendelssohn’s exquisite piano miniatures.
M9
WORLD QUARTETS 3 BORODIN QUARTET
Supported by Graham & Eileen Lockwood
M20 Pittville Pump Room 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.20pm) M37
£18 £22 £26 Haydn Quartet Op. 33 No 3 ‘The Bird’ 19’ Shostakovich Quartet Op. 73 No 3 33’ Beethoven Quartet Op. 18 No 1 26’ The line-up may have shifted over the years – most recently with the departure of the original cellist Valentin Berlinsky after 62 years’ service – but this is a special opportunity to hear the world’s longest-established string quartet, one that performed at Stalin’s funeral in 1953 (and fitted in Prokofiev’s on the same day). Aside from Bartók perhaps, no composer in the 20th century extended the expressive possibilities of the string quartet medium more thoroughly and brilliantly than the Borodin Quartet’s countryman and collaborator, Dmitri Shostakovich - whose third of 15 quartets combines here with a Haydn favourite, nicknamed ‘The Bird’, and Beethoven’s very first.
Ashley Wass
Borodin Quartet
13
Wednesday 8 July
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ensemble l’Aia’s musical offering
ORCHESTRA EUROPA & NICOLA BENEDETTI
M21 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
M23 Cheltenham Town Hall 6pm (ends approximately 7.50pm)
£10 £14 £18
£5 £10 £15 £20 £25
Georgia Browne Flute Tuomo Suni Violin Nicholas Milne Viola da gamba Haru Kitamika Harpsichord
Scott Ellaway Conductor Nicola Benedetti Violin
Abel Works for viola da gamba; Trio Sonata 16’ Handel Trio Sonata in B minor Op. 2/1 11’ Handel Flute Sonata in E minor 10’ Bach Sonata in A major BWV 1015 15’ Bach A Musical Offering BWV 1079 22’
Mendelssohn Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream 12’ Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto 35’ Schubert Symphony No 9 in C major, ‘The Great’ 45’ Orchestra Europa is a brand new venture in 2009, bringing together the finest orchestral musicians from around Europe at a critical point in their careers between conservatoire studies and full-time work. Enterprising Welsh conductor Scott Ellaway, still in his twenties, has realised this ambitious project, and this Cheltenham performance with star violinist Nicola Benedetti is the culmination of Orchestra Europa’s first year of residencies and concerts.
Taking its name from the Italian name for The Hague, Ensemble L’Aia comprises some of the most distinguished recent graduates from the Dutch city’s Royal Music Conservatory - one of the world’s centres of period instrument performance and training. Bach and Handel never met. But they did share the same English eye surgeon, whose operations on both composers were equally unsuccessful. And they did get offered the same job, at different times, as Buxtehude’s successor in Lübeck - on condition that they married his daughter. It was a prize job, but apparently the daughter was not so much of a catch, and neither took up the post...
Mendelssohn famously revived a number of baroque works by Handel and Bach, including the St Matthew Passion. But he also conducted the first performance of Schubert’s final symphony, the ‘Great C Major’, a decade after the composer’s death. Recorded for future broadcast
M8 M45
M12 M70
SOMETHING ELSE DAVID REES-WILLIAMS TRIO
THE ROYAL HARPIST claire jones M22 St Swithin’s Church, Quenington 3pm (ends approximately 4.10pm)
Pittville Pump Room 9pm (ends approximately 10.20pm)
£10 unreserved
£15 M24 Cabaret seating, bar available
Bach (arr. Rayan-Forero) Partita No 1 BWV 825 Walter-Kune Eugene Onegin Fantasie Fibich (arr.Claire Jones) Poem Salzedo Ballade John Williams (arr. Jolly/Jones) Theme From Schindler’s List Mathias Santa Fe Suite De Falla (arr. Grandjany) Spanish Dance No 1
£27 M25 Includes pre-ordered cheese platter and wine For any fans of Jacques Loussier’s jazzy take on classical tunes, this is the concert for you. In fact, the Evening Standard has claimed that this piano-bass-drums trio ‘far outstrips anything achieved by Jacques Loussier or the Swingles. They are on another plane and deserve huge recognition’.
Dormant since the 1870s and the reign of Queen Victoria, Prince Charles revived the ancient post of Royal Harpist in 2000. Pembrokeshire-raised Claire Jones, a winner at the National Eisteddfod in 2006, is the current holder of this unusual but culturally important post – as an ambassador for the instrument, appearances take her from rural schools to Grand Slam dinners for the Welsh rugby team. Her varied programme ranges from William Mathias’ classic work for the instrument – in what would have been his 75th birthday year – to spirited, virtuoso showpieces. Teas will be served afterwards in the Rectory (£2) Supported by Quenington Sculpture Trust
Nicola Benedetti
14
Thursday 9 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 1
SOMETHING ELSE - FILm FIDDLER ON THE HOOF
M26 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
M28 Pittville Campus 7pm (ends 7.55pm)
£10 £14 £18
£5 unreserved
Festival Academy Strings James Gilchrist Tenor Clare Muireann Murphy Storyteller Neil Thomson Conductor
With atmospheric performances, a real New York Jewish wedding, and pre-war archive footage, this documentary – made for the BBC in 1992 by Simon Broughton - gives a clear picture of where klezmer has come from and where it’s going. It includes performances by Kapelye, the Klezmatics, Don Byron, Giora Feidman and many more.
Herrmann Suite from Psycho 10’ Barber Adagio 8’ Finzi Dies Natalis 25’ Mahler Adagietto from Symphony No 5 10’ Delius Sonata for Strings 25’
M55 M59
This year’s Festival Academy project, a string orchestra, is at the heart of the Festival’s entire programme, performing works by anniversary composers Handel and Mendelssohn, by several composers of Jewish heritage, and a number of Cheltenham premieres past and present.
SOMETHING ELSE KLEZMER Band Kol Simcha Jewish folk music with a twist
This opening concert is a feast of vivid, emotionally intense string writing - from Herrmann’s brilliantly tense music for Hitchcock’s Psycho to the melancholic loveliness of Mahler’s Adagietto. James Gilchrist’s affinity with English song makes him the perfect tenor for Finzi’s lyrical masterpiece, and Eric Fenby’s arrangement for string orchestra of Delius’ 1916 string quartet gets a rare but welcome hearing.
M29 Pittville Bistro/Pittville Pump Room 7pm (ends approximately 10pm) performance and dinner - hearty bowl food, £35 bagels and local ale)
M30 Pittville Pump Room 8.30pm (ends approximately 10pm) £10 £14 £18 performance only
Intrigued how Clare Muireann Murphy, an Irish storyteller of unique communicative gifts, will weave her narrative spell in this vivid programme? Come and find out...
Klezmer music is soulful, vigorous and virtuosic. Meaning ‘instrument of song’ in Hebrew, it originates from the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, and its infectious rhythms and melodies have a certain exoticism that suggest something further east again. But klezmer travelled west, too, with Jewish migration to North America, and through the work of exceptional musicians like Benny Goodman, found its way into early jazz.
See page 31 for further Festival Academy information. Supported by The Steel Charitable Trust In recognition of the Leonora Society
M2 M37
Swiss group Kol Simcha – Hebrew for the ‘voice of joy’ – is a remarkable quintet featuring clarinet, flute, piano, bass and drums. Dazzlingly virtuosic, sophisticated yet earthy, and with an original, jazz-inflected take on this Jewish folk music, their live performances are unforgettable.
THE ROYAL HARPIST
M27 St Eadburgha’s, Broadway 3pm (ends approximately 4.10pm)
‘The music cuts across all boundaries. They sound jazzy, funky and fun’. Time Out
£10 unreserved This is a repeat of Claire Jones’ programme on Wednesday 8 July, this time in the exquisite medieval church of St Eadburgha, set a mile away from Broadway itself on the lane leading to Snowshill.
M24
Simon Jenkins, in England’s Thousand Best Churches, explains that Eadburgha was Alfred the Great’s granddaughter – ‘to whom sainthood came without too much hardship when, as a child, she was offered jewels or a Bible as a gift and she chose the latter.’
Kol Simcha
15
Friday 10 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 2
WORLD QUARTETS 4 META4 & Ingrid FLITER BBC RADIO 3 NEW GENERATION ARTISTS
M32 Holy Apostles Church, Charlton Kings (Cheltenham) 3pm (ends approximately 4.10pm)
M31 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
£15
£14 £18 £22
Festival Academy Soloists including Catriona Scott Clarinet Alexandra Wood Violin Caroline Henbest Viola Robin Michael Cello Huw Watkins Piano
Beethoven Quartet Op. 130/133 Grosse Fuge 40’ Bach Italian Concerto BWV 971 13’ Schumann Piano Quintet in A minor 25’ Argentinian pianist Ingrid Fliter, who gave a memorable Cheltenham debut recital in 2008, performs the Schumann Quintet with the latest string quartet to join the New Generation Artist scheme, Meta4 from Finland. Formed in 2001, they won the Shostakovich competition in Moscow in 2004 and Vienna’s Joseph Haydn Chamber Music Competition in 2007.
Prokofiev Overture on Hebrew Themes 9’ Richard Rodney Bennett Duo Concertante 10’ Judith Weir Piano Quartet 17’ Schoenberg Verklärte Nacht 25’ Schoenberg’s string sextet is one of the definitive closing statements of romanticism, a tone poem of huge structural and emotional range. Prior to this, we hear two chamber works premiered at Cheltenham: Judith Weir’s Piano Quartet, written for the Schubert Ensemble in 2000, and Richard Rodney Bennett’s showpiece for clarinet and piano, commissioned by the Royal Overseas League for a Cheltenham premiere in 1986.
Supported by Michael & Angela Cronk
M20
Supported by The Steel Charitable Trust
M35
SOMETHING ELSE THE GENIUS OF ANTONIO STRADIVARI M33 Pittville Pump Room 5.30pm (ends 6.30pm) £5
Meta4
unreserved
An illustrated talk by Toby Faber, author of Stradivarius: Five violins, one cello and a genius (Macmillan) Nearly 300 years after Antonio Stradivari’s death, his violins and cellos remain the most highly prized instruments in the world. Loved by great musicians and capable of fetching fabulous sums when sold, their tone and beauty are legendary. Every subsequent violin-maker has tried to match them. Not one has succeeded. How can that be? Prior to the recital by Steven Isserlis - himself playing on one of these extraordinary instruments - Toby Faber explores this mystery in an illustrated talk that will follow Stradivari’s instruments from his workshop to the present day.
M69 Ingrid Fliter
16
Friday 10 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
STEVEN ISSERLIS
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 3
£18 £22 £26
£15 unreserved
Steven Isserlis Cello Connie Shih Piano
Festival Academy Soloists Huw Watkins Piano Samuel West Reader Richard Baker Conductor
M34 Pittville Pump Room 7pm (ends approximately 9pm)
M35 Holy Apostles Church, Charlton Kings (Cheltenham) 9.30pm (ends approximately 10.30pm)
Schumann Fantasiestücke Op. 73 10’ Mendelssohn Variations (UK premiere) 15’ Schumann Stücke im Volkston Op. 102 18’ Schumann (arr Piatti) Märchenbilder, Op. 113 15’ Mendelssohn Sonata No 2 in D major, Op. 58 27’
Michael Zev Gordon A Pebble in the Pond (concert premiere) 25’ Huw Watkins New work for piano (premiere) 5’ Sally Beamish/Phi Hind The Sins (premiere) 30’
We welcome back to Cheltenham one of the world’s most celebrated cellists, Steven Isserlis, for a programme that focuses on two composers he has a special affinity with. He includes the UK premiere of some variations for cello and piano that Mendelssohn composed in 1830. While the manuscript of the piano part exists in Berlin’s State Library, the cello part is missing. The Italian composer Gabrio Taglietti has been commissioned to reconstruct afresh this cello part, and the world premiere was given by Isserlis earlier this year in Italy.
Michael Zev Gordon collaborated with Eva Hoffmann on a work specially written for radio in 2003; uniquely evocative and expressive, this reflection on memory won a Prix d’Italia the following year. The performance here is the premiere of a concert version commissioned by HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival. William Langland’s Piers Plowman, written towards the end of the 14th century and set in the nearby Malverns, is one of the earliest major poems in the English language. From its rich narrative Phil Hind has translated and adapted to modern English Langland’s description of The Seven Sins, and this has been developed for narrator and ensemble by Sally Beamish.
“There is no composer to whom I feel closer than to Schumann. He has been a beloved friend since I was a child; I remain as fascinated today as I was then by his unique blend of poetry, ecstatic strength and confessional intimacy.” Steven Isserlis, writing in the booklet notes for his recent Hyperion recording.
The Sins commissioned and supported by Beryl Calver-Jones and Gerry Mattock Supported by The Steel Charitable Trust
M11
Steven Isserlis
Samuel West
17
Saturday 11 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 4
SOMETHING ELSE - family event MICHAEL MORPURGO’S THE MOZART QUESTION
M37 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 1pm)
M38 Pittville Pump Room 3pm (ends approximately 4pm)
£10 £14 £18
£8
Festival Academy Strings Tunde Jegede Kora Catriona Scott Clarinet Alexandra Wood Violin Robin Michael Cello Neil Thomson Conductor
£5 for children
Ideal for children aged 8+ Michael Morpurgo Reader Alison Reid Actor Simon Reade Director Musicians from the Royal Academy of Music
Maw Life Studies (selection) 10’ Shostakovich Two pieces for String Octet Op.11 11’ Hoddinott Clarinet Concerto No 1 15’ Jegede new work 15’ Ravel (arr. Tognetti) Kaddish 5’ Bloch From Jewish Life: Prayer 5’ Mendelssohn String Symphony No 10 10’
This unique performance of words and music is based on Michael Morpurgo’s recent book The Mozart Question, illustrated by Michael Foreman and published by Walker Books. A young English journalist interviews a worldfamous violinist in Venice, and an extraordinary, moving story unfolds - from the master storyteller Morpurgo, author of War Horse and Children's Laureate 2003–05.
This second Festival Academy orchestral concert brings three Jewish-linked works – setting the brilliance of Mendelssohn’s string writing against the soulful intensity of Ravel and Bloch - together with three Cheltenham premieres. Alun Hoddinott’s early Clarinet Concerto was first heard at Cheltenham in 1954, and its lively confidence announced a major new voice in postwar British music. Nicholas Maw’s ambitious series of Life Studies were premiered in successive Cheltenham festivals in the mid-1970s by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields. Tunde Jegede’s new piece for strings and kora – the West African harp-lute that he plays with such bewitching delicacy – is the climax of his three-year performance and composition residency at Cheltenham.
Berkhamstead School
EXPLORE
Meurig Bowen in conversation with Tunde Jegede M36 Oval Room, Pittville Pump Room, 10.15am (ends approximately 10.45am) Free Tickets should be booked in advance Supported by The Steel Charitable Trust
M16 M18
Michael Morpurgo
Tunde Jegede
18
M5
Saturday 11 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
GLOUCESTER & CHICHESTER PSALMS
FRETWORK viol consort BIRDS ON FIRE
M39 Gloucester Cathedral 6.30pm (ends approximately 8.20pm)
M40 Pittville Bistro/Pittville Pump Room 7pm (ends approximately 10pm) performance plus drink on arrival £60 and 3 course meal with wine
£8* £10 £15 £20 £25 Gloucester Cathedral Choir Festival Academy Strings Hannah Atherton & Lucy Bowen Sopranos Adrian Partington Conductor
M41 Pittville Pump Room 9pm (ends approximately 10pm) £10 £14 £18 performance only
Parry I was glad 6’ Purcell Hear my prayer 3’ Mendelssohn Hear my prayer 8’ Allegri Miserere 8’ Lennox Berkeley The Lord is my Shepherd 5’ Bernstein Chichester Psalms 20’ Handel Dixit Dominus 40’
Italian Jewish musicians at the Tudor Court This fascinating programme focuses on music of the Lupos & Bassanos, clandestine Jews brought to England in 1540 by Henry VIII to supplement his court music. Fretwork also perform Orlando Gough’s Birds on Fire, a klezmer-infused work inspired by Aaron Appelfeld’s novel Badenheim 1939.
2 – 23 – 51 – 55 – 100 – 110 – 122 No, these aren’t some random lottery numbers, or an obscure mathematical sequence - they are all psalms set to music in this enticing programme by Gloucester Cathedral Choir. From Allegri’s sublime, soaring Psalm 51 for the Sistine Chapel to Leonard Bernstein’s Hebrew psalms for Chichester Cathedral Choir, these Old Testament texts have inspired the finest musical expression of despair, consolation and rejoicing across the centuries.
'I love this group; I love their timbre, I love the way the individual styles of the viol players tussle against and inform each other, I love the tension of their approach and the sound they create.' Anna Picard, Independent on Sunday M6
From start to finish, Handel’s setting of Psalm 110 is a wonderfully energising experience – with its clean Italianate lines and melodic grace, a remarkable achievement from the 22 year-old newly arrived in Rome. Alongside Purcell’s compact but hugely affecting lament and the ceremonial sweep of Parry’s anthem for King Edward VII’s coronation, there is Mendelssohn’s Hear my prayer, with its beloved set-piece soprano solo O for the wings of a dove. Supported by Diana Woolley Lie back and think of… * For £8, soak up the sounds and sights of this stunning building in the Cathedral side aisles, where seats are replaced by your own rugs, blankets or cushions. M17
Fretwork
Gloucester Cathedral
19
Sunday 12 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
the nash ensemble
NATIONAL YOUTH WIND ENSEMBLE NATIONAL YOUTH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
M43 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.50pm)
M44 Pittville Pump Room 4.30pm (ends approximately 6.20pm)
£14 £18 £22
£10 £14 £18
Mozart String Quintet in C minor, K 406 23’ Alexander Goehr Clarinet Quintet 18’ Goehr Manere (UK premiere) 7’ Mendelssohn String Quintet in B flat major, Op. 87 32’
Phillip Scott Conductor Christopher Hirons Director
Alongside string quintets (‘viola quintets’) by Mozart and Mendelssohn, the Nash Ensemble perform two recent works by Alexander Goehr. Manere, a short duo for clarinet and violin, was premiered in Germany last October.
Grainger Colonial Song 5’ Richard Rodney Bennett The Four Seasons 19’ Philip Grange Cloud Atlas (premiere) 21’ Shiva Feshareki insistent distortions (premiere) 17’ Haydn Symphony No 100 ‘Military’ 25’
Goehr’s Clarinet Quintet was premiered by the Nash in March 2008, and instantly recognised as one of Goehr’s most compelling works – according to the Evening Standard ‘a work of mellifluous expressivity verging on hedonism’.
The National Youth Wind Ensemble and National Youth Chamber Orchestra are made up of some of the finest instrumentalists in Britain, aged 13-19. An enterprising commissioning policy results here in the world premiere performances of works by Philip Grange and Shiva Feshareki - who will speak briefly from the stage about their compositions.
EXPLORE
Christopher Cook in conversation with Alexander Goehr M42 Oval Room, Pittville Pump Room 10.15am (ends approximately 10.45am) Free Tickets should be booked in advance.
Recorded for future broadcast
M37
PURCELL’S KING ARTHUR
M45 Cheltenham Town Hall 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.30pm)
M53
£5 £10 £15 £20 £25 Cheltenham Bach Choir The Corelli Orchestra Soloists tba Stephen Jackson Conductor ‘We have at length found an Englishman equal with the best abroad’ wrote John Dryden of Purcell in 1690. In Dryden’s ‘dramatick opera’ there is no Camelot, Guinevere, Round Table or any of the usual Arthurian baggage, rather an improbable tale of battle, sorcery and kidnap whose cast of characters includes Merlin, naked nymphs, a Cold Genius and Oswald the wicked Saxon King of Kent, finally vanquished by Arthur to form a United Kingdom. Purcell responds to this hokum with some of his greatest music, including the celebrated Frost Scene and one showstopper, Fairest Isle. The mixture of jingoism, sentiment and self-mocking irony is exactly how we celebrate Englishness to this day – at the Last Night of the Proms. A feel-good concert for these troubled times!
M8 M17
The Nash Ensemble
20
Monday 13 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
WORLD QUARTETS 5 ROYAL String QUARTET & EMMA JOHNSON
BBC RADIO 3’S DISCOVERING MUSIC MAHLER & SCHNITTKE
M46 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 1pm)
M48 Pittville Pump Room 6pm (ends approximately 7.45pm) Free Tickets should be booked in advance
£18 £22 £26
Aronowitz Ensemble with Stephen Johnson Presenter
Mendelssohn Quartet in A minor, Op.13 30’ Szymanowski Quartet No 2, Op. 56 21’ Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major, K 581 30’
Mahler Piano Quartet in A Minor Schnittke Piano Quartet; Piano Quintet Whilst Gustav Mahler’s mature musical style seems to be fully formed at a very early age – with such a work as his early Piano Quartet movement - the polystylistic leanings of Alfred Schnittke arguably prevented him ever fully realising his own voice. Radio 3’s Discovering Music returns to the festival with Stephen Johnson, presenting an intriguing look at the musical and personal identities of these two composers, and the close links the three works share.
The Polish representatives in the World Quartets series bring their countryman Szymanowski’s second quartet to Cheltenham, a richly-hued work composed in the late 1920s once the composer’s early French impressionist leanings were merged with more local Polish influences. The Royals, BBC New Generation Artists between 2003-5, are joined by Emma Johnson for one of the jewels of all chamber music, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet. ‘This is music for consenting adults only. Imagine the steamier bits of Wagner’s Tristan, the mystical frenzy of Skryabin and the lusciousness of Ravel’s String Quartet combined together, and you’ll have some idea of Karol Szymanowski’s two string quartets … The Royal String Quartet do them proud.’ The Daily Telegraph Supported by Clive Coates & Ann Murray
M20 M61
SING EAST SING WEST
M47 Cheltenham Town Hall 6pm (ends approximately 7pm) £5
Free for children, unreserved
Emma Johnson
What do ancient chants and lively European wedding songs have in common with Broadway musicals? 200 children from six Gloucestershire schools will find out in this celebration of music from Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America. A series of workshops and this culminating performance focuses on the Jewish Ashkenazi and Sephardic traditions, Judeo-Arabic songs and the influence of klezmer on 20th century American music. Project leaders Liz Terry and Rachel Gay are joined by Joglaresa, a captivating ensemble whose repertoire includes Judeo-Arabic dance songs, Berber rhythms and Moorish romanzas.
See page 29 for full Education funding credits
Royal String Quartet
21
Tuesday 14 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
ELIZABETH WATTS BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists
SOMETHING ELSE - Film THE GREAT MR HANDEL
M49 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.30pm)
M51 Pittville Campus 5pm (ends 6.40pm)
£14 £18 £22
£5 unreserved In 1942, the bi-centenary year of Messiah’s first performance in Dublin, J Arthur Rank and director Norman Walker collaborated on a film that told the story of this masterwork’s creation; unusually for wartime, it was shot in Technicolour. The London Philharmonic Orchestra – no doubt fascinatingly out of style to modern taste – laid down the Messiah soundtrack alongside great singers of the day such as Gladys Ripley. A musical and cinematic period-piece in this big Handel anniversary year.
Elizabeth Watts Soprano Paul Turner Piano Schubert Frülingsreise (Spring Journey) 35’ Barber Hermit Songs Op. 29 18’ Britten Six Folksongs 15’ Winner of the prestigious Kathleen Ferrier Prize in 2006 and the Rosenblatt Recital Award at the Cardiff Singer of the World in 2007, Elizabeth Watts is now settling into her prime as a lyric soprano of supreme communicative gifts. Her new recording with Roger Vignoles of Schubert Lieder is remarkably assured, displaying an artistry and vocal control well beyond someone still only in her late twenties. Elizabeth’s programme includes her own newly assembled cycle of springtime songs by Schubert – intended as a cheerful counterpart to the three official, and rather miserable, Schubert song cycles.
ANGELA HEWITT
Supported by Patricia Routledge
M52 Pittville Pump Room 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.20pm) £18 £22 £26
M56 M60
Handel Suite No 2 in F major 11’ Bach English Suite No 6 in D minor 26’ Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue No 1 in E minor 7’ Mendelssohn Variations Serieuses 11’ Haydn Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. 52 22’
KEITH NUTLAND AWARD WINNER & GLOUCeSTERSHIRE YOUNG musician M50 St Mary’s Church, Painswick 3pm (ends approximately 4.10pm)
Bach is the composer Canadian pianist Angela Hewitt has built her huge reputation on in the last decade, with her Hyperion recordings and recent worldwide tour of the Well Tempered Klavier. In this recital – her first in Cheltenham – she builds around one of Bach’s English suites a programme featuring the three anniversary composers in 2009.
£7.50 unreserved Liz Faulkner Double Bass Jonathan McNaught Piano Programme to include music by Bach, Chopin, Bloch, Handel, Mendelssohn, Schubert and Rachmaninov.
“ ...one of the reliably mesmerising musicians of the day” The Sunday Times
16 year-old Jonathan McNaught, winner of the 2009 Gloucestershire Young Musician competition, is a student at Pate’s Grammar School. Keith Nutland award-winner Liz Faulkner attended Ribston Hall High School and is now studying at Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Elizabeth Watts
Angela Hewitt
22
Recorded for future broadcast
Wednesday 15 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
WORLD QUARTETS 6 QUATUOR DIOTIMA
SOMETHING ELSE NORMAN LEBRECHT ON MENDELSSOHN & MAHLER
M53 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.40pm)
M55 Cheltenham Synagogue, Synagogue Lane 5.30pm (ends 6.30pm)
£14 £18 £22
£5 unreserved
Beethoven Quartet No16 in F major, Op.135 25’ Matthias Pintscher Study IV for Treatise on the Veil (UK premiere) 20’ Ravel Quartet in F major 27’
Mendelssohn, Mahler and the Jewish Question (Is that a yes or no?) Two influential composers share a common religious and ethnic origin. Does that necessarily affect their music and how we listen to it? Music historian and award-winning novelist Norman Lebrecht presents new research and radical interpretations on the Jewish nature of Felix Mendelssohn and Gustav Mahler, on Jews in western culture and on a great, unmentionable guilt.
Formed over a decade ago by graduates of the Paris and Lyon Conservatoires, the Quatuor Diotima has established itself as one of the world’s finest exponents of both mainstream and contemporary string quartet repertoire. So a programme that combines works by Beethoven and Ravel with a brand new work from much admired German composer Matthias Pintscher will display their qualities admirably. Pintscher has been co-commissioned by Cheltenham, the Salzburg Mozarteum and Kunstfest in Weimar. Supported by Eleanor Budge & the George Budge Trust
M28 M59
Recorded for future broadcast
GLOUCESTERSHIRE YOUTH ORCHESTRA M56 Cheltenham Town Hall 7.00pm (ends approximately 9.15pm)
£7.50 unreserved Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra Glyn Oxley Conductor
songs of the dispossessed M54 Pittville Pump Room 4pm (ends approximately 5.10pm)
Mendelssohn A Hebrides Overture 10’ Copland Appalachian Spring 23’ Mahler Symphony No 1 50’
£10 unreserved
After Glyn Oxley’s successful debut appearance in 2008 as the GYO’s conductor, he returns with a programme that combines musical depictions of two very different landscapes with Mahler’s first symphony, known as ‘The Titan’.
Catherine Hopper Mezzo-soprano Simon Lepper Pianist tba Harp Ravel Deux Mélodies Hébraïques 10’ Schumann Gedichte der Königin Maria Stuart 10’ Dvorak Zigeunermelodien (Gypsy Songs) 12’ Michael Zev Gordon Mandelstam settings (premiere) 20’ Sasha Siem from the white dictionary (premiere) 10’ A recent graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and currently at the National Opera Studio, Catherine Hopper is one of the UK’s most exciting emerging singing talents. Her programme, focusing on music about political and social outsiders, is prompted by Michael Zev Gordon’s new settings of poems by the Russian counterrevolutionary Osip Mandelstam. Eva Hoffmann will introduce the work, which has been commissioned by Johanna Roeber. Sasha Siem’s new work for mezzo and harp is a Royal Philharmonic Society/Susan Bradshaw Composers’ Fund commission.
M49 M60
Catherine Hopper
23
Thursday 16 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
HAYDN TRIO EISENSTADT
SOMETHING ELSE ALEXANDER WAUGH ON MUSICAL VIENNA
M57 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.55pm)
M59 Pittville Pump Room 6pm (ends 7pm)
£14 £18 £22
£5 unreserved
Haydn Trio Eisenstadt Elin Manahan Thomas Soprano
Musical Vienna and the House of Wittgenstein
Haydn Piano Trio in C major Hob. XV/27 20’ Haydn Welsh folksong settings 20’ John Woolrich The Night Will Not Draw On (2009) 9’ Beethoven Piano Trio in B flat, Op 97 ‘Archduke’ 35’
Prior to Christiana Stotijn’s substantially fin de siècle Viennese recital programme, Alexander Waugh – author of the recent biography The House of Wittgenstein - focuses on the Austrian capital’s musical life at that time. As with his enthusiastically received Wittgenstein talk at the The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival, Waugh will give examples on the piano as he investigates questions of Jewish musical identity, and the extraordinary musical connections between Jewish figures such as Joseph Joachim, Mahler, Korngold, Goldmark, Schoenberg and the House of Wittgenstein. M55
Haydn worked loyally for the Esterhazy family at and near Eisenstadt for three decades, creating the majority of his symphonies, chamber music and operas there. The Haydn Trio Eisenstadt, one of Austria’s finest chamber ensembles, has commissioned 18 works from around the world, all of them homages to Haydn. We present John Woolrich’s new work alongside piano trios by Haydn, his one-time pupil Beethoven, and some of Haydn’s arrangements of Welsh folksongs – sung here, in Welsh, by rising star soprano Elin Manahan Thomas.
Recorded for future broadcast
Supported by Elizabeth Jacobs
STOTIJN & DRAKE
M60 Pittville Pump Room 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.20pm)
M11 M53
£14 £18 £22 Christianne Stotijn Mezzo-soprano Julius Drake Piano
SOMETHING ELSE - FILM IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN
Mendelssohn Lieder (selection) 20’ Schoenberg Lieder Op. 3 (selection) 15’ Zemlinsky Maeterlinck Songs Op.13 15’ Mahler Des Knaben Wunderhorn (selection) 25’
M58 Pittville Campus 3pm (ends 5.15pm) £5 unreserved
In recent years, Dutch mezzo Christianne Stotijn has established herself as one of the great singers of her generation. Interpretatively and vocally, she will be thoroughly at home in this programme of Austro-German romantic song - tracking Romanticism’s course from the easy lyricism of Mendelssohn to its final utterances in Vienna by Mahler, Schoenberg and his teacher/brother-in-law Zemlinsky.
Phil Grabsky’s new film In Search of Beethoven has brought together some of the world’s leading performers and experts on Beethoven to reveal new insights into this legendary composer. The line-up of performers and interviewees includes Gianandrea Noseda, Roger Norrington, Leif Ove Andsnes, Janine Jansen, Paul Lewis, Emanuel Ax and the Endellion Quartet. Juliet Stevenson narrates.
Supported by the Helena Oldacre Trust
Recorded for future broadcast
M49 M54
Elin Manahan Thomas
Christianne Stotijn
24
Friday 17 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
WORLD QUARTETS 7 AUSTRALIAN STRING QUARTET
Nicholas kynaston
M63 Gloucester Cathedral 7pm (ends approximately 8.10pm)
M61 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.45 pm)
£8 unreserved (includes glass of wine)
£10 £14 £18 Haydn Quartet Op. 76 No 2 20’ Peter Sculthorpe Quartet No 8 16’ Mendelssohn Quartet Op. 44/1 29’
Arne Concerto No 5 in G minor 12’ Smart Andante No 1 6’ Mendelssohn Sonata No 2 12’ Mendelssohn Prelude and Fugue in F minor 9’ Tournemire Pater, dimite illis Op. 67 No 1 9’ Franck Choral No 1 in E major 14’
The Australian String Quartet brings to Cheltenham one of Peter Sculthorpe’s distinctive quartets – music that evokes Australian landscape and nature with astonishing eloquence. 80 years old in 2009, he has now written 17 quartets – one more, he points out, than Beethoven, and two more than Shostakovich. About 65 fewer than Haydn however… Supported by Mary Mackenzie, Richard Walton & friends
In partnership with Gloucester Cathedral’s organ recital series, we present a programme from Nicholas Kynaston that includes his own arrangement of Mendelssohn’s F minor Prelude and Fugue for piano. CCTV transmission on large screens gives the audience a chance to get close to the hands and feet in the organ loft.
M4 M57
SOMETHING ELSE KIT & THE WIDOW
MARK VINER
M62 Pittville Pump Room 3pm (ends approximately 4pm)
M64 Pittville Bistro/Pittville Pump Room 6.45pm (ends approximately 10.15pm) performance plus drink on arrival £65 and 3 course meal with wine
£8 unreserved Haydn Sonata in B minor Hob. XVI:32 14’ Schumann Etudes Symphoniques Op. 13 9’ Alkan Symphonie from Douze Etudes Op. 39 27’
M65 Pittville Pump Room 9pm (ends approximately 10.15pm) £14 £18 £22 performance only
20 year-old pianist Mark Viner won a scholarship to the Purcell School and is now studying at the Royal College of Music. His programme includes the mighty Symphonie from the Opus 39 of 19th century French virtuoso CharlesValentin Alkan.
If you want music, humour and a delightful setting, this is the perfect summertime Friday night out. Describing themselves as ‘Western Europe’s Leading Lounge Act’, Kit & the Widow’s brand of sophisticated, delightfully witty musical cabaret is in a class of its own. As the piano and voice duo of Richard Sisson and Kit Hesketh-Harvey say on their website: ‘If you like Tom Lehrer, Victor Borge, Fascinating Aida, Flanders and Swann or Anna Russell, chances are you’ll like us’.
Supported by John Eaden, Rosemary Harvey M52
Australian String Quartet
Kit & the Widow
25
Saturday 18 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
SOMETHING ELSE MACKWOODS FINE TEA & OPERA
WORLD QUARTETS 8 ASHES OCTET
M68 Pittville Pump Room 3pm (ends approximately 5pm)
M66 Pittville Pump Room 11am (ends approximately 12.55pm) £14 £18 £22
£8 unreserved
Australian String Quartet Barbirolli String Quartet *
After the huge success of such a pairing last year, Mackwoods Fine Tea presents an afternoon tea tasting and opera cabaret.
Beethoven Quartet in F minor, Op. 95 ‘Serioso’ 22’ * Britten Quartet No 2 28’ * Mendelssohn Octet in E flat major, Op. 20 33’
Mackwoods, with its 160 year heritage, produces a full range of unblended Single Estate Black teas on their own plantations in Sri Lanka. This event combines a range of popular opera arias and duets with a formal tea tasting, expertly led by Mackwoods’ highly trained personnel flown in specially from Sri Lanka.
As a fitting climax to the World Quartets series in this 2009 Festival, two quartets join together to perform Mendelssohn’s mighty achievement from his teens, the Octet. It is particularly apt that an Australian quartet joins a British one - the Barbirollis who made a distinguished Cheltenham debut in 2008 - on the third day of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s. Supported by Sir Michael McWilliam
M43 M46
SOMETHING ELSE WOOD, GLUE, GUT AND VARNISH
SOMETHING ELSE THE HUMOUR OF HOFFNUNG
M69 Drawing Room, Cheltenham Town Hall 5.45pm (ends 6.45pm)
M67 Pittville Campus 1.30pm (ends approximately 2.30pm)
£5
£5 unreserved
unreserved
The Science of String Instruments Martin Coath & Kai-Thomas Roth
An illustrated talk by Annetta Hoffnung
String instruments are iconic works of art, and essential tools for making some of the world’s most popular music. Even some of the most prosaic questions we could ask about them - such as ‘what holds them together’? - have answers that make you look at these familiar objects in a whole new light. Martin Coath (researcher in auditory neuroscience, and violinist) and Kai-Thomas Roth (luthier, and past Chairman of the British Violin Makers Association) will take you on a whistle-stop tour with illustrations and demonstrations to get everyone closer to the wood, glue, gut, and varnish!
On the last day of our Hoffnung exhibition in the Pittville Campus’ Summerfield Gallery (see next page), Gerard Hoffnung’s widow Annetta talks about this brilliant artist, broadcaster, comedian and cartoonist. With hilarious clips from his famous Royal Festival Hall concerts and rare footage of Hoffnung himself, she gives a unique insight into her husband’s legacy.
M33
Barbirolli String Quartet
Gerard and Annetta Hoffnung
26
Saturday 18 July
Box Office 0844 576 7979
HALLÉ FINALE
M70 Cheltenham Town Hall 7.30pm (ends approximately 9.30pm) £5 £12 £18 £24 £30 Hallé Orchestra Vilde Frang Violin Edward Gardner Conductor Adès Overture, Waltz and Finale from Powder Her Face 10’ Mendelssohn Violin Concerto in E minor 28’ Britten Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes 15’ Sibelius Symphony No 5 30’ With such a longstanding history of appearances in Cheltenham - particularly with John Barbirolli in the 1950s - it is fitting that the Hallé finish off the 65th Festival in celebratory style. Edward Gardner, once a chorister nearby in Gloucester Cathedral and now making a big name for himself as Music Director of English National Opera, teams up with the Hallé in a programme that combines two orchestral favourites with music by Britten and Adès. Britten’s Four Sea Interludes were premiered at the very first Cheltenham Music Festival in 1945, just five days after Peter Grimes’ auspicious London premiere. Likewise, another important Cheltenham premiere is marked with Thomas Adès’ stunning re-working of material from his first opera Powder Her Face, heard for the first time in Cheltenham in 1995.
Edward Gardner
You may not have heard of Vilde Frang, because she’s young and she hasn’t performed very much in the UK yet. But she’s being tipped for greatness, and you might well be able to say in years to come: ‘I heard her first in Cheltenham in 2009…’ ‘The golden era may be happening right now.’ The Guardian on The Hallé, 2008 Supported by the Oldham Foundation
M23 M26
Vilde Frang
Hallé Orchestra
27
Exhibitions
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
HOFFNUNG
PAINTED QUARTETS
A 50th anniversary exhibition
To honour Haydn, the ‘father of the string quartet’, a range of artists have been invited to transform condemned violins, violas and cellos for a Cheltenham-wide exhibition of Painted Quartets. At the time of going to press, it is anticipated there will be 20 instruments - five quartets exhibited, including one entire quartet by celebrated local artist PJ Crook.
Gerard Hoffnung died tragically young at the age of 34 in 1959. Coming to London from Berlin as a schoolboy refugee in 1939, his precocious talents for drawing and caricature led to enormous success throughout the 1950s as an artist, cartoonist, broadcaster and musician.
Curated in association with Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum, the Quartets will be exhibited in the Summerfield Gallery at Pittville Campus, at CAGM itself, and in other locations around Cheltenham. The instruments will subsequently be auctioned for charity.
This exhibition, unique to Cheltenham in this anniversary year, gives a rare chance to see the full range of Hoffnung’s comic and artistic genius - childhood drawings, illustrative watercolours, bespoke musical instruments and the originals of all his beloved musical sketches. It will surprise and delight in equal measure.
Saturday 4 – Saturday 18 July Go to cheltenhamfestivals.com for further information and opening times
Summerfield Gallery, Pittville Campus Saturday 4 – Saturday 18 July Go to cheltenhamfestivals.com for opening times
Cello by PJ Crook
REMNANTS OF OUR TIME
Cello by Lincoln Seligman
Inspired by Water
Sculpture by Josie Spencer Life-size figurative works in bronze and clay. Pittville Pump Room: collonade and Oval Room. Sales will benefit HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival www.josiespencer.com
Photography by Elizabeth Jacobs Town Hall
A BIRD’S EYE VIEW
Photography by Nicki Gwynn-Jones Pittville Pump Room
28
Box Office 0844 576 7979
Box Office 0844 576 7979
MANTRA
Saturday 4 July Pupils from KS3 and 4 perform their own composition with the Orlando Consort and British Asian musicians Kuljit Bhamra, Jonathan Mayer and Shahid Khan. This follows an innovative school-based project blending the musical traditions of India with those of medieval Europe. See page 8 for concert information
TUNDE JEGEDE
Musician Tunde Jegede (kora and cello) is joined by his long-term collaborator, spoken word artist HKB Finn, for a series of workshops, marking the culmination of a threeyear project to bring classical and urban musicians in Gloucestershire together.
FESTIVAL ACADEMY AND THE NATIONAL STAR COLLEGE
Wednesday 8 July In this unique and highly successful collaboration, now in its 5th year, the Festival Academy takes part in a day of workshops with performing arts students at the National Star College, a centre for young adults with acquired brain injuries. Led by charismatic young conductor Will Carslake, this year’s project involves both students and musicians in producing the musical accompaniment to a short piece of drama. The highlight of the day is a performance for friends, supporters and fellow students. If you are interested in attending this, please contact philippa.claridge@cheltenhamfestivals.com
PAINTED QUARTETS
In this stunning visual component of the Music Festival, school and community groups will have the opportunity to participate by painting and decorating two-dimensional violins on card – for exhibition around Cheltenham, and with an accompanying educational resource, including audio, on the history of the string quartet.
SING EAST, SING WEST
FREE FOR SCHOOLS
Monday 13 July Liz Terry, Rachel Gay and Joglaresa lead workshops in six Gloucestershire primary schools – culminating in a performance on the Town Hall stage that celebrates the musical and cultural connections from Spain, North Africa, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and North America.
As part of our commitment to making the Cheltenham Music Festival accessible to all, we are once again offering free tickets for accompanied school groups across the entire programme. These tickets are subject to availability, and booking opens on 11 May 2009. You can book online at cheltenhamfestivals.com/education or contact Nicola Tuxworth on 01242 775822 for more information.
See page 21 for concert information.
This is a fantastic opportunity for pupils to experience the thrill of live music making at the highest level, so why not start planning your visit today?
Our Education programme is supported by: The Steel Charitable Trust
GOOD VIBRATIONS
In collaboration with Good Vibrations, Cheltenham Festivals’ Javanese gamelan goes to HMP Eastwood Park for a week-long series of intensive workshops with prisoners. Good Vibrations’ work in prisons nationwide is justly praised for its success in helping prisoners develop key skills such as team-work, communication and concentration. At the end of the week, members of the Cheltenham Gamelan Community Players will join participants for a concert.
29
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
FIESTA IN THE PARK Saturday 4 July Pittville Park, 1.30 – 6pm On the Festival’s first Saturday afternoon, HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is collaborating with the Cheltenham Strategic Partnership on a major community event in Pittville Park. Running throughout the afternoon until early evening, this will involve a huge range of music from around the world - including Indonesian gamelan workshops, Eastern European klezmer, Brazilian samba, Indian Bhangra, brass bands and local choirs. There will be lots of food stalls, face-painting, a large bouncy castle and other inflatables, circus performers, Play Rangers, Punch & Judy and DJ workshops. Fiesta in the Park will also feature the climactic finale of the local talent competition U-Factor. Look out for separate flyers about this exciting new event for all the family, or to go cheltenhamfestivals.com for further information.
Helping students research and apply for practice-based music courses at UK conservatoires. Visit
for more information
Festival Academy Supporters
Box Office 0844 576 7979
Legacies
‘Making a will is important for all of us, however little we may have to leave. By including the Cheltenham Festivals in your will, you could help to safeguard the tradition of artistic excellence in Cheltenham for the enjoyment of future generations.’ Dame Judi Dench CH President Cheltenham Festivals
Thank You The Festival Academy brings together the finest young musicians from the UK’s conservatoires with professionals for an intensive week of rehearsals, workshops and performances. HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is deeply grateful to those who gave with exceptional generosity to this special cause. Peter and Marianne Allan Mary Mackenzie and Richard Walton Robert Clark and Susan Costello M.A. Baldwin Roderick Barrand John Beard Ria Brockbank Christine Chambers Simon Collings Alan Cook Mrs Gill Corney Mrs Alexandra Davies Mary and Duncan Douglas Andrew and Daphne Ellis E. Gemmill Professor and Mrs J.S. Harrison Jim Hawkins Paul Hearn Mr E.G. Hunt Roger Jones Tom and Rose Jump Graham and Eileen Lockwood June and Peter Marychurch Jo Miller Robert Padgett Ken Plant John Ricketts Tony Ridlington Richard and Catriona Smith Dennis Southwick Penny Steer Carol Stewart Michael Storm Janet and Peter Thornton Ann Tilley Ann Warne John and Gina Wilson Margaret Winterbourne Anonymous
LEgacies Maybe this is your first experience of Cheltenham Music Festival, or perhaps you first came many years ago, and now bring your children and grandchildren. Ever since the Second World War, Cheltenham Music Festival has been delighting audiences of all ages with the enthralling musical legacies left to us by great composers. Legacies of all sizes play a valuable role in ensuring that the Festival will continue to inspire the performers, composers and conductors of the future. If you choose to remember Cheltenham Music Festival in this valuable way, please contact Rose Wood in confidence. Rose Wood, Legacy Officer Cheltenham Festivals, 109 Bath Road, Cheltenham GL53 7LS rose.wood@cheltenhamfestivals.com
✁ In Confidence Please send me details of how to leave a legacy to Cheltenham Music Festival. Name Address
Postcode 31
Box Office 0844 576 7979
Patrons
Acknowledgements
Life Patron
Festival Patron
Charles Fisher
Mark and Maria Bentley
Graham and Eileen Lockwood
Stephen and Victoria Bond
Corporate Patron
Robert Cawthorne and Catherine White
HSBC Willans
Simon Collings Christopher Dreyfus Viscount Esher
Peter and Anne Bond
James Fleming
Jennifer Bryant-Pearson
Kate Fleming
Michael and Angela Cronk
Reade and Elizabeth Griffith
Howard and Jay Milton
Huw and Nicki Gwynn-Jones
David and Clare Astor Erica Austin
Marianne Hinton Stephen Hodge
Jack and Dora Black
Anthony Hoffman and Dr Christine Facer Hoffman
Eleanor Budge
Richard and Peta Hoyle
Clive Coates and Ann Murray
Simon and Emma Keswick
Michael and Felicia Crystal Wallace and Morag Dobbin Mr and Mrs P J Elliott Lord and Lady Hoffmann Elizabeth Jacobs Penelope Lomax Sir Peter and Lady Marychurch
Martin Knight Mark McKergow and Jenny Clarke Rosamund and Geoff Marshall Professor Angela Newing Andrew and Sheila North Robert Padgett Sir David and Lady Pepper Leslie Perrin Hugh Poole-Warren
Sir Michael McWilliam
Jonathon Porritt
Mary and Timothy Mitchell
Sarah E Priday
The Helena Oldacre Trust
Patricia Routledge CBE
Esther and Peter Smedvig
Lavinia Sidgwick
Fiona and David Symondson
Jonathan and Gail Taylor
Janet Wedge
Professor Lord Winston
Steve and Eugenia Winwood
Anne Wood
Peter and Alison Yiangou
President Dame Judi Dench CH Vice-Presidents Eleanor Budge Charles Fisher Edward Gillespie Graham Lockwood Sir John Manduell CBE Sir Peter Marychurch KCMG Ion Trewin Chair, Board of Directors Sir Michael McWilliam Chief Executive Donna Renney HR & Office Manager Helena Bibby Finance Office Paul Jenkins Jenny Kolot Executive Assistants Carol Malcolmson Carol Stephenson Development Office Laura Brand Phyllida Clifford Holmes Claire Coleman Kathryn Honeywill Legacy Officer Rose Wood Press & Marketing Fenner Curtis Ian George Amy Hulyer Si창n Morgan Laura Parker Pete Riley Education Philippa Claridge Nicola Tuxworth Production Manager Adrian Hensley Box Office Manager Sue Davis Brand & Festival Design Tijuana Brand Consultant Howard Milton Company Secretary Margaret Austen Honorary Treasurer Dr David Wood Auditors Hazelwoods
Jonathan and Daphne Carr
Platinum Patron
Gold Patron
Cheltenham Festivals
Ben and Fiona White
Michael and Jacqueline Woof
Covers & instrument photography by Kirsty Mackay Photo credits: Anthony Hall, Arena PAL, Blow Up Agency, Caroline Forbes, Colin Bell, Dan Welldon, Edward Webb, Eric Richmond, Gary Houlder, Hanya Chlala, Jack Liebeck, Jacqui Way, Photography, John Batten, Michael Robert Williams, Nickas Jessen, Sunara Begum, Thomas Mueller, Universal, BBC/Jonathan Root, John Matty, Nick Cunard 33
Registered Office 28 Imperial Square Cheltenham GL50 1RH Registered No. 456573 Charity No. 251765 VAT Registration No. 274184644 Main Switchboard Number 01242 774400 HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival Director Meurig Bowen Festival Organiser Holly Traynor Development Manager Nicola Lawson Festival Assistant Robin Purser Festival Chairman Christopher Cook PR Consultant JBP Public Relations 0117 9073400 Music Festival Advisory Group Christopher Cook Brian Carvell Jim Harrison Kate Hicks-Beech Lyndon Jones Ben Nicholas Sarah Priday Diggory Seacome Paul Smith The 65th HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is presented by Cheltenham Festivals, a company limited by guarantee. With many thanks to all the staff at CBC, those at each venue and the festival volunteers, all of whom help make the Festival happen. HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is a member of The British Arts Festivals Association www.artsfestival.co.uk Association of British Orchestras
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Pittville Bistro with Fosters Events Open daily from 10am Once again, Cheltenham Music Festival hosts Fosters Events catering at the Pittville Bistro. Morning coffee and home-made cakes, interval refreshments, pre-booking available, delicious lunches, afternoon tea and pre-concert suppers. Only the finest ingredients, freshly prepared to cater for all tastes and to complete a wonderful day out. Bring friends and relax. For private parties and corporate hospitality details please telephone 01242 581486.
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Planning a stopover? let cheltenham tourist information find whatever you have in mind – be it a chic hotel﹐ welcoming b&b﹐ luxury apartment or a country cottage﹒﹒﹒ Use our FREE accommodation booking service either online at www.VisitCheltenham.info or give us a call – or come in to the Tourist Information Centre when you arrive. VisitCheltenham, 77 Promenade, Cheltenham Mon to Sat: 9.30am–5.15pm Weds: 10am–5.15pm
Tel: 01242 522878 www.VisitCheltenham.info
Email: info@cheltenham.gov.uk 35
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
Festival Programme Book Only £9 100 pages Excellent value Cheltenham Music Festival programme books are a fascinating source of information, enhancing your enjoyment of the festival. They are something you’ll get a lot out of during the festival, as well as being something you’ll want to keep for future reference. Bespoke notes on each concert Comprehensive artist and composer biographies Feature articles on varied aspects of the festival programme You can pre-order the 2009 programme book when you book your tickets, or you can buy them at any festival event in July.
From
£15 each year
Join the Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme and: Director’s Picks
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Visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/membership to find out more.
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Save 20% on your choice of at least five events at every festival Jump the queue with priority booking Get closer to the artists at member events Enjoy exclusive festival partner deals and discounts
Seating Plans
Box Office 0844 576 7979
KEY
STAGE
Restricted view Unreserved restricted view No chairs - bring a cushion! Pillar Yellow & Green price categories in the Town Hall side balconies are No view and Restricted view respectively
STALLS
Top price tickets
Lowest price tickets
Stage
STALLS
SIDE BALCONY
SIDE BALCONY
GALLERY
Cheltenham Town Hall
Gloucester Cathedral
Stage
Stage
Tewkesbury Abbey
Pittville PUmp room 37
Elevated
At a glance Glance Event
Date
M1 Fri 3 July
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com
Time
Event
Venue
4pm
Benjamin Zander
Pittville Pump Room
5.30pm Festival Evensong
Cheltenham College Chapel
M2
7.30pm Hollywood Rhapsody
Town Hall
M3
10.15am EXPLORE: Roxanna Panufnik and Wendy Cope
Pittville Pump Room
WORLD QUARTETS 1: Endellion String Quartet
Pittville Pump Room
-
M4
11am
1.30pm Fiesta in the Park (See page 30)
M5 M6
Sat 4 July
Pittville Pump Room & Park
3pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Meet the Instruments
Pittville Pump Room
4pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Mantra
St Matthew’s Church
5.45pm SOMETHING ELSE: Handel, Hendrix and Coram Boy
M7
7pm
A Handel Celebration
Town Hall
M9
10pm
WORLD QUARTETS 2: The Smith Quartet
Town Hall, Pillar Room
10.15am EXPLORE: Harrison Birtwistle in conversation
M11
11am
Brendel / Felner / Williams
Pittville Pump Room
2pm
Wells Cathedral School Symphony Orchestra
Town Hall
Sun 5 July
4.30pm SOMETHING ELSE: Robert Winston and Stephen Johnson
Town Hall
M14
5.45pm Dinner / Bampton Classical Opera
Pittville Bistro / Pump Room
M15
6.30pm Bampton Classical Opera
Pittville Pump Room
M16 M17
Mon 6 July
M18 M19
Tues 7 July
11am
CHAMBER MENDELSSOHN 1
Pittville Pump Room
7.30pm Trinity College Choir, Cambridge
Tewkesbury Abbey
11am
CHAMBER MENDELSSOHN 2
Pittville Pump Room
5pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Stockhausen & Helicopters
Pittville Campus, Uni of Glos
7.30pm WORLD QUARTETS 3: Borodin String Quartet
M20
Ensemble l’Aia
Pittville Pump Room
3pm
Claire Jones
St Swithin’s Church, Quenington
6pm
Nicola Benedetti and Orchestra Europa
Town Hall
M24
9pm
SOMETHING ELSE: David Rees-Williams Trio
Pittville Pump Room
M25
9pm
David Rees-Williams Trio with cheese & wine
Pittville Pump Room
M26
11am
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 1
Pittville Pump Room
M27
3pm
Claire Jones
St Eadburgha’s Church, Broadway
7pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Fiddler on the Hoof
Pittville Campus, Uni of Glos
7pm
Pre Concert Dinner / Kol Simcha
Pittville Bistro / Pump Room
M22 M23
M28
Wed 8 July
Thurs 9 July
M29
8.30pm SOMETHING ELSE: Kol Simcha
M30
M31 M32 M33 M34 M35
Fri 10 July
11am
WORLD QUARTETS 4: Ingrid Fliter and Meta4
3pm
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 2
M38 M41
9
M21 M39 M19
10
M53 M56 M69
11
12
M20 M26 M39
M37 13
M9
M8 M45
14
M12 M70
M2 M37
15
M55 M59
Pittville Pump Room
M20 16
Pittville Pump Room
Steven Isserlis
Pittville Pump Room Holy Apostles Church
38
8
M24
9.30pm FESTIVAL ACADEMY 3
7pm
M66
Pittville Pump Room
Holy Apostles Church
5.30pm SOMETHING ELSE: The Genius of Antonio Stradivari
M26
Pittville Pump Room
11am
M21
7
Pittville Pump Room
M12 M13
Like This?
Queen’s Hotel
M8
M10
Page
M35 M69
17
M11
Book online cheltenhamfestivals.com Event
Date
Time
Event
10.15am EXPLORE: Tunde Jegede in conversation
M36
Venue
Page
Like This?
18
M16 M18
Pittville Pump Room
M37
11am
FESTIVAL ACADEMY 4
Pittville Pump Room
M38
3pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Michael Morpurgo
Pittville Pump Room
M5
Gloucester Cathedral
M17
M39
Sat 11 July
6.30pm Gloucester & Chichester Psalms
M40
7pm
Pre Concert Dinner / Fretwork
Pittville Bistro / Pump Room
M41
9pm
Fretwork
Pittville Pump Room
10.15am EXPLORE: Alexander Goehr in conversation
M42 M43 M44
Sun 12 July
M45
M46 Mon 13 July
11am
Nash Ensemble
Pittville Pump Room
7.30pm Cheltenham Bach Choir
Town Hall
M8 M17
M20 M61
11am
WORLD QUARTETS 5: Royal String Quartet
Pittville Pump Room
Sing East Sing West
Town Hall
BBC Radio 3’s Discovering Music
Pittville Pump Room
M49
11am
Elizabeth Watts
Pittville Pump Room
3pm
Gloucestershire Young Musicians
St Mary’s Church, Painswick
5pm
SOMETHING ELSE: The Great Mr Handel
Pittville Campus, Uni of Glos
M51
7.30pm Angela Hewitt
M52
M53 M54 M55
Wed 15 July
11am
WORLD QUARTETS 6: Quatuor Diotima
Pittville Pump Room
4pm
Catherine Hopper
Pittville Pump Room
5.30pm SOMETHING ELSE: Norman Lebrecht
Cheltenham Synagogue
7pm
Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra
Town Hall
M57
11am
Haydn Trio Eisenstadt
Pittville Pump Room
3pm
SOMETHING ELSE: In Search of Beethoven
Pittville Campus, Uni of Glos
6pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Alexander Waugh on Musical Vienna
Pittville Pump Room
M59
Thurs 16 July
7.30pm Christianne Stotjin and Julius Drake
M60
11am
M61 M62 M63
Fri 17 July
M65
M66 Sat 18 July
23
M49 M60 M28 M59
M11 M53 24
M55
M4 M57
Mark Viner
Pittville Pump Room Gloucester Cathedral
M52 25
Pittville Bistro / Pump Room
9pm
SOMETHING ELSE: Kit & the Widow
Pittville Pump Room
11am
WORLD QUARTETS 8: Australian and Barbirolli Quartets
Pittville Pump Room
SOMETHING ELSE: Mackwoods Tea and Opera
22
Pittville Pump Room
Nicholas Kynaston
3pm
M56 M60
M49 M54
1pm
1.30pm SOMETHING ELSE: Annetta Hoffnung
M67
21
Pittville Pump Room
7pm
6.45pm Pre Concert Dinner / Kit & the Widow
M64
M68
WORLD QUARTETS 7: Australian String Quartet
M37
Pittville Pump Room
M56
M58
M53
Pittville Pump Room
6pm
Tues 14 July
20
4.30pm National Youth Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra
6pm
M50
M6
Pittville Pump Room
M48
M47
19
Pittville Campus, Uni of Glos Pittville Pump Room
M69
5.45pm SOMETHING ELSE: Wood, Glue, Gut and Varnish
Town Hall
M70
7.30pm Hallé Finale
Town Hall
M43 M46 26 M33 27
M23 M26
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Total
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£
£
£
£
£
£
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£
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
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Total
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Tickets on sale from 10am Monday 20 April 2009
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In person
Town Hall, Imperial Square, Cheltenham GL50 1QA Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm During the festival the box office will close at 7.45pm or 15mins after the start of the last Town Hall event
Save 20% on your choice of five events at the Cheltenham Music Festival when you become a member from just £15 each year. Festivals’ family membership allows a discount of 20% on 5 events for 2 adults and up to 4 children from only £47. If you are a member or founding member, you can apply your membership discount on full price tickets to your choice of 5 events. Please refer to your membership welcome letter for more details. If you are a founding member, you can apply your existing 10% discount to any further ticket bookings. Please note that membership discounts cannot be applied to tickets which include food or drink in the price. Free For Schools All non-dining events have a limited number of free places for accompanied school groups – contact Philippa Claridge on 01242 77 5891 for information from Monday 11 May. Standby Tickets 50% discount available on the day at the venue from 30mins before the performance to U25 / Students / Unemployed with appropriate ID. Limited to 1 ticket per booker. Subject to availability.
Other options available until 48hrs before the event • boxoffice@cheltenham.gov.uk • Fax: 01242 573 902 - using booking form opposite • Post: using booking form opposite & including an SAE
Disabled Patrons & Support Workers/Assistants
Tickets For £5
Group Booking
All Town Hall Main Hall events have a limited number of £5 tickets available – these may be restricted view. This offer is limited to two £5 tickets/event per booker. They are available from April 20.
Book 10 tickets for any 1 event and get the 10th absolutely FREE!
Refunds The Festival cannot refund money or exchange tickets, except in the case of a cancelled performance. Concessions Concessions are only applicable to events taking place at the Town Hall and do not apply to any tickets which include food or drink in the price.
Disabled patrons are entitled to 50% off their ticket price and a free ticket for their support worker/assistant on production of relevant ID. These tickets need to be collected in person. For information about access please see our website for venue contact details.
Keep In Touch! • Visit our website for the latest news or to contact us with ideas & feedback • Register online for our enewsletter packed with the latest music news, competitions & special offers Please note The Festival reserves the right to change artists or programmes as necessary. The Festival reserves the right to refuse admission to any performance until a suitable break, or at the first interval.
Concert and Dining Packages Please go to cheltenhamfestivals.com for full menu information.
If you require a copy of this brochure in large print format, please call 01242 775897
Budvar Cheltenham Jazz Festival 28 April – 4 May The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 3 – 7 June HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival 3 – 18 July The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 9 – 18 October for the latest updates visit cheltenhamfestivals.com
Maps Cheltenham
Gloucestershire
e
New Barn Lan
Ro Albert
M50
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5
7 8
sh Eve
TEWKESBURY
am
E
ad Ro
M5
B
A38
A44 (A424) STOW-ON THE-WOLD
CHELTENHAM
A40
F
GLOUCESTER
A
A40
A40
A435
Hig h St reet
M5 Hi gh
CIRENCESTER St re et
QUENINGTON A417
D
A38
Mon
hR
TETBURY
Oriel Road
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qu Bath Road
4
College Road
Imperial Gardens
tpell
ier W alk
al L
3
Sandfo
1
Park Place
Suffolk Road
rd Road
Thirlestaine Road
1 Cheltenham College Chapel
GL53 7LD
2 Cheltenham Synagogue
GL50 3PU
ark 3 Cheltenham Town Hall The P
GL50 1QA
4 Queen’s Hotel
GL50 1NN
5 Pittville Pump Room, Pittville Bistro & Pittville Park
GL52 3JE
6 St Matthew’s Church
GL50 3PL
7 Summerfield Gallery
GL52 3JG
8 University of Gloucestershire, Pittville Campus
GL52 3JG
9 Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum
GL50 3JT
Festival maps sponsored by
Gloucestershire A Gloucester Cathedral B St Eadburgha’s Church, Broadway C St Mary’s Church, Painswick
Montpellier Gardens Montpellier Terrace
thedaffodil.co.uk
A417
STROUD
Bat
Imperi
Impe
Cheltenham
A429
oad
St George’s Place
Mon tpell ier S t
2
Prom enad e Reg ent Stre et
6 9
Square St James
Clarence Street
Portla nd Stre et
C A46
D St Swithin’s Church, Quenington E
Tewkesbury Abbey
F
Holy Apostles, Charlton Kings
GL1 2BH WR12 7AE GL6 6QA GL6 6QA GL20 5RZ GL52 6HW
Information
For information on the best places to eat, sleep and drink during your visit to the festival, check out
cheltenhamfestivals.com/visitorinformation
or visit the Info Point during the festival. For information on travel to the festival try crosscountrytrains.co.uk
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3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
Ne w ex ! M c e se lusi mb e p ve e ag dis rs e 3 co h 6 un ip
Media Partners
ts
fo r
3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
Ne w ex ! M c e se lusi mb e p ve e ag dis rs e 3 co h 6 un ip
Media Partners
ts
fo r
3 – 18 July Box Office 0844 576 7979 cheltenhamfestivals.com
Ne w ex ! M c e se lusi mb e p ve e ag dis rs e 3 co h 6 un ip
Media Partners