Mixtape

DEYA Brewery Taproom

£10

Manchester Collective

The Carice Singers plus further artists to be announced

Mixtape is back and taking over DEYA’s Taproom for an evening of relaxed, rule-free classical music. Grab a drink, sit back and sample a taste of short works from across the classical music spectrum, along with a hint of different flavours where classical music meets other genres.

James Newby

Pittville Pump Room

£26, £21, £16

Pump Room multi-buy: Enjoy 10% off three or more concerts (Monday to Friday only)

Franz Schubert Der Wanderer an den Mond, D870

Robert Schumann ‘In der Fremde’ from Liederkreis, Op. 39

Fanny Mendelssohn Das Heimweh

Hugo Wolf ‘Heimweh’ from Mörike-Lieder

Max Kowalski ‘Der Panther’ from Lieder, Op. 30

Vítězslava Kaprálová Waving Farewell, Op. 14

Hanns Eisler Excerpts from The Hollywood Songbook

Valentyn Silvestrov Excerpts from Silent Songs

Arnold Schoenberg ‘Der genügsame Liebhaber’ from Brettl-Lieder

Walter Jurmann You and the Waltz and I

Alexander von Zemlinsky My Ship and I

Erich Korngold My Mistress’ eyes, Op. 35 No. 5

Kurt Weill ‘September Song’ from Knickerbocker Holiday

For the final concert in our series with the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, James Newby and Jan Philip Schulze explore the themes of displacement and exile though composers’ lives and work. Featuring music by Valentyn Silvestrov, Hanns Eisler, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Franz Schubert, anny Mendelssohn and composers who left Germany and Austria in the 1930s to move to California.

In partnership with BBC Radio 3

Recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3

Kindly supported by Diana Woolley

5.30–6.30pm

Composium I

Francis Close Hall Chapel

£12 Book both Composiums for £20

The Carice Singers

George Parris director

Music by Composer Academy participants

Have you ever wondered how new pieces of music are created? Hear about the process from our Composer Academy participants and their mentor Daniel Kidane, alongside a showcase of compositions they’ve written with The Carice Singers

Celebrating 10 years in 2023, Composer Academy is Cheltenham Music Festival’s intensive opportunity for composers taking their first steps into a professional career, providing workshops, mentoring and industry advice. See page 6 for more information.

7.30–9.30pm

Manchester Collective

Cheltenham Town Hall, Main Hall

£32, £28, £22, £16, £10

Manchester Collective

Wojciech Kilar Orawa

Dmitri Shostakovich Chamber Symphony in C minor

Caroline Shaw Plan & Elevation

Richard Strauss Metamorphosen

With their fresh takes on classical masterpieces and an energetic exploration of the new, Manchester Collective have earned a reputation for their innovative and compelling performances. Flowing with lush music for strings, this programme features works from exciting composers

Wojciech Kilar and Pulitzer Prize-winning Caroline Shaw, alongside two monumental and poignant works by Strauss and Shostakovich.

11am–12.15pm M22

Laura van der Heijden

Pittville Pump Room

£26, £21, £16

Pump Room Multi-buy: Enjoy 10% off three or more concerts (Monday to Friday only)

Laura van der Heijden cello

Jâms Coleman piano

Alfred Schnittke Suite in the Old Style

Anton Webern Two Pieces (1899)

Elizabeth Maconchy Divertimento for Cello and Piano

Michael Zev Gordon Roseland

Claude Debussy Sonata for Cello and Piano

Since winning the BBC Young Musician competition in 2012, Laura van der Heijden has made her name as player with a sensitivity of sound. Together, Laura and pianist Jâms Coleman move from Schnittke’s playful suite to the poise of Debussy’s sonata, via expressive early Webern, the Cheltenham-commissioned Roseland and Maconchy’s modernist miniatures. Kindly supported by Elizabeth Jacobs

5.30–6.30pm

Composium II

Francis Close Hall Chapel

£12 Book both Composiums for £20

The Carice Singers

George Parris director

Music by Composer Academy participants

M23

Have you ever wondered how new pieces of music are created? Hear about the creative process from our Composer Academy participants and their mentor Daniel Kidane. The second of our Composer Academy showcases.

7–9pm

12 Ensemble & GBSR Duo

Cheltenham Town Hall, Main Hall

£32, £28, £22, £16, £10

12 Ensemble

GBSR Duo

Mica Levi Lonely Void and Love (from Under the Skin)

M24

Fausto Romitelli Flowing down too slow Laurence Osborn TOMB! (Cheltenham Music Festival co-commission)

Brian Eno/Harold Budd Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror

The 12 Ensemble (strings) join GBSR Duo (piano and percussion) for a programme of heavenly and hellish visions by five composers, working between classical and non-classical music. Unsettling film music from Mica Levi leads into Laurence Osborn’s new work TOMB!, which uses the genre of the tombeau to explore classical music’s obsession with death. The performance culminates in Harold Budd and Brian Eno’s shimmering Ambient 2 in a new arrangement.

9.30–10.45pm

Rakhi Singh

The Old Courthouse

£17, £10 early bird (limited release available from 31 March)

M25

Add a Late Night: receive £5 off your late night ticket when also booking for a 7pm concert on the same day

Violinist and leader of the radical Manchester Collective, Rakhi Singh weaves her way through musical influences in this late-night set with electronics. Featuring music by Alex Groves, Emily Hall, Edmund Finnis, Nicola Matteis and Bang on a Can’s Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe.

11am–1pm M26

Pavel Kolesnikov: Celestial Navigation

Pittville Pump Room

£30, £26, £18

Pavel Kolesnikov piano

Programme to include

Louis Couperin Pavanne in F sharp minor

Olivier Messiaen ‘Regard de l’étoile’ from Vingt regards sur l’Enfant-Jésus

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in D flat Op. 27 No. 2

Olivier Messiaen ‘La colombe’ from Préludes pour piano

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in E minor, Op. 72 No. 1

Olivier Messiaen Prélude (1964)

Frédéric Chopin Nocturne in C sharp minor, Op. 27 No. 1

Maurice Ravel Une barque sur l’océan

Thomas Adès Darknesse Visible

Franz Schubert Four Impromptus, Op. 142, D935

Pianist Pavel Kolesnikov has been widely praised for his ‘intensely personal interpretations, often daring in their originality’ (Critic’s Circle Awards). Having previously appeared in Cheltenham with the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, he presents ‘Celestial Navigation’, a musical response to the work of American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell that journeys through the lyrical contrasts of Chopin and Messiaen before culminating in Schubert’s impromptus.

Kindly supported by the late John Harvey Hooper

Scottish Ensemble: ANNO

Cheltenham Town Hall, Main Hall

£38, £30, £24, £18, £10

Scottish Ensemble

Jonathan Morton leader

Anna Meredith electronics

Astor Piazzolla ‘Primavera Porteña’ from Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

Caroline Shaw ‘Moss’ from The Evergreen

Jessie Montgomery Starburst

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (arr. D Matthews)

‘Autumn Song’ from The Seasons

Fredrik Sjölin Shore

Trad. Swedish (arr. Danish String Quartet) Polska from Dorothea

Joanna Marsh (arr. J Azkoul) In Winter’s House

Anna Meredith ANNO

Bringing this year’s Festival to a close is the ever-imaginative Scottish Ensemble with award-winning composer Anna Meredith’s stunning reimagining of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons for string ensemble and electronics. Meredith’s imaginative touch effortlessly blends these two sound worlds heightening the intensity and drama of the much-loved classic. Adding a level of visual drama to the music, a foliage installation by Leaf Creative creates an immersive experience for audiences.

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