2010 Festival Programme Announced

2010 Festival Programme Announced

2010 will be a truly eventful year in the life of the Presteigne Festival with two brand new elements added to the programme. Our Creating Landscapes education programme will bring five new pieces of music inspired by places of natural beauty and historical importance in the Presteigne area from composers Mark Bowden, Cheryl Frances Hoad, Cecilia McDowall, Paul Patterson and Lynne Plowman. These works will be premiered next August by the Galliard Ensemble, and new pieces of visual art, also commissioned for the project from an artist, a print maker and a photographer, will be shown as well as artwork from five local primary schools. 2010 will also see the inaugural Presteigne Festival Composer’s Competition, open to British composers between the ages of twenty and thirty – the prize is £1,000 together with a performance by three outstanding young artists as part of next year’s Festival.

Other exciting ingredients include composer-in-residence Hugh Wood, one of the UK’s most respected musical statesmen, and a survey of American composer Samuel Barber’s music in his centenary year.

Once again there is a particularly strong crop of commissions, with special prominence given to music for the voice – Three Songs for mezzo-soprano and string orchestra from Hugh Wood, a new scena for mezzo-soprano, flute, harp and viola from Stephen McNeff, a special setting for chorus and orchestra from Alexander L’Estrange to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the tapestry depicting Christ’s entry into Jerusalem which hangs in St Andrew’s Church and a new choral work from Judith Bingham (jointly commissioned with the Joyful Company of Singers). There is also a new violin and piano work from Presteigne Festival favourite Joe Duddell and the Festival Orchestra will premiere a new string orchestra arrangement of the Elgar String Quartet by David Matthews.

As usual there will be plenty of supporting events including exhibitions, children’s events, talks, poetry and very much more. BBC Radio 3 will record two concerts for broadcast in the autumn.

Artists include:

John McCabe piano
Thomas Gould violin
Tom Poster piano
Galliard Ensemble Wind Quintet
Simon Lepper piano
Suzanne Willison-Kawalec harp
Tippett Quartet
Marie Macleod cello
Sarah-Jane Bradley viola
Catriona Scott clarinet
Clare McCaldin mezzo-soprano
Kathryn Thomas flute
Owen Dennis oboe
Heidi Bennett trumpet
The Joyful Company of Singers
Peter Broadbent conductor
Presteigne Festival Orchestra
George Vass conductor

Brochures available at the end of April 2010 from www.presteignefestival.com or :
Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts
P O Box 30
PRESTEIGNE
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