Sedbergh Music Festival 2008

Sedbergh's biennial Music Festival will run from 13th to 29th June 2008 and includes a wide variety of events, some of which are listed below.

An eve of Festival Barn Dance and Ceilidh

In the People’s Hall with the celebrated Cornerstone Ceilidh Band

A band concert by Besses o' th' Barn Band.

The band dates back to 1818, when the reed band based at Cleggs Cotton Mill in the quaint Lancashire village of Besses o' th' Barn was first mentioned. The band became an all-brass ensemble in 1835 and has since become established as one of the most famous brass bands in the world. The band has frequently appeared on television and radio and has played at prestigious venues throughout the country.

Choral Matins

With Sedbergh School Chapel Choir and Brass Ensemble.

Bach ’Cello Suites

Bach’s six unaccompanied ’Cello Suites are the first truly virtuosic works written for the instrument. The Festival will give a rare opportunity to hear all six suites over the two weeks. Two at each of three afternoon recitals.

Andi Chapple & Musicians: Sounds in a Wood

A magical, site-specific performance in Rawthey Wood where slow-moving vocal and acoustic music blends with the sounds of the riverside wood at sunset and listeners are encouraged to move the focus of their listening around the soundscape.

Gilbert and Sullivan: Trial by Jury

A stage performance of this famous comic opera, with Sedbergh Summer Singers and members of the Dent Players.

Recital by pupils from Chetham’s School of Music

Chetham’s School of Music is the largest and most prestigious music school in the UK. Originally founded as a Bluecoat orphanage for ‘forty poor boys’ in 1653, Chets was re-founded as a specialist school for young musicians in 1969. Now, with over 290 pupils, Chets is still housed in and around the historic fifteenth-century College building in Manchester and is at the forefront of music education in Britain and Europe. This will be Chet’s fifth visit to the Sedbergh Festival.

Recital of English Song - Martha Jones and Lyndon Hills

This concert is in the School Concert Series and tickets are available from the School Events Manager on 015396 22283.

Cornerstone – An Evening of Folk and Jazz

At Westwood’s Book Shop. With Susan and Andy Doherty.

Coffee Concert

The Toy Symphony and other items, presented by Pepperpot Music Makers.

The Abbey Singers: ‘Music For Midsummer Day’

The Choir takes its name from the Carlisle Cathedral Close, which is known as

‘The Abbey’. The Choir has earned a high reputation since its formation in 1962 by Andrew Seivewright when he was Master of the Music at the Cathedral and continues to do so under the present Master of Music, Jeremy Suter.

Andi Chapple: ‘Each Pebble Its Part’

A house becomes an art gallery for the weekend. Sound, photography and sculpture combine to form an interactive portrait of the River Rawthey.
Supported by Kent Valley Colour Printers, Kendal

Two Organ Recitals

Damian Howard, organist at Lancaster Cathederal, will be giving an interesting programme of Buxtehude, Franck, Messiaen and Ogden. The second concert will be given by the noted recitalist and composer Christopher Tambling, known to many in Sedbergh and now Director of Music at Downside Abbey

Martin Roscoe, All-Beethoven Piano Recital

• Sonata no. 17 in D minor, op. 31 no. 2, ‘The Tempest’
• Sonata no. 31 in A flat, op. 110
• Sonata no. 9 in G, op. 14 no. 2
• Sonata no. 6 in C minor, op. 13, ‘Pathétique’

Martin Roscoe has just recorded the complete Beethoven Piano Sonatas for the Deux Elles label.

“... These are, characteristically, deeply honest performances ...” - Sunday Times, 2007

“Roscoe brings mastery and sheer musical quality to bear on everything he plays.” - Gramophone

Sedbergh Town Band

Sedbergh Town Band celebrates its tenth anniversary this year, and will be performing a variety of music including compositions by the Band Master, Alan Lewis.

Dalston Male Voice Choir

The Choir was founded in 1985 and is a leading male voice choir in the North of England. Its forty members are drawn from the immediate area around Dalston, Cumbria.

Encore

Encore is South Cumbria’s opera group. Formed in 1993, it has achieved a growing reputation for presenting programmes of classical, romantic and modern opera and musicals. Their musical director is David Chapman, who is vastly experienced in opera and ballet.

Alla Kravchuk

Principal Soprano, Hanover State Opera, with Simon Phillips, piano.

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Details of individual events are shown in the Sedbergh online events calendar.

Lunches and dinners are available before some of the recitals and concerts and should be booked in advance.

Tickets for most of the events are available from the Sedbergh Tourist Information Centre or at the door

A printed leaflet with details of all the events is available from the Sedbergh Tourist Information Centre and may also be downloaded as an Adobe Acrobat PDF file (813 Kbytes, displays in a separate window).