Rob Barnett

The Elgar Festival: live music returns in Worcester and Malvern, 29–31 October 2021

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The annual Elgar Festival is a live celebration of the life and music of Sir Edward Elgar (1857–1934). The programme features Elgar and other composers: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Ethel Smyth, Ruth Gipps, Rebecca Clarke, Ian Venables, Vaughan Williams, Tippett and Holst. There are others. Venues for orchestral and other concerts are held in venues rich in … Read more

International Malcolm Arnold Festival – Centenary Celebration online

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The 16th International Malcolm Arnold Festival – Online – 16-17 October 2021

One hundred years ago Sir Malcolm Arnold (1921-2006) was born in Northampton. For the 16th year Director Paul Harris presides over this landmark Festival which celebrates his music. As was the case with last year, the 16th Festival is a livestreamed and free-to-view event and can be found by clicking here.

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2021 English Music Festival – 28 to 31 May

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The English Music Festival future plans – imminent and heading into 2022

The English Music Festival (EMF) runs concerts, issues recordings and publishes books. The concert side has, along with other live events, inevitably taken the necessary restrictions on the chin. There has been the usual smattering of cancellations, streamed concerts, venue changes and social distancing but the Festival has done well in the circumstances.

When the history of EMF comes to be written the way that the Festival management has adapted, and more than survived, will make a chapter all of its own. The move to St Mary’s Church Horsham and to the historic 1920s Drill Hall, a short distance from the Church. resulted in a socially distanced festival during the depths of lockdown in December 2020.

The main 2021 Festival is scheduled for the Spring Bank Holiday weekend (28 to 31 May). It will be going ahead in a series of ‘live’ events in St Mary’s Church, Horsham and in the Drill Hall. The events will include ten concerts, talks about Percy Sherwood, Holst, Making the Way in a Media music career, and the official launch of the most recent release on the EM Records label, ‘Those Blue Remembered Hills’ (review).

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