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t\u2019s with very great pleasure that we welcome you to this year\u2019s summer festival guide! The last two seasons have been particularly challenging for live music making, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and many festivals have been forced to downgrade activities or cancel performances altogether. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s hugely gratifying, then, to see most events back up and running at full capacity in 2022, in what promises to be a summer of top-notch musical activity. We\u2019re greatly looking forward to what this festival season has to offer \u2013 and please do get in touch to share your own experiences over these next exciting months. Charlotte Smith Editor<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n \n<\/p> Glasgow, 21-24 April<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.bridgestrings.eu<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The cancellation of last year\u2019s debut edition was a blow. But the waiting is over as string ensembles representing Scotland, Germany, Norway and Estonia build bridges across Glasgow\u2019s cafes, warehouses and pavements! The Scottish Ensemble, Trondheim Soloists, Ensemble Resonanz and PLMF Music Trust join forces on opening night for a pan-European celebration in the Barrowland Ballroom, with composers ranging\u00a0 <\/span>from Hildegard of Bingen to Jonny Greenwood. There are world premieres, too, of works by Erkki-Sven T\u00fc\u00fcr and Mica Levi.<\/span><\/p>\n Leeds, 28 April \u2013 1 May<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +44 (0)113 234 6956<\/span><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.leedslieder.org.uk<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018Song Illuminated\u2019 is the strapline under which Leeds Lieder returns to the handsomely refurbished Howard Assembly Room. It takes the broad view. There are new works by Jonathan Dove and Deborah Pritchard, \u2018SongPath\u2019 walking trails and protest songs by the likes of Joni Mitchell to ring the changes on more mainstream fare such as Mahler from soprano Dorothea R\u00f6schmann and <\/span>Schubert\u2019s Schwanengesang<\/i> performed by<\/span> tenor Ian Bostridge with Imogen Cooper. <\/span><\/p>\n Brighton, 7-29 May Sculptor Anish Kapoor was the first guest director of the festival back in 2009, and successors have included Laurie Anderson and Ali Smith. This year the mantle falls on writer-architect Marwa Al-Sabouni and site-specific theatre artist Tristan Sharps \u2013 their theme, \u2018Rebuilding\u2019. Brighton certainly rebuilds with a vengeance. Over 150 events muster some 10 commissions, plus five world and UK premieres. Stravinsky\u2019s Rite of Spring<\/i> gets the Big Top treatment <\/span>from Circa; the Marian Consort pairs Sch\u00fctz\u2019s Musikalische Exequien<\/i> with a new work by David Fennessy; and under Ilan Volkov the Festival Chorus and Philharmonia Orchestra weigh anchor on Vaughan Williams\u2019s A Sea Symphony<\/i> and Kaija Saariaho\u2019s Oltra mar<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n Chipping Campden, 7-21 May<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+44 (0)1386 849018<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>www.campdenmusicfestival.co.uk<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n For two decades the festival has provided the soundtrack to a Cotswold Spring, and for anniversary year, medieval St James\u2019 Church welcomes returning friends such as Florilegium, cellist Steven Isserlis and festival president Paul Lewis. There are distinguished newcomers too: Quatuor Modigliani prefaces transcendental Schubert with the UK premiere of Mark-Anthony Turnage\u2019s Split Apart<\/i>; the Julian Bliss Wind Soloists cut Beethoven down to size; and pianist Mitsuko Uchida accompanies tenor Mark Padmore.<\/span><\/p>\n Newbury, 7-21 May<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +44 (0)845 5218 218<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n From stately homes to ancient churches, Victorian Corn Exchange to Sheepdrove Eco Centre, there\u2019s no shortage of distinctive venues as Newbury springs into festive life. The BBC Symphony Orchestra\u2019s Vaughan Williams symphony cycle unleashes the protean No. 4, and Voces8 flank Monteverdi\u2019s Lagrime d\u2019Amante al Sepolcro dell\u2019Amata<\/i> with Britten and Dove.<\/span><\/p>\n St John\u2019s Smith Square, London, 13-21 May La Serenissima casts its spell over the festival\u2019s 38th edition which, an excursion to Westminster Abbey for the Monteverdi Vespers aside, calls St John\u2019s Smith Square \u2018home\u2019. It ends with a \u2018seasoning\u2019 of Vivaldi courtesy of Rachel Podger and Brecon Baroque, but there\u2019s plenty of room for the less well-known. Siglo de Oro explores Lassus\u2019s links to Venice, while the Gesualdo Six traces Josquin\u2019s legacy through Willaert and Zarlino. And, following in the footsteps of the Venetian merchants, the Illyria and Marian Consorts join forces for a trip down the Adriatic Coast.<\/span><\/p>\n Bath, 13-21 May With everyone invited, opening night \u2018Party in the City\u2019 can only mean one thing: Bath Festival is returning to <\/span>revelry. And with the music and literature <\/span>festivals conjoined, there\u2019s overlap as the Carducci Quartet portrays Shostakovich in words and music, pianist Jeremy Denk <\/span>interleaves Book\u00a0I of Bach\u2019s Well-Tempered <\/i><\/span>Clavier<\/i> with excerpts from his new book, and novelist James Runcie reflects on the creation of the St Matthew Passion<\/i>. Poulenc\u2019s La voix humaine<\/i> despatches soprano Claire Booth to assorted secret locations; the Roman Baths inspire orchestral water music by Takemitsu and Grace Williams; and in the Abbey, Steve Reich and Palestrina detain Colin Currie and The Tallis Scholars respectively. <\/span><\/p>\n Norwich, 13-29 May Elgar, Britten and Vaughan Williams are all stitched into the 250-year-old fabric of a festival that grew out of a 1772 charity fundraiser. And as the birthday cake is cut, two of them are back. Vaughan Williams\u2019s Five Tudor Portraits<\/i> was commissioned for the 1936 Festival and partners his Norfolk Rhapsody<\/i> No.\u00a01. Soprano Hanna Hus\u00e1hr recalls the visits of the \u2018Swedish Nightingale\u2019 Jenny Lind<\/a><\/strong>; Heinrich Biber\u2019s complete Mystery Sonatas<\/i> are performed across three concerts; Arun Ghosh\u2019s Canticle of the Sun<\/i> sets words by St Francis of Assisi; and in the opening weekend, pop-up premieres sound 250 Fanfares.<\/span><\/p>\n Perth, 18-29 May Originally a festival for classical music and opera, Perth has since expanded to cover all the arts. But as it celebrates its half-century, the human voice is front and centre. A gala night with Scottish Opera raises the curtain and Opera Bohemia makes its Festival debut with a chamber reworking of Puccini\u2019s Madam Butterfly<\/i>. Crack vocal ensemble Tenebrae sings Marian settings by Parsons, Bruckner and Grieg, while Judith Weir\u2019s The Voice of Desire<\/i> lends its title to mezzo Rowan Hellier\u2019s song recital of Clara Schumann, Brahms and Kate Whitley.<\/span><\/p>\n Lewes, East Sussex, 21 May \u2013 28 August After last year\u2019s Tristan und Isolde<\/i>, Glyndebourne renews its Cornish credentials, but with a real rarity: an opera written in French, premiered in <\/span>German, admired by Mahler and sharing <\/span>with Britten\u2019s Peter Grimes<\/i> the simmering tensions of village life played out against the elemental churn of the sea. Ethel Smyth\u2019s The Wreckers<\/i> makes its festival debut in the French original version directed by Melly Still and conducted by Robin Ticciati. Ticciati also presides over summer\u2019s finale: a Poulenc double bill juxtaposing La voix humaine<\/i> with the risqu\u00e9 delights of Les mamelles de Tir\u00e9sias<\/i>. Between the bookends are Michael Grandage\u2019s 2012 update of Mozart\u2019s The Marriage of Figaro<\/i> to Franco\u2019s Spain; Glyndebourne\u2019s first new production in two decades of Puccini\u2019s La boh\u00e8me<\/i>; and a revival of Donizetti\u2019s Don Pasquale<\/i>. <\/span>Casting a Baroque spell is Handel\u2019s Alcina<\/i>, <\/span>conducted by Jonathan Cohen with Jane Archibald as the sorceress.<\/span><\/p>\n Dorchester-on-Thames, 27-29 May Little surprise that Vaughan Williams 150 has set English Music Festival\u2019s heart a-flutter. And in keeping with its penchant for rehabilitating the less frequently performed, the ballet Old King Cole<\/i> crowns a concert given by the BBC Concert Orchestra. Ivor Gurney\u2019s Violin Sonata in D is another \u2018first\u2019; baritone Gareth Brynmor John champions Havergal Brian; and No\u00ebl Coward bags the last word.<\/span><\/p>\n Wales, 27 May-5 June St Davids Cathedral Festival runs over the summer half-term from 27th<\/sup> May \u2013 5th<\/sup> June in the stunning Cathedral by the sea in Wales, with a packed programme of concerts and events for all ages. The full programme can be found on their website <\/a>, but includes Alis Huws (official Harpist to HRH The Prince of Wales), Jess Gillam and Ensemble and Morriston Orpheus Choir.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n North Yorkshire, 28 May-11 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +44 (0)1748 880018<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nApril<\/h1>\n
The Bridge Festival<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n
Leeds Lieder Festival <\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
May<\/h1>\n
Brighton Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Chipping Campden Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Newbury Spring Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
London Festival of Baroque Music<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Bath Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Norfolk and Norwich Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Perth Arts Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
Glyndebourne<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
English Music Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n
St Davids Cathedral Festival<\/a><\/h3>\n
Swaledale Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n