Photo caption: At the heart of the Festival is the Gala Concert which will take place at Worcester Cathedral on Saturday 2 June at 7.30pm, welcoming South African violinist Zoë Beyers and soprano April Fredrick |
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Organisers of the annual celebration of the life and music of Worcestershire’s most famous composer will welcome some of today’s greatest musicians for its final concert. The Elgar Festival will welcome South African violinist Zoë Beyers and soprano April Fredrick to its Gala Concert – always the highlight of the annual event – which will take place on Saturday 2 June at 7.30pm in Worcester’s majestic Cathedral. The concert will be performed by the Worcestershire-based English Symphony Orchestra, the International Orchestra of Elgar Country, an ensemble which in recent years has become synonymous with artistic excellence, innovative and visionary programming, distinctive commissioning, ground breaking recording, a welcoming and immersive concert experience, transformative youth programmes and service to the community. It will be conducted by the Festival’s Artistic Director Kenneth Woods; pieces to be performed include the following:
Elgar’s Violin Concerto is unique in its epic scope, virtuosic demands and emotional range. Composed at the height of his formidable musical powers and at the peak of his international fame, it is a work both intimate and grandiose, universal and personal, confessional yet private. Throughout his career, Elgar often found inspiration in the unattainable attractions of various muses. None of these ‘might have been’ loves seems to have affected him as much as the woman he called “Windflower”, who inspired this greatest of all violin concertos. In a Festival which celebrates the Origins of Inspiration, love lost or unfilled has inspired more great music than anything else in the human condition. Festival Composer Steve Elcock’s epic tone poem, Wreck, has been described by critic Martin Anderson, owner of Toccata Classics, as “some of the best orchestral music by a British composer in the last fifty years.” Composed in 2014, it was finally premiered in Malvern Theatres in 2022 by The English Symphony Orchestra. Elgar’s rousing Cockaigne, inspired by the sights, sounds and smells of London Town, will bring this year’s Festival to a thrilling conclusion. South-African born Zoë Beyers has established a reputation as one of the finest and most versatile violinists based in the UK, and performs worldwide as soloist, chamber musician, director and orchestral leader. In 2020 she was appointed Leader of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra. Zoë appears regularly as guest leader of the Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestras, the CBSO, the Philharmonia, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Orquesta Nacional de España at the invitation of Maestro Juanjo Mena. Since 2017, Zoë has been the concertmaster of the English Symphony Orchestra, collaborating closely with them as director and soloist. As a chamber musician Zoë appears with the Hebrides Ensemble, Nash Ensemble, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the London Sinfonietta. She has recently joined the renowned Dante Quartet as their first violinist. Zoë has a passionate interest in education, teaching at the Birmingham Conservatoire and coaching violinists and ensembles at the start of their careers. She is proud to be involved in ARCO, a distance learning collaboration between Birmingham Conservatoire and students in deprived areas of South Africa. Hailed as ‘astonishing and luminous’ by Bachtracks, soprano April Fredrick is a frequent soloist with orchestras across the UK and a champion of new work on both the concert and opera stage. She is an Associate Artist with the English Symphony Orchestra and frequent soloist with the Nottingham Harmonic Choir. Recent work includes the soprano solos in a forthcoming recording of Grace Williams’ Missa Cambrensis with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Adrian Partington, Barber’s Knoxville: Summer of 1915 and the world premiere of Philip Sawyers’ oratorio Mayflower on the Seas of Time with the ESO under Kenneth Woods, and Mahler Symphony no. 4 and Strauss’ Vier Letzte Lieder at the Colorado MahlerFest, also under Kenneth Woods. Upcoming work includes Haydn Nelson Mass with the Wimbledon Choral Society at Cadogan Hall and a recording of Donald Fraser’s Ancient Chinese Lyrics with the English Chamber Orchestra. Kenneth Woods, Artistic Director of The Elgar Festival said : “If love and longing were the most frequent and important source of inspiration for Edward Elgar, place and landscape runs a close second. The Elgar Festival is unique in the world in letting audience members immerse themselves in the countryside, hills, villages and forests which informed so much of Elgar’s music. It is a celebration that can be enjoyed by all people of all ages and all musical tastes. Our Gala Concert is the pinnacle of this and one which is a true showcase for the power of music.” Themed ‘The Origins of Inspiration’, this year’s Festival will combine orchestral, chamber, vocal and choral concerts with exhibits and lectures to celebrate the life and music of Sir Edward Elgar at various venues across Worcestershire. It will bring together an array of internationally renowned guest artists, placing the music of Worcester’s most famous son alongside that of his contemporaries and some of today’s leading composers and arrangers. The Festival – which was launched in 2018 – was established by decree of Worcester City Council and is traditionally held on the weekend closest to Elgar’s birthday, 2 June 1857. Since it began in 2018 – lauded as ‘Critic’s Pick’ in both The Guardian and The Times – the Festival has doubled in size and scale and championed Sir Edward to as wide an audience as possible. Tickets cost between £10 and £27; further details can be found at https://elgarfestival.org/the-elgar-festival-gala-concert/. For a full list of events, costs and booking information, please visit www.elgarfestival.org.
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