2023 Elgar Festival hailed as ‘best yet’

Photo caption: Photos from the Elgar Festival (credit Michael Whitefoot)

The Worcestershire-based Elgar Festival returned for its May and June events this year with a joyful week of concerts, conversations, master classes and exhibitions celebrating the life and music of Britain’s greatest composer.

The music of the Festival’s namesake featured at the heart of a wide ranging programme of 20 events in eight venues over six days from Tuesday 30 May until Sunday 4 June.

Themed ‘We are the Music Makers’, this year’s Festival brought together world class professional musicians and artists alongside local choirs and ensembles placing the music of Worcester’s most famous son alongside that of his contemporaries and some of today’s leading composers and arrangers.

Among the highlights this year were:

• The Gala Concert – the heart of the Festival – performed by the English Symphony Orchestra and the Elgar Festival Chorus;
• The annual ‘Elgar’s Strings’ by the English String Orchestra;
• Late night Club Elgar concerts featuring jazz, world music, blues and more with some of the UK’s most exciting artists in their genre;
• An evening concert in Malvern Priory that included the Requiem by Worcester’s greatest living composer, Ian Venables;
• Throughout the Festival, an exhibition of Elgar memorabilia on loan from prestigious private collections.

The Festival presented a number of free events as part of its Elgar for Everyone ethos: Worcester Concert Brass in Cathedral Square for an afternoon of outdoor music, Worcestershire Symphony Orchestra with a lunchtime concert in the Guildhall on Saturday – attended by more than 100 people – where members of the public could drop in to hear the orchestra that Sir Edward co-founded, and a ‘Relaxed Elgar’ concert in Malvern for those living with dementia and other challenges.

The Gala Concert featured Elgar’s epic 1^st Symphony in a thrilling performance by the English Symphony Orchestra and conductor Kenneth Woods, alongside ‘The Music Makers’ with contralto soloist Jess Dandy and the Elgar Festival Chorus, and Michael Berkeley’s ‘Secret Garden.’  Critic Anthony Bradbury, writing for the Birmingham Post and Midlands Music Reviews said of the performance that ‘there was so much to admire here in terms of the playing – gutsy strings, fine sols from the woodwind and orchestral leader, and heroic horns in their delivery of the Straussian demands placed upon them.  Throughout the work, Woods kept the pace flowing effectively (especially in the brooding allegro of the first movement), but never rushing passages that needed to breathe, clearly revealing his love for – and understanding of – this music.’

Malvern Priory was he setting for a splendid evening of music including Elgar’s King Arthur Suite, of which critic John Quinn, writing for Seen and Heard International wrote, ‘Here, the Elgarian nobility was conveyed with great expressiveness by Woods and his orchestra.  Kenneth Woods and the ESO made a fine case for this neglected lateish Elgar work, and I was glad that there had been this chance to hear it live.’

Worcester based composer Ian Venables’ Requiem appeared in its orchestrated version, performed by the English Symphony Orchestra, Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir and Saint Cecilia Singers.  Quinn wrote of the piece that ‘the Venables Requiem is one of the most significant recent English choral compositions and a work of great emotional depth which makes a very different connection with performers and audiences…I admired the performance very much…The orchestral contribution deserves special mention.’

‘Club Elgar’ showcased the thrilling Kosmos Ensemble who performed at one of the Festival’s two late night events.  The trio played an inspirational combination of tango, gypsy, Balkan and music from the Far East.

The second Club Elgar event was performed by a one off, all star group entitled Blue Enigma whose name pays homage to Elgar’s Enigma Variations, which featured in the band’s set. The gig, at the Henry Sandon Hall, Royal Porcelain Works, also featured a tribute to the life and music of guitarist Jeff Beck, who died earlier this year.

The Festival welcomed composer Michael Berkeley on the occasion of his 75^th birthday as its Featured Composer.  Berkeley’s music was performed by the English Symphony Orchestra at a number of concerts throughout the Festival, as well as by the Elgar Chorale at its popular event at St Martin in the Cornmarket.  The composer provided two fascinating talks on his life and work in music.

The Festival is committed to championing the music of our time, as Artistic Director, Kenneth Woods said: “Elgar was a tireless champion of the contemporary music of his own time, and the Festival honours his legacy by supporting living composers in as many ways as possible.”

The 2023 programme of events came to a close with a Festival Evensong sung by Worcester Cathedral Chamber Choir in the Cathedral, including the annual wreath laying by the Elgar Society at the Elgar memorial window.

Adrian Gregson, Chair of the Elgar Festival and former Mayor of Worcester concluded: “The 2024 Elgar Festival will return over the first weekend of June with a programme including Elgar’s Violin Concerto, Serenade for Strings, piano quintet and choral/orchestra work ‘From the Bavarian Highlands’ as well as our now well established variety of events including the Elgar for Everyone Family Concert with more than a hundred budding young musicians.”

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 – 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.