Photo caption: This year’s Elgar Festival has been hailed as its ‘best yet’ |
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The Worcestershire-based Elgar Festival returned for its May and June events this year with a joyful week of concerts, conversations, events and exhibitions celebrating the life and music of Britain’s greatest composer. The music of the Festival’s namesake was the centrepiece of a busy programme of 22 events, from Monday 27 May until Sunday 2 June. The full breadth of Elgar’s work was showcased, including songs, miniatures, partsongs, choral anthems alongside his most beloved orchestral masterpieces, including the mighty Violin Concerto soloist Zoë Beyers, Cockaigne Overture, Piano Quintet, Salut d’Amour, Introduction and Allegro, and Pomp and Circumstance Marches. Themed ‘The Origins of Inspiration’, this year’s festival brought 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. Among the highlights this year were:
The Festival also welcomed internationally renowned cellist, educator and Festival Patron, Julian Lloyd Webber, who shared a lifetime of insights and memories about the Elgar Cello Concerto, with which he has had a close personal connection for the entirety of his professional career. The Festival also showcased an internationally recognised violinist; Esther Abrami – considered one of the most promising young classical artists of her generation – performed at one of the festival’s two late night Club Elgar events, playing pieces from her latest album Cinéma – which was released in September 2023 – a captivating collection of new arrangements for violin and orchestra of film and TV scores, classical music from the movies, anime hits and new compositions by Oscar winning composers. The second Club Elgar event saw Festival Director Kenneth Woods swapping his baton for his other great musical love, blues guitar. Joined by his regular bandmates Joe and Nathan, and the UK’s blues rising star Alex Voysey, the concert saw Elgar’s themes reimagined and threaded into a journey through blues history including music by Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Led Zeppelin, Joe Bonamassa and many others. The event also welcomed special guest and the Festival’s Featured Composer Steve Elcock, a self-taught British composer; his epic tone poem, Wreck – which was featured at The Gala Concert on Saturday 1 June – has been described by music critics as ‘some of the best orchestral music by a British composer in the last fifty years’. 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. We are delighted that this year’s Festival was so well received.” Adrian Gregson, Chair of The Elgar Festival and former Mayor of Worcester concluded : “We would like to say a very big thank you to all the performers and support teams who made this year’s Festival such a fabulous success.” 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.
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