WELCOME TO THE JULY NEWSLETTER
Online sales have been amazing so far this year, with more than 50% of tickets already sold. Final preparations are being made and we’re in no doubt that the 2015 Festival will be very special indeed, with some superb artists and a great programme mix.
This edition of the Newsletter highlights some important Festival events and also gives details of telephone and personal booking, available from Monday 20 July.
PRESTEIGNE FESTIVAL | 27 August – 1 September 2015
Nova Music Opera visits the Festival on 27 August, fresh from audience and critical acclaim at the Cheltenham Music Festival with operas by Charlotte Bray and Thomas Hyde. Pictured below are Kirsty Hopkins as Ruth Ellis and Howard Quilla Croft as Desmond Cussen in Entanglement – Charlotte Bray’s opera to a libretto by Amy Rosenthal, which tells the tragic story of the last woman to be hanged in Britain. Entanglement shares the bill with Thomas Hyde’s That Man Stephen Ward, ‘brilliantly sustained’ by Damian Thantrey as Ward – these thought provoking pieces in outstanding performances are not to be missed.
Click to view slideshow.
Our choir-in-residence for 2015 is the fabulous fresh-voiced Choir of Royal Holloway who have made several successful commercial recordings for the Hyperion label. Under director Rupert Gough, they appear in concerts at St Andrew’s, Presteigne and St Mary’s, Pembridge and are also involved in a special Festival Evensong at Bleddfa and the ever-popular Festival Eucharist. Their wide-ranging Presteigne repertoire includes music by Rautavaara, Gabriel Jackson, James MacMillan, Tarik O’Regan and Toby Young.
We are particularly looking forward to welcoming composer-in-residence, Matthew Taylor (pictured below), who has a wide range of works being performed by the Navarra Quartet, Festival Orchestra, Fenella Humphreys, Tom Poster and piano duo Joseph Tong and Waka Hasegawa – including a commissioned work for violin and string orchestra ‘Pastorals’.
BOOKING TICKETS
A number of events in smaller venues are already sold out, so now is a good time to book. We hope there will be something in the 2015 programme that will excite you, whether a concert, an exhibition or a literary event, we look forward to seeing you next month.
Online Booking is already open; the Box Office will be open for telephone orders and personal callers during the following hours:
20 July – 22 August Monday to Saturday, 11.00am – 2.00pm
24 August – 1 September Daily, 10.00am – 5.00pm
Telephone: 01544 267800
For personal callers, we are situated in the Assembly Rooms Broad Street, Presteigne
For full details of the performance programme, click here
For details of exhibitions, click here
OTHER NEWS | Hereford Three Choirs, Welsh Proms and Fishguard
Three Choirs Festival | 25 July-1 August 2015
Three Choirs Festival takes place in nearby Hereford this year, with lots of fabulous choral music and much more besides – online programme here
Welsh Proms | 18-25 July 2015
Fabulous concerts by great British orchestras including the Bournemouth Symphony and the Philharmonia at St David’s Hall, Cardiff – online programme here
Fishguard International Music Festival | 20-30 July 2015
Ten days of concerts in Fishguard and St David’s – online programme here