No products in the basket.
REGISTERED CHARITY
All donations to Bledington Music Festival are most welcome.
Charity no. 1166804
©2024 |. KC Graphics Ltd | Premium Hosting by Rocket
An award-winning British chamber ensemble, exploring the world of trumpet quartet music.
They brought the house down in 2017 and were fantastic this year also.
An amazing group who bring the atmosphere of The Red Hedgehog Tavern frequented by Brahms and Schubert to our Festival.
The festival began with the incredibly talented young brass quartet, Bella Tromba who began with Monteverdi and finished with George Gershwin. The audience was amazed by the variety of sounds produced by the trumpets particularly in Peter Longworth’s atmospheric ‘Days of Bells and Flying Creatures’. They even had the unexpected pleasure of seeing that piece conducted by the composer! Sadly, two members of the quartet were indisposed on the day but they were more than ably replaced by Neil Brough and Katie Lodge.
We were treated to an amazing cornucopia of brass playing.
Albion Quartet returned to Bledington in 2019 with their programme based around the Fugue. Entitled ‘The Art of Fugue, Voices on Dialogue’, the programme was linked by Contrapuncti 1 and 9 by Bach with Haydn, Schumann and William Walton. The communication between the players of Albion Quartet is tangible, their playing is beautiful and their stage presence stunning. The audience was totally enthralled.
The final night brought another returning group – the inimitable ZRI with their exciting take on Schubert’s String Quintet in C major. The combination of clarinet, violin, cello, accordion and santouri is unique as is the amazing musicianship of all the players. As clarinetist Ben Harlan walked around the church improvising on gypsy themes dressed in his wonderful suit decorated with chocolate bars, there was a frisson of excitement amongst the audience. His beautiful sonorous bass clarinet also took everyone by storm. ZRI is only one of the groups who visit Bledington and say that it is the best acoustic they play in.
2019 was a great year musically, remember all our musicians give mini-concerts or workshops to the children of Bledington Primary School in the afternoons prior to the evening concert. This is hugely enjoyed by the children and we know that some have been inspired to take up instruments themselves. Sadly 2019 was disappointing on ticket sales. If you didn’t come you missed three treats!
The following was written by a member of the audience who attended all three concerts this year:
I’m referring to Bella Tromba, of course. Who knew brass instruments could produce so many different sounds? But everything was possible in the hands of such talented and enthusiastic players, even bird song and peals of bells, and some new pieces came alive through the composers’ explanations.
We came home enlightened and energised by the rip-roaring Gershwin that ended the evening.
The Albion Quartet offered a sparklingly refreshing examination of fugue in some of the greatest chamber music. It’s fascinating to watch the players communicating with the almost imperceptible twitch of an elbow or eyebrow which in this case urged ever more intensely exquisite nuances of expression. Walton’s second string quartet was beguilingly poignant in its contemplation of English Romanticism’s blend of wistfulness and renewal in the post-war years. It seemed so appropriate to perform it in an English country church.
And then there was ZRI … ‘ yes it’s Schubert, but not as we know it!’ Part music, part theatre- there was so much exuberance, but in all the musical excitement there was never anything less than a profound regard for Schubert’s brilliance. Max Baillie rode out an inner storm while clutching his violin as if his life depended upon coaxing out its extraordinarily soulful voice, often sharing a grin of sheer delight with the long-limbed clarinet player who could barely contain his desire to dance. Indeed, it was a wonder the audience resisted leaping to their feet to join in.
I cannot believe how fortunate we are to have the chance of enjoying such a feast of good, live music on our doorsteps, and I ‘m grateful of the chance to thank Rodney Beacham and the team for all their hard work.
If you missed out this year, I understand he is already planning for June 2020.
As you probably know our performers also take some time to educate the local school children on various aspects of music and performing, which is always very much enjoyed by the children.
And this was another lovely letter we received.
REGISTERED CHARITY
All donations to Bledington Music Festival are most welcome.
Charity no. 1166804
The EU GDPR is designed to help all of us have more control over our personal data, and how is it used.
Data subjects, being all visitors and users of any website who are members of the European Union and who submit any personal data. Bledington Music Festival is the data processor and data controller of this site.
Effective from 25th May, 2018
This Privacy Policy sets out how we use and protect information that you may provide when you use this website. Your privacy is protected and important to us. If you provide identifiable personal information it will only be used to help us fulfil our responsibilities related to the services we provide.
Bledington Music Festival is the company or person that collects any personal data submitted through bledingtonmusicfestival.co.uk.
We may update this policy periodically, please check this page to ensure that you are in agreement with any changes.
Personal information, basically any data that can be used to identify or contact you is collected so we can communicate with you about your requirements. This could include your name, business name, address details, email, telephone numbers, or other information pertaining to the services we provide. You may also at times be asked to leave a message about your enquiry or project brief. Websites also collect your IP address through the use of Cookies (find out more about cookies below).
If you opted-in to our mailing list, you may receive occasional emails on important updates or service information. You have the right to opt-out or and have any personal details removed at any time, please email enquiries@bledingtonmusicfestival.co.uk
Information is saved until the enquiry is dealt with and then archived with the project or on cloud-based systems if you are an ongoing client. We also retain your contact details and information in the emails you have sent, but you can request to have your personal details deleted at any time.
We will not sell, distribute, or lease your personal information to third parties unless we have your express permission, or are required by law to do so. We may use your personal information to send you relevant information about services we offer, or information you need as part of the services we offer.
In our commitment to ensuring that your information is secure and to prevent unauthorised access or disclosure, we have suitable physical, electronic and managerial procedures in place to safeguard and secure the information we collect online.
You may choose to restrict the collection or use of your personal information in the following ways:
User-level and event-level data associated with Google Analytics cookies is retained for 14 months and then automatically deleted.
I have implemented IP Anonymization, simply put, the last three digits of your IP address are set to zeros in memory shortly after being sent to the Analytics Collection Network. The full IP address is never retained, or written to disk.
This site also uses Cookies, find out more or manage them here.
