Performer(s): Choir of Royal Holloway; Rupert Gough (cond.)

Festival overview

The 2024 Presteigne Festival programme offers an opportunity to hear some of Benjamin Britten’s less familiar work, contrasted with music from his contemporaries, his influences and those who, in turn, were influenced by him.

The Festival’s advocacy for new music is greatly in evidence – we will welcome award-winning British composer Richard Blackford as composer-in-residence and include a mini-feature of music by William Mathias.

The music programme includes 12 premieres of new work from an exceptionally diverse cohort of composers – Michael Berkeley, Richard Blackford, Nathan James Dearden, Michael Zev Gordon, James Albany Hoyle, Sarah Frances Jenkins, Tayla-Leigh Payne, Joseph Phibbs, Julian Philips, Lynne Plowman, Lara Poe and James B Wilson.

Extant music from other living composers – Sally Beamish, Matthew Coleridge, Mared Emlyn, Ola Gjeilo, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, Gabriel Jackson, David Matthews, Cecilia McDowall, Adrian Sutton, Huw Watkins, Judith Weir and Raymond Yiu – is programmed alongside pieces by J S Bach, Beethoven, Lennox Berkeley, Nadia Boulanger, Lili Boulanger, Bridge, Debussy, Dowland, Martinů, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Sibelius and Walton.

Apart from concert performances, the programme will also include a variety of other events – exhibitions, film, talks and poetry and, in partnership with many local artists and makers, the popular Presteigne ‘Open Studios’ weekend.

The Festival will feature a truly outstanding artist line-up, with performances from the Piatti Quartet, pianists Huw Watkins, Annie Yim and Joseph Tong, Alice Neary (cello), Anne Denholm (harp), Rebecca Bottone (soprano), Rebecca Afonwy-Jones (mezzo-soprano), Sarah Gabriel (narrator), Daniel Shao (flute), Paul Galbraith (guitar), the Choir of Royal Holloway under Rupert Gough and the Presteigne Festival Orchestra and Ensemble conducted by artistic director, George Vass.

Full information coming soon