Heads up: 40thCSM Festival dates announced
It’s time to get the diaries out and earmark two very important weeks in July, the Cambridge Summer Music Festival, which this year runs from 5-21 July. Always a firm fixture in any music lover’s calendar, 2018 willbe particularly special as it marks the Festival’s 40th birthday.
Newly-appointed director David Hill highlights that this milestone is quite an achievement for a major arts event that receives no central government funding (relying solely on ticket income, donations and sponsorship). He also takes great delight in having been there at the very beginning: “In 1978 I was an organ scholar at St John’s, when the college choir was part of the first Festival, so it’s been in my consciousness from the word go”.
David, who has taken the role on an honorary basis, is one of Britain’s leading choral conductors, with a flourishing parallel career in orchestral conducting and an impressive discography to his name. He is infectiously enthusiastic about ideas for the 16-day event, including concerts on the theme of 40 (Mozart’s 40th symphony will open the Festival, and there are plans for at least two 40 part motets), andmusic that reflects the themes of remembrance and freedom – given that 2018 is also the centenary of the end of WWI.
Most of all, David wants people to think ‘I really want to hear that’. There’s certainly no shortage of well-known names to attract a wide audience (including pianist Joanna Macgregor, the Gould piano trio, and the Brodsky Quartet),and some iconic music, including the Fauré Requiem and Bach’s B Minor Mass. But the Festival has always been about exploring less familiar and less formal music too, and giving a platform to young upcoming talent. Among the huge range of sounds and styles to sample, there’ll be chamber music by Schoenberg, sophisticated jazz, a traditional fiddle band and some toe-tapping samba.
CSM’s long-established tradition of supporting new artists and new music will also be celebrated. Highlights this year include the world premiere ofa new work by rising starKate Whitley, co-commissioned with BBC Radio 3and to be broadcast across the UK.
Sounds good? Block out those dates in your diary and visit the website now to make sure you’re first in line for tickets: cambridgesummermusic.co.uk
Further information
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