THREE celebration concerts at the 2011 Ryedale Festival have been specially devised for the 30th anniversary festival by former artistic directors Geoffrey Emerson (1981-1995), Malcolm Layfield (1997-2006) and Justin Doyle (2006-2009).
Tomorrow, Justin Doyle & Friends, namely soprano Bibi Heal, countertenor Robert Ogden and the Da Chiesa Ensemble, perform Baroque arias and duets by Handel, Monteverdi, Bach and Pergolisi under Doyle’s direction at St Helen’s Church,Wykeham, at 11am.
On July 30, violinist Malcolm Layfield takes a trip down memory lane musicians from his time as artistic director when the Goldberg Ensemble plays Strauss and Brahms works in the Duncombe Park Saloon at 2pm.
That night, festival founder Geoffrey Emerson gathers many of the players from the earliest Ryedale festivals to direct them in a 7pm performance of works by Mozart, Gershwin, Holst, Glazunov, Fauré, Debussy and Strauss, again in the Saloon.
On Wednesday, in the Saloon once more, the festival welcomes the celebrated baritone Sir Thomas Allen for an 8pm recital of works by Schubert, Brahms and Wolf and Ravel’s portraits of the animal kingdom, Histoires Naturelles.
This year Sir Thomas celebrated the 35th anniversary of his debut at the Royal Opera House, where he has sung more than 50 roles. In Ryedale, he will be accompanied by the festival director, Christopher Glynn, on piano.
This year’s Ryedale Festival Community Opera, The Pig’s Tale, will be performed at St Peter’s Church, Norton, on Friday and Saturday at 5pm. Regular director Em Whitfield Brooks, musical director Tim Brooks and designer Lyn Wait combine again for an opera with book and lyrics by Peter Stafford and music by Williams.
The Pig’s Tale is set in 1386 in the small French town of Roumaisonne, where superstitions are rife.
When a pig belonging to the only authority-defying farmer bites the Count’s daughter, the Count insists the pig be put on trial. Cue a larger-than-life comedy of dark dungeons, evil barons, raging floods and singing beasts that questions the nature of power and highlights the power of nature.
Flamenco-jazz guitarist, composer and adopted Yorkshireman Eduardo Niebla celebrates the North Yorkshire landscape in the world premiere of his new work, My Yorkshire Road, on Sunday afternoon.
The Bard of Barnsley, Ian McMillan, has written the lyrics for Niebla’s musical journey, which will be performed at 3pm in the heart of the North York Moors in the Joan of Arc Hall, Botton Village.
Niebla will be accompanied by plenty of Yorkshire musicians: Ripon City Brass Band, Men of Staithes Choir, Rock Up & Sing, guitarist Carl Herring, fiddler Bryony Griffith and melodeon player Will Hampson.
The Triple Concert at Castle Howard on July 27, at 7pm, has sold out. The Elias String Quartet and clarinettist Julian Bliss play in the Long Gallery; The O Duo in the Great Hall; and Vox Cordis in the Chapel.
Bradley Creswick directs the Northern Sinfonia in the Final Gala Concert at Hovingham Hall on July 31, when Vaughan Williams’s evocation of the animal kingdom, The Lark Ascending, opens the 6pm programme.
For tickets, phone 01751 475777 or book online at ryedalefestival.co.uk
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