PEOPLE
Kenneth Richardson
For nine glorious days in July, the Oundle International Festival fills the town with an eclectic mix of entertainment. Sue Dobson talked to its Artistic Director
A
GOOD festival will both reflect and respond to the place and its community, and be broad in its appeal,” says Kenneth Richardson, who knows a thing or two about the subject, having been Director of the world-renowned Covent Garden Festival of Opera and Music for five years, Arts Director of the Chicago Humanities Festival and Director of the yearlong Temple Festival in London. He came to Oundle last year as Artistic Director of the Oundle International Festival and liked the area so much that he moved here. When we met, he was planning to spend the weekend seeking some alpacas for the three acres of land attached to the stunning converted barn he’s bought with husband Garry Glover in a small Northamptonshire village. When it comes to planning the events and booking the musicians, artists and productions for the Festival, Kenneth is not short of ideas or contacts. From his earliest post-university days in the casting department of Scottish Opera – he read French, Russian and Music at St Andrews University – through his years as Company Manager and then General Manager of the Royal Opera, Arts Director of the Barbican Centre in London, Artistic Director of Dublin Grand Opera, consultant to BBC3 and Associate Director of the Greenwich Festival, where he established the Musical Voices Festival, he has myriad enviable connections. His long list of credits as a director of musical theatre includes Carousel and Death in Venice at the Royal Festival Hall, Around with Word with Cole Porter and Puttin’ on the Ritz in Chicago and Oklahoma! for the BBC Proms and BBC2. He’s had a long association with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and will be directing them in Janacek’s The Makropulos Case at the BBC Proms next month. Having built up a fine reputation for directing concert stagings of operas, injecting new life into a lesser-known repertoire and winning a Royal Philharmonic Opera Award along the way, Kenneth is Editorial Director of the website operaworld.net, which he describes as “bringing together opera resources in a structured way, for both opera lovers and newcomers”. A trustee of two
22
22.indd 1
“There’s so much going on in Oundle and the surrounding area. We wanted the Box Office to become an arts hub, a central place where people can come in to buy tickets for one event and discover other things that interest them while they’re there” opera companies, he’s also a scriptwriter and translator – and he creates and designs websites. ARTS HUB Kenneth is involved in all aspects of the Oundle Music Trust, the umbrella that encompasses
the Oundle International Festival and the Food Festival, Music in Quiet Places, Oundle for Organists, Oundle Cinema and the Box Office. “There’s so much going on in Oundle and the surrounding area. We wanted the Box Office at 4 New Street to become an arts hub, a central place where people can come in to buy tickets for one event and discover other things that interest them while they’re there,” he explained. “We’re encouraging more organisations to use us – for example we sell tickets to events at Peterborough Cathedral and this month have tickets for Oundle School concerts, the Battle Proms Picnic Concert at Burghley House, Handel at Boughton, the Oundle Fringe Ceilidh and the Thurning Feast.” For the Music in Quiet Places series, in which talented musicians play in local historic buildings – particularly churches – he looks for a variety of different musical styles. “This spring we’ve had a clavichord concert in Geddington, blues, ragtime and hot jazz in Nassington and a young chamber music quartet playing in Woodnewton.” Variety is important for Oundle Cinema screenings at the Stahl Theatre, too. A member of the film committee, he says: “We aim to get a balance between blockbusters and less well known titles, as well as including one or two of the excellent foreign language films that don’t get shown in the multiplexes. There’s also a documentary strand, shown at Fletton House, which has a dedicated following but not everyone is aware of it, so we’re now incorporating that into the cinema brochure.” As for the Oundle International Festival with its eclectic mix of classical and popular music, theatre, film screenings and partying, Kenneth is urging us all to ‘try something different’ this year and book an event that you might not have considered before. “Chances are you’ll find your eyes and ears opened to a whole new world!” • Tickets for the Oundle International Festival, which runs from 8-16 July, are available from the Box Office, 4 New Street, Oundle PE8 4ED. 01832 274734; www. oundlefestival.org.uk Kenneth and Garry are enjoying settling into their new Nene home – with three acres of land it’s the perfect setting for some unusual pets too!
STAMFORD LIVING JULY 2016
22/06/2016 12:01