Harrogate Music Festival Preview Guide

HAR R OG ATE

Harrogate

music festival PREVIEW GUIDE 2019

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Box Office: 01423 562 303 | harrogateinternationalfestivals.com

1940’s Day Sunday 23 June Valley Gardens | Harrogate Re live the nostalgia of 1940s wartime Britain, as the Valley Gardens becomes the venue for this fantastic family day. Explore vintage cars and military vehicles alongside vintage stalls with a host of re-enactors and appearances from the Royal Air Force and the Army.

Why not dress to impress and visit us in 1940s attire or dance to the live music throughout the day.

Enjoy the entertainment from the stage in the safe hands of our hosts Major Swing and Kitty with a programme featuring the Echo42 Big Band, the Harrogate Band, Maria Manchester and the George Formby Experience.

Make the most of the family day and try your hand with our vintage games, fairground rides, food trucks and bars or bring your own picnic, sit back and enjoy the entertainment.

It’s a great day for all the family, and best of all it’s completely FREE!

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Welcome

Harrogate International Festivals was built on the foundations of the success of the spa water that put Harrogate on the map.

It’s fair to say that the bold entrepreneurial spirit of those times ensured that architecture, arts and tourism thrived over this period and helped shape our town.

Here at the Festivals, we believe we need to continue looking forward, exploring new ways of experiencing things and perhaps seeing things in a new light.

This summer season will be based on those themes and with the full season brochure including our arts installations and announcements about the awardwinning Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival still to come. This brochure highlights the exciting music events lined up for this summer.

The Hallé Orchestra return to Harrogate, bringing the quality and excitement they did under the baton of Sir Barbirolli, however, this time they’re accompanied by a new man in town. He likes it shaken, not stirred, and you will too as Casino Royale in Concert opens the season with Bond on the big screen supported by the full force of the Hallé. Bond may travel the world, but you

don’t have to as this year we are bringing a programme of exceptional international artists to your doorstep right in the heart of Yorkshire. From the Leeds International Piano Competition winner Eric Lu, to the youngest ever joint winner of the Junior 1st Prize at the Menuhin Competition in 2018 travelling all the way from Australia, this summer we are set to ‘welcome the world’.

Summer favourites return with Oddsocks presenting a fresh take on A Midsummer Night’s Dream whilst the Concert by Candlelight with the Gesualdo Six present talent, youth, stamina, confidence and years of experience of singing the most difficult vocal polyphony in the repertoire.

Our orchestral finale features the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic with a past Young Musician in Julian Bliss performing Mozart’s farewell to instrumental music. The first clarinet concerto to be written by a major composer – except Mozart did not write it for clarinet at all.

This year, we invite you to be bold and try new things, explore new programmes and experience great live events here in your town. Enjoy!

Library of Live Are you aged 7-25?

Want to discover music, literature and arts?

Join as a Library of Live member today! Membership is free and entitles you to free tickets for selected events across our year-round programme of festivals. Library of Live is a great way to experience something new in some of Harrogate’s most awe-inspiring venues.

Explore our diverse programme of events, take a chance and discover something new with Harrogate International Festivals!

Visit: www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com/library-of-live/ for more information

Casino Royale in Concert Thursday 30 May | 7pm Harrogate Convention Centre with the Hallé Orchestra

Tickets: From £45

Conductor: Ben Palmer Film Concerts Live! proudly presents Casino Royale in Concert, produced in association with EON Productions and Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios (MGM).

For the first time ever, audiences will experience Bond on the big screen accompanied by the full force of the Hallé orchestra performing composer David Arnold’s thrilling musical score live to picture!

Directed by Martin Campbell, Casino Royale brings us Bond at the start of his career, having just earned 00 status and his licence to kill, and introduces us to the next James Bond – Daniel Craig.

CASINO ROYALE LICENSED BY MGM. CASINO ROYALE © 2006 DANJAQ, UNITED ARTISTS. Tickets: AND RELATED JAMES BOND TRADEMARKS, TM DANJAQ. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Ballroom: £21, Garden Room: £19

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Eric Lu

Thursday 20 June 7.30pm | Old Swan Hotel Programme: Schumann | Ghost Variations Brahms | Intermezzo No.1, Op.117 Schubert | Piano Sonata in A minor, D784 Handel | Chaconne HWV 435 Chopin | Piano Sonata No.2

Tickets: Ballroom: £21 Garden Room: £19

Eric Lu won First Prize at The Leeds International Piano Competition in September 2018, performing Beethoven’s Fourth Piano Concerto in the final with The Hallé and Edward Gardner. On his semi-final round, The Independent praised a reading of Chopin’s Second Sonata which “took one’s breath away with its measured grandeur.”

Composed in 1854, Ghost Variations was the last piano work composed by Schumann. A rare treat for the ears, this set of theme and variations in E-flat major are infrequently played or recorded today. Brahms’ Three Intermezzo were composed in 1892. The first intermezzo in E-flat major is prefaced in the score by two lines from an old Scottish ballad, Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament. The lines are “Balow, my babe, lie still and sleep! It grieves me sore to see thee weep.” Although composed in 1823, Schubert’s Piano Sonata in A minor was not published until 1839, eleven years after his death. This sonata, Schubert’s last to be in three movements, is seen by many to herald a new era in Schubert’s output for the piano. Handel was most famous for his operas, oratorios and concerti grossi. Eric Lu brings the Baroque period to life performing Chaconne HMV 435 from the most recent publication Händel-WerkeVerzeichnis. Chopin’s Second Sonata promises to bring this concert to a triumphant close. Comprising four movements, this sonata gained instant popularity with the public when published. Having become an archetypal evocation of death it has been performed at funerals all over the world, including Chopin’s own funeral.

“Artistry of that kind is rare in pianists of any age; to find it in a 20-year old is simply astounding.” – The Daily Telegraph.

Box Office: 01423 562 303 | booking fees apply

Oddsocks A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Tickets: Adults: £19, Children 7-18: £12, Children under 7: £5, Family Ticket: £56 (2 Adults & 2 Children)

Tue 9 & Wed 10 July | 7.30pm

Oddsocks Productions return to celebrate their 30th Anniversary year with yet another high-energy, feel-good, family theatre show.

Pack your picnic and join the crazy theatre troupe for a festival of music, magic and mayhem as they bring that Shakespearean favourite “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, to life as you have never seen it before.

Four young lovers run away to a summer festival in the woods to escape the stress of parental expectations at home. Before long they unwittingly find themselves the subjects of tricks, played on them with hilarious results. Add to that a troupe of amateur actors hired to play at the festival and you have the perfect recipe for an evening of hilarious family entertainment.

If there’s one show you see this summer, make it this one!

“Oddsocks certainly knows how to tickle a funny bone or two. Laugh?

I laughed until I cried at this absolutely fantastic rendition of Shakespeare’s classic.”

– Derby Telegraph.

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Concert by Candlelight:

Gesualdo Six Friday 12 July | 8pm | St Wilfrid’s Church

Owain Park Guy James Alexander Chance Joseph Wicks Josh Cooter Michael Craddock Sam Mitchell

| director | countertenor | countertenor | tenor | tenor | baritone | bass

Tickets: £21

The Gesualdo Six is a vocal consort comprised of some of the UK’s finest young consort singers, directed by Owain Park. Formed in March 2014 for a performance of Gesualdo’s Tenebrae Responsories for Maundy Thursday in the chapel of Trinity College, Cambridge, the group went on to give over sixty performances around the United Kingdom and abroad in its first three years.

Whilst initially focusing on early music, concert programmes began to reflect a desire to include more modern repertoire. Under candlelight, the Gesualdo Six will explore new ways of experiencing things and perhaps seeing things in a new light as they intertwine a selection of medieval and modern sacred works, to include the following: Philippe de Vitry

Owain Park William Byrd Diogo Dias Melgas Tim Watts Richard Rodney Bennett

| Vos qui admiramini - Gratissima virginia species | Phos hilaron | Ave Maria | Salve Regina | Kepler-Motetten | The Seasons of His Mercies

“At times you felt like there were a hundred voices; at others, only one.” – Varsity.

Box Office: 01423 562 303 | booking fees apply

Festival Finale

Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra

Saturday 27 July | 7.30pm Royal Hall

Programme: Puccini | Capriccio Sinfonico Mozart | Clarinet Concerto in

A Major, K.622 Brahms | Symphony No.4 Kahchun Wong Julian Bliss

| Conductor | Soloist

Tickets: £40, £38, £35, £32, £29.

Boxes: £90, £120

Founded in 1840 by a group of Liverpool music-lovers, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic is the UK’s oldest continuing professional symphony orchestra and one the world’s oldest concert societies. Under the baton of Singaporean conductor Kahchun Wong, this special night promises to be an unforgettable festival finale with a delectable programme of works.

Puccini’s Capriccio Sinfonico was presented as his graduation composition in July 1883 and was only the second of his works ever to be published. Julian Bliss, one of the world’s finest clarinettist, joins the RLPO onstage to perform Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major, which was completed less than two months before the composer’s death. Originally intended for basset horn, the version widely known today was transcribed for clarinet, with the listener hearing the work with differing colours. The 2019 summer season is brought to a close with the last of Brahms’ symphonies to be composed. With its serious tone and striking complexities, each of the movements of his fourth symphony bears the distinct stamp of his personality.

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Young Musicians Solem String Quartet Thursday 4 July | 11am St Wilfrid’s Church

supported by the Dorothy Parkinson Memorial Award for Young British Musicians

Winner of the 2014 Royal Over-Seas League Ensemble Competition, the Solem Quartet was formed in 2011 at the University of Manchester. The quartet takes its name from the university’s motto “arduus ad solem”, meaning “striving towards the sun”. In keeping with its name, the Solem Quartet’s first project was to play the Haydn Op. 20 “Sun” Quartets.

Tickets: £12* *see p11 for multibuy discount

Amy Tress William Newell Alistair Vennart Stephanie Tress

| | | |

violin violin viola cello

Programme: Britten | Three Divertimenti Haydn | Quartet No.64 in D major,

Op.76, No.5 Schumann | Quartet No. 3 in A major,

Op.41

Christian Li

Saturday 6 July | 11am Wesley Chapel Tickets: £12* *see p11 for multibuy discount

Gordon Back | piano Christian Li, 11 years-old, was born in Melbourne Australia and began learning the violin at the age of 5. Christian came to international attention in April 2018 when at the age of 10 he became the youngestever joint winner of the Junior 1st Prize at the Menuhin Competition Geneva 2018.

He also received the Audience Prize and the Composer Award.

Programme: Vitali | Chaconne Dvořák | Sonatina Saint-Saëns | Introduction and

Rondo Capriccioso Li | Harvest Song of the

Fisherman Bazzini | Ronde de Lutins

Box Office: 01423 562 303 | booking fees apply

Young Musicians Rob Burton

Saturday 13 July | 11am Wesley Chapel Tickets: £12* *see p11 for multibuy discount

Christine Zerafa Hailing from a farming family in Cambridgeshire, saxophonist Rob Burton won the Woodwind Category Final of BBC Young Musician 2018 at the age of eighteen. Rob studies Classical Saxophone at the Royal Academy of Music with Huw Wiggin. A keen chamber musician, Rob performs with his saxophone quartet ‘Kumori Quartet’ and with violin and piano as part of the Kavinsky Trio.

| piano

Programme: Debussy | Rhapsodie for Alto

Saxophone & Piano Robert Planel | Prelude et Saltarelle Robert Muczynski | Sonata for Alto

Saxophone and

Piano, Op. 29 Graham Fitkin | Gate Decruck | Sonata in C sharp

minor Pedro Iturralde | Pequena Czarda

Xinyuan Wang

Friday 26 July | 11am Wesley Chapel

Tickets: £12* *see p11 for multibuy discount

Chinese pianist Xinyan Wang was born in 1995 and began his musical education at the age of 10. Since 2014 he has been studying at the Franz Liszt University in Weimar. In 2018 Wang attended the prestigious Leeds International Piano Competition and was awarded third prize along with the Medici.tv best audience prize.

Programme: Schubert | Piano Sonata in

D Major, D.850 Bartók | Three Folksongs from

County Csík District Bartók | Allegro Barbaro Bartók | Piano Sonata

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Tickets & How to Book

Concessions: Concessions are available for Under 18s, students in full time education and those receiving unemployment benefits. Appropriate identification must be provided.

Group Bookings: Parties of ten or more booking their tickets in one transaction for a single event receive a 5% discount on their tickets.

Young Musicians Series*: Book all four young musician concerts and enjoy a multibuy discount. Priced at £12 per concert, you’ll be able to attend all four for just £42.

How to Book:

By Phone: 01423 562303 Online: harrogateinternationalfestivals.com In Person: 32 Cheltenham Parade, Harrogate, HG1 1DB

Opening Times: Monday to Friday, 10am – 5pm Payment: Please note that all transactions are subject to a £1.75 booking fee. A £1.50 fee is charged for postal orders, or we offer free ticket collection.

Programme Changes: Harrogate International Festivals reserves the right to make alterations to the programme as become necessary including event cancellations.

Refunds: The Box Office cannot refund money or exchange tickets except in the case of an event cancellation.

Harrogate International Festivals will not store your credit or debit card details and payments will be taken on a per transaction basis, as indicated by the card holder via phone or www.harrogateinternationalfestivals.com Please note, full Terms and Conditions can be viewed on our website, alongside our Privacy Policy.

Premier Partners

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Box Office: 01423 562 303 | booking fees apply

HIF Summer Season | Save the Date...

30 May Casino Royale in Concert with the Hallé Orchestra Harrogate Convention Centre 13

June Long Table Dinner | Valley Gardens

20

June Eric Lu | Old Swan Hotel

23

June 1940’s Day | Valley Gardens

27 – 30 June Spiegeltent II | Royal Hall 4

July Young Musician: Solem Quartet

6

July Young Musician: Christian Li

9 & 10 July Oddsocks: A Midsummer Night’s Dream 12

July Concert by Candlelight: Gesualdo Six

13

July Young Musician: Rob Burton

18 – 21 July Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival 26

July Young Musician: Xinyuan Wang

27 July Festival Finale: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

Orchestra with Julian Bliss

Box Office: 01423 562 303 | harrogateinternationalfestivals.com Harrogate International Festivals is a registered charity no. 244861.