Big names at the return of Cambridge Summer Music Festival
The Cambridge Summer Music Festival is returning this year with an exciting programme that includes music in the Botanic Garden, an opera at a stately home, a classical piano legend and an orchestra playing Beethoven’s 5th Symphony from memory.
The line up is aimed at offering something for everyone and is full of big name performers in a bid to win back audiences who may still be feeling nervous about live events following the pandemic.
It’s a bold gambit from artistic director David Hill, who explained that after a difficult time financially due to the lockdowns the festival wanted to make a big comeback.
He said: “It's been a huge team effort to do this in a relatively short time frame because with all that's been going on, in terms of the wider public health and the difficulty of putting things on these days, but also last year's festival, which was in many respects, very good, lost money because of the social distancing. So we had to kind of start a little bit from scratch again this year. I'm enormously indebted to Angela Dixon and the team from Saffron Hall who have helped us to attract some very famous names this year whom we think audiences will love. We also have a lot of concerts that will appeal to the whole family including music from the movies such as Star Wars and Harry Potter from a brilliant all-female horn octet called Cor8. And the Sounds Green concerts in the Botanic Garden are back, starting with folk group Honey and the Bear who are a folk and roots duo. It's very light music and it's fun and it's local. They're conjuring stories and songs, telling tales of Suffolk folklore, their passion for nature and the odd heartbreak. It's super fun to sit and have a drink or a picnic and listen to these people making great music.”
Some of the famous names this year include legendary pianist Imogen Cooper playing Schubert, Ravel and Liszt. Trumpeter extraordinare Crispian Steele-Perkins will conduct a masterclass as well as joining me in a trumpet-organ recital. There is a unique opportunity to hear Albeniz’s masterwork Iberia played by Leeds International Piano Competition winner Artur Pizarro, as well as the artistry of another type of keyboard player, classical accordionist Ryan Corbett. Choral lovers will be treated to a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Ely Cathedral as well as the extraordinary close-harmony singing of the Gesualdo Six. The Festival ends triumphantly at Saffron Hall with the Aurora orchestra giving an astounding performance of Beethoven 5 – from memory.
David said: “Cambridge does need to bring in big names so that people come and hear them because it needs to be more outward looking than sometimes it has been. There's so much going on in the city that is brillaint, that's a marvelous thing, actually. But every so often everyone should stop and come and hear a person who's at the top of their game internationally. Just to know what the difference can be between that and anything else you might actually encounter. That is the whole point of a festival, to be able to say, come and hear something you probably wouldn't normally hear. And that's what we're trying to do.
“For the first time this year we are also staging an open air opera at Childerley Hall, which we like to think of as our own mini-Glyndebourne, which will be a performance of Mozart’s much-loved opera Cosi fan tutte.”
Four to book now
There are too many highlights to mention at the festival but these are the tickets to grab immediately:
Sounds Green outdoor concerts
On Wednesday evenings in July Cambridge University Botanic Garden rings to the sound of live music including Honey& thBear, Prime Brass, Camilla George Quartet and Classico Latino.
Bring a rug and a picnic. The concerts are open to all ages. Food, ice creams and drinks on sale.Music from 6.15pm; garden closes at 8.00pm.Due to limited capacity all paying visitors should buy garden tickets in advance via the Botanic Garden website, on sale from June 2022. Tickets may also be available on the gate, but this cannot be guaranteed. For ticket prices see botanic.cam.ac.uk.
Mozart’s Cosi fan tutte
Wander in the romantic gardens of Childerley Hall and then gather in Childerley’s beautiful 19th century Long Barn for a performance of Mozart’s much-loved opera – Cosi fan tutte. This comedy of young lovers tying themselves in romantic knots is given a new lease of life in this brand-new production, transposing the action to 1970s Cambridge where a bunch of buttoned up students are about to get a tutorial in love
Friday 15 July, 6.30pm With 75 minute picnic interval. Gardens open from 4pm Childerley Hall Dry Drayton, CB23 8BA. Tickets: £20, £35, £40. cambridgesummermusic.com/booking/
Classical accordionist Ryan Corbett
Prepare to be amazed at this performance by virtuoso classical accordionist Ryan Corbett. Corbett won the Royal Over-Seas League Music Competition in 2021, and his playing has a freshness and brilliance which mark him out as a star of the future. His programme of music, composed or transcribed for accordion, encompasses an artful blend of baroque, romantic and contemporary styles. Initially self-taught Corbett is now recognized throughout Europe as an exciting young force on the classical music scene.
Sunday July 17, 1pm. Sidney Sussex chapel. Tickets: £10 plus booking fee (8-25 years free). cambridgesummermusic.com/booking/
Imogen Cooper: Piano Legend
Regarded as one of the finest interpreters of classical and romantic repertoire, Imogen Cooper is internationally renowned for her virtuosity and lyricism. She is celebrated for her interpretations of Schubert and Schumann but also for promoting contemporary composers such as Thomas Adès.
Saturday July 23, 7.30pm West Road Concert. Tickets: £20, £26, £30 plus booking fee (8-25 years free).
cambridgesummermusic.com/booking/
