PRE-CONCERT TALK
The Composers’ Perspective: Richard Blackford and Christopher Wright discuss their Violin Concerto and Symphony
RICHARD BLACKFORD and CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT
DRINKS RECEPTION
for EMF Friends and Vice-Presidents
RICHARD BLACKFORD: Violin Concerto
UK PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
DELIUS: Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
CHRISTOPHER WRIGHT: Symphony
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
ENGLISH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
JOHN ANDREWS | conductor
RICHARD BLACKFORD | conductor
RUPERT MARSHALL-LUCK | violin
JOSEPH SPOONER | cello
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Suite de ballet
RICHARD RODNEY BENNETT: Summer Music
ARNOLD: Sonata for flute and piano
ERNEST TOMLINSON: Three Pieces for flute and piano
YORK BOWEN: Sonata for flute and piano
EMMA HALNAN | flute
DANIEL KING SMITH | piano
BYRD: Kyrie and Gloria
DOWLAND: All people that on earth do dwell
BYRD: Ave verum corpus; Credo
TALLIS: O sacrum Convivium
BYRD: Sanctus; Christe qui lux es; Agnus Dei
ANON: Madame d’Amours
MOERAN: River God’s Song; Under the Greenwood Tree
STEPHEN WILKINSON: Orpheus with his lute
PETER POPE: There is a lady sweet and kind; When to her lute
BUTTERWORTH: The True Lover’s Farewell
TONY BANKS: Follow thy Fair Sun
WARLOCK: The Frostbound Wood; Balulalow; The Night
JOHN POTTER | tenor
JACOB HERINGMAN | lute
PRE-CONCERT TALK
From Rebel to Romantic: Bliss’s music of the 1920s and 30s
ANDREW BURN
DYSON: Three Songs of Courage
HOLST: Sorrow and Joy; Love on my Heart; Assemble, all ye maidens
BLISS: Music for Strings
FINZI: God is gone up
DYSON: To Music; Nocturne
HOLST: Dream Tryst; Ye Little Birds; Come to Me
ELGAR: Elegy
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: In Windsor Forest
HOLST ORCHESTRA
GODWINE CHOIR
HILARY DAVON WETTON | conductor
BRITISH LIGHT PIANO MUSIC
The pianist and radio presenter Paul Guinery presents a selection of light-hearted British repetoire including some of Billy Meyerl’s brilliantly written ‘syncopated novelties’ and other similarly entertaining jazz-inflected pieces.
PAUL GUINERY | piano
ALWYN: Sonata alla Toccata
STERNDALE BENNETT: Romance no.1 in B-flat minor
PARRY: Sonata no.1
EDWARD McGUIRE: Prelude 7
BLISS: Masks
YORK BOWEN: Short Sonata in C-sharp minor
RICHARD DEERING | piano
EMF LUNCH
Wine and non-alcoholic drink included
NEVER SUCH INNOCENCE
A narrative recital of words and music from the First World War
ELGAR: Salut d’Amour
ELGAR: Troyte and W.N. from Enigma Variations
(transcr. Elgar)
ALWYN: Water Lilies
BRIDGE: Lament
BAX: In a Vodka Shop
DANIEL KIDANE: Triptych: Six
GURNEY: Prelude no.8 in F-sharp
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Hymn-tune Prelude on Song 13 by Orlando Gibbons
ELGAR: Nimrod from Enigma Variations
(transcr. Elgar)
with poems by writers including WILFRED OWEN, SIEGFRIED SASSOON, EDWARD THOMAS and VERA BRITTAIN
CHRISTOPHER KENT | actor
GAMAL KHAMIS | piano
PRE-CONCERT TALK
‘One of the most beautiful things you have ever uttered’: a voyage through the violin-and-piano works of Sir Hubert Parry
RUPERT MARSHALL-LUCK
PURCELL: Dido and Aeneas (semi-staged performance)
ARMONICO CONSORT
CHRISTOPHER MONKS | conductor
Traditional English folk-songs
JOHN KIRKPATRICK
ETHEL SMYTH: GRASP THE NETTLE
Music to include excerpts from:
The Wreckers
Mass in D
Anacreontic Ode
Overture to The Boatswain’s Mate
On the Road
The March of the Women
The Clown
Es wandelt was wir schauen
Possession
Schön Rohtraut
What if I were young again
After Sunset
Chrysilla
LUCY STEVENS | contralto
ELIZABETH MARCUS | piano
ELGAR: Piano Quintet
GURNEY: The Western Playland
HOWELLS: Phantasy Quartet
GURNEY: Desire in Spring; Black Stitchel; Sleep; Captain Stratton’s Fancy
BRIDGE QUARTET
MICHAEL DUSSEK | piano
RODERICK WILLIAMS | baritone
PRE-CONCERT TALK
Gustav Holst: the impact of the First World War
CHRIS COPE
DYSON: Woodland Suite for string orchestra
WARLOCK: Serenade for the 60th birthday of Delius
DELIUS: Air and Dance
HOWELLS: First Suite
ARWEL HUGHES: Fantasia in A minor
IRELAND: Elegaic Meditation
FINZI: Romance
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Charterhouse Suite
CAMERATA WALES
OWAIN ARWEL HUGHES | conductor
Booking for the 2024 May EMF is now open to all. As always, discounts are available for residents local to the Festival’s home, Dorchester-on-Thames; and these special prices may be obtained by entering your postcode at the Box Office’s front page. To book your tickets, please follow this link.
We are delighted to announce the programme for the 2024 May EMF. This year, for the first time, all our events will be held in Dorchester-on-Thames, with the concerts taking place in the glorious surroundings of Dorchester Abbey; the talks in the historic Village Hall. The full programme, with details of venues, works and artists, may be seen on this page. Booking for Friends of the Festival will open in early March, with general booking opening two weeks later; tickets will be available by post or through our online Box Office.
We have recently introduced a new tier to our Friends’ Scheme for Corporate Friends — so, if you own, or help to run, a company or a similar organisation, and would like to enjoy the special benefits that this tier offers, please do consider joining at this level. For more details about our Friends’ Scheme, please follow this link for a description of the tiers and their benefits, together with information about how to join.