Celebrating 10 years of Southwell Music Festival.
Southwell Music Festival returns this August for its 10th anniversary year. The four-day festival runs from Friday 23 – Monday 26 August.
Established by Artistic Director Marcus Farnsworth and music-loving members of the Southwell community in 2014, the Festival is celebrating 10 years of welcoming professional musicians and performers from across the UK, as well as shining a spotlight on the best of Nottinghamshire’s home-grown talent.
10th anniversary commission and Mozart’s Requiem
To mark this special year, we are commissioning a brand-new 15-minute piece for choir and orchestra, written by award-winning British composer, Cheryl Frances-Hoad, with text by poet Kate Wakeling.
The as-yet-untitled new work will be premiered as part of the Festival’s Sunday night performance of Mozart’s Requiem and will be a contemporary companion piece to Mozart’s captivating choral masterpiece.
As part of the commission, award-winning poet Kate Wakeling will visit Southwell on 26 February to run a series of workshops with local people. Working with students from Lowes Wong Junior School and The Minster School, plus two adult community groups, Kate will collect texts about what music means to them, embedding their words and experiences into the final piece.
Book your place on a free workshop (places are free, but there is limited availaibility). You can also submit your reflections on music to Kate via email – find out more.
The new commission will also premiere in Scotland later this year and then in Northern Ireland and Wales in 2025, with the piece being made available for choirs worldwide via publisher Chester Music.
Come and Sing returns to Southwell Minster
Continuing the Mozart theme, the ever-popular Bank Holiday Monday Come and Sing will be a performance of Mozart’s Coronation Mass. Following a singing day and morning rehearsal, keen singers of all abilities will perform alongside professional soloists and the Festival Sinfonia in the brilliant acoustic of Southwell Minster, led by Festival Director Marcus Farnsworth.
Artist-in-residence – Mark Padmore
This year we will also welcome the celebrated British tenor Mark Padmore to Southwell as Festival headliner and artist-in-residence.
Mark will perform alongside the Festival Strings on Friday evening, curate and perform a Saturday lunchtime concert of English Song, perform as a soloist in Sunday’s Mozart Requiem, and will also feature as part of our Festival Marquee talks programme.
Mark has an established international career in opera, concert and recital and has previously performed at the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival and with Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
For children and families
Returning for its second year, Saturday afternoon’s Musical Picnic is a free family event open to all in the Minster Gardens. Plans are afoot for an afternoon of live performances by local ensembles, musical workshops, crafts and activities for all ages.
Book your free launch concert ticket
The full four-day Festival line-up will be revealed at a free Launch Concert on Saturday 11 May at Southwell Minster. Reserve your free tickets.
Tickets for the 2024 Festival are on sale from Monday 17 June. Festival Friends enjoy Priority Booking for all concerts and events. More about joining the Festival Friends.
As a registered charity, Southwell Music Festival also welcomes new sponsors and donors. If you or your business wants to make a difference to arts in the region by supporting Southwell Music Festival 2024 please email sar@southwellmusicfestival.com.
