Southwell Music Festival a record breaker
A RECORD number of people attended this year’s Southwell Music Festival, which ended on Monday.
Around 5,500 people watched the classical music festival, which was extended to six days this year.
It was the fifth to be held.
"The feedback I’ve received confirms my view that this has been the best festival yet — and the previous four reached an extremely high standard," said festival founder and artistic director Mr Marcus Farnsworth.
The event featured professional singers and players from the UK and overseas.
They played in a packed programme of more more 30 concerts, at least half of which were free.
The main event was a performance by record-breaking cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason in the minster on Saturday night.
Around 200 took part in Come And Sing, also at the minster, on Monday.
Organisers reported that income from ticket sales was up by 12% compared with last year.
The estimated number of attendees over all events was around 5,500 — an increase of around 10%.
It is also reported that visitor numbers to Southwell in August have increased by more than 50% since the festival started.
Southwell Minster was the venue for many of the concerts, but there were also performances at other venues, including the Old Theatre Deli, the State Chamber, the Minster School hall, and the walled garden of the Archbishop’s Palace.
The dates for next year’s festival have been confirmed as August 21 to 26.