Acclaimed Southwell Music Festival releases full performance programme

Nationally-acclaimed Southwell Music Festival returns in August with its first full-scale festival in three years, featuring more than 40 live events.

The festival takes place from August 24-29 at indoor and outdoor venues across the town.

The programme, launched at a free concert at Southwell Minster, features choral and orchestral music, jazz and folk, music ancient, modern and everything in between.

Its resident ensembles ­— the Festival Voices, Sinfonia and Chamber Soloists ­— are at the heart of the programming and will join forces in a performance of Mendelssohn’s dramatic oratorio, St Paul.

This takes place in the minster on the Saturday evening.

Celebrity guests include Northumbrian piper and star of the folk world Kathryn Tickell, and British pianist Martin Roscoe.

Tickell will perform with her trio in the minster nave on the Saturday afternoon while Roscoe gives a piano recital on Sunday evening, also in the minster.

This year’s junior concert is Custard The Dragon at Minster School on the Saturday morning.

There is also the usual master classes, talks, and showcases for young performers across the event, including musicians from the Minster School and the Notts Young Artists Showcase.

The final day includes Come And Sing, which will be a platinum jubilee celebration, before the festival closes with a choral evensong in the minster.

The full programme can be found on the Southwell Music Festival website.