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More Things To Do in York and beyond, from a love letter to theatre to a teatime tiger. Hutch’s List No. 36, from The Press

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play, Show & Tell at the SJT. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 90th play and the Fangfest arts weekend lead Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the weeks ahead.

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 5 to October 5

BILL Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will be the cast for the 90th play by Scarborough writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, a love letter to theatre. 

In a delightfully dark farce that lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis, Jack is planning a big party for his wife’s birthday. Pulling out all the stops, he has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home. Unfortunately, Jack is becoming forgetful in his old age, rendering him unable to remember all the details of the booking.

The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees, desperately needing a well-paid gig – and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky, however, and something does not feel quite right. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Mealtime mayhem in The Tiger Who Came To Tea at the Grand Opera House, York

Children’s show of the week: Nicoll Entertainment presents The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Grand Opera House, York, today and tomorrow, 11.30am and 2.30pm

JUDITH Kerr’s picture-book story The Tiger Who Came To Tea is celebrating 15 years on stage in writer-director David Wood’s 55-minute production that returns to York this weekend, exactly a year on from its last visit.

The doorbell rings just as Sophie and her mummy are sitting down to tea. Who could it possibly be? What they don’t expect to greet at the door is a big, stripey, tea-guzzling tiger in a family show packed with oodles of magic, sing-a-long songs and clumsy chaos! Age guidance: three upwards. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum, pictured in 2023

We will remember them: Allied Air Forces Memorial Day, Yorkshire Air Museum, Halifax Way, Elvington, near York, tomorrow (Sunday), from 1.45pm

THE Yorkshire Military Marching Band will lead the 1.45pm parade featuring standard bearers from 16 Royal British Legion and RAF Association branches in one of the biggest events in the museum’s calendar.

Representatives of the RAF will join with counterparts from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France in honouring the bravery and sacrifices of the allied air crews who flew from the airfield during the Second World War, many of whom did not survive. The day will climax with a 2.15pm service in the main hangar, under the nose of Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th. Open to museum visitors and invited guests.

Busted: Concluding the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal gig of the week: Busted, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, today, gates open at 6pm

BUSTED close Cuffe & Taylor’s summer of outdoor gigs in Scarborough 22 years after first bouncing into the charts with the pop-punk energy of What I Go To School For and a year on from releasing Greatest Hits 2.0, an album of re-recorded hits with guests to mark the reunion of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.

Expect number one smashes Crashed The Wedding, Who’s David, Thunderbirds Are Go and You Said No to feature in Saturday’s set list, along with Year 3000, Air Hostess, Sleeping With The Lights. Support comes from Skinny Living and Soap. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/busted.

William Dalrymple: Reflecting on India’s impact on the ancient world in his Grand Opera House talk

History talk of the week: William Dalrymple, How Ancient India Transformed the World, Grand Opera House, York, September 2, 7.30pm

HISTORIAN William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world: exporting religion, art, science, medicine and language along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific, creating a vast and profoundly important empire of ideas.

Dalrymple explores how Indian ideas crossed political borders and influenced everything they touched, from the statues in Roman seaports to the Buddhism of Japan, the poetry of China to the mathematics of Baghdad. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Tales of a foster parent in her Peacock show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Peacock, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 5, 8pm

KIRI Pritchard-McLean has had a busy few years, hosting Live At The Apollo, fronting the BBC Radio 4 panel show Best Medicine, co-hosting the All Killa No Filla podcast, starting a comedy school and becoming a foster parent. 

After a couple of the eggiest gigs of her career in boardrooms, a show about being a foster carer has been signed off, wherein she lifts the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance, left, and Janet Bruce: Making their Fangfest debut with  a magical and adventurous story for two to eight-year-olds, featuring music, games and puppetry, on both days at 2.30pm in the Fangfoss Hall orchard

Festival of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near York, September 7 and 8. 10am to 4pm

THE annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend.

The event features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, the Story Craft Theatre Company, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops in needle felting, wood carving, spinning and embroidery. Entry to Fangfest is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martin’s School.

Bjorn Again: Thanking Abba for the music at York Barbican and Connexin Live, Hull, on their 2025 tour

Gig announcement of the week: Bjorn Again, York Barbican, September 28 2025, and Connexin Live, Hull, October 29 2025

AFTER festival appearances at Wilderness and Glastonbury this summer, Bjorn Again announce a British and Irish tour from September 26 to November 2 2025, taking in York Barbican on the third night and Connexin Live, Hull, a month later.

Founded in 1988 in Melbourne by Australianmusician/manager Rod Stephen, the tribute show carries the endorsement of Abba’s own Agnetha Fältskog. Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, rocked-up, light-hearted ABBA satire, the show is in its 37th year, having seen more than 100 musicians and vocalists and 400 technical crew/support staff contribute to 5,500 performances in 75 countries. Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk and connexinlivehull.com.

In Focus: 60 songs, 50 years, four concerts, two nights, add up to Elvis Costello & Steve Nieve at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall

Elvis Costello: 60 songs from 50 years in four shows in two nights at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall in September

ELVIS Costello brings his new career-spanning presentation, 15 Songs From 50 Years, to Leeds City Varieties on September 2 and 3 for four unique performances over two days, all sold out.

Walking in the footsteps of Harry Houdini and beyond the long shadow of Charlie Chaplin, Frank Carson and Leonard Sachs at the Swan Street music hall, Costello will be joined at each 75-minute show by keyboard player Steve Nieve, his long-serving, Royal College of Music-trained  cohort in The Attractions and The Imposters.

Each day, the 7pm soiree will feature an entirely different repertoire to the 9.30pm set list, the songs being selected from each of the five decades of Costello’s songwriting, whether solo or in the company of Flip City; American country rock band Clover; The Attractions; Squeeze’s Chris Difford;  The Coward Brothers, with T-Bone Burnett; the Confederates; Paul McCartney; the Brodsky Quartet; The Imposters; Burt Bacharach, Allen Toussaint or the Roots.

A 15-song programme will be printed in advance of each concert with few, if any repeats anticipated but with the possibility of impromptu choices along the way. Costello. 69, and Nieve, 66, very occasionally take requests but should never be mistaken for a jukebox.

The third and fourth performances, on the second day, will “propose a deuce of delights”: two entirely different 15-song set-lists selected from half a century of popular songwriting craft.

“Leeds City Varieties Music Hall has always been known for magic, melody, mirth and mayhem,” says Elvis Costello

“The four shows are guaranteed to feature 60 different songs, but we suspect this is just the start,” predicts the shows’ publicity machine.

Those who wanted to attend all four contrasting shows in this exclusive engagement were able to obtain a special season ticket to include premium seats for each show in the front rows or boxes with exclusive use of the bar in between shows.

Asked about the involvement of his perennial cohort, Steve Nieve, Costello said: “Well, to paraphrase John Lennon, Steve Nieve will ‘leap over horses, through hoops, up garters and lastly, through a hogshead of real fire’ to bring his particular brand of musical magnificence to these performances.”

Costello added: “The City Varieties Music Hall has always been known for magic, melody, mirth and mayhem. These are all well within our grasp. By the way, had my father not taken a trumpet-playing engagement in London, just before my arrival into this world, I would have been a Chapeltown boy and this would be my hometown gig.“

In the wortds of the City Varieties blurb: “Unsurpassed in variety and voluminosity, Costello’s renowned refrains, romances, broadsides, bulletins and ballads are perfectly matched by Steve Nieve’s pulchritudinous and pulsating piano playing.

“The paragon of the profound and the peculiar, these premier performers present a penetrating pageant for perceptive and perspicacious patrons.”

For ticket updates on late availability, visit leedsheritagetheatres.com/whats-on/costello-and-nieve-2024.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, La Belle Époque, Welburn Manor Marquee, August 20

Pianist Katya Apekisheva

IN evocation of La Belle Époque – roughly 1871 to 1914 – the festival focus turned to French composers. A Fauré song cycle followed Debussy’s late violin sonata, with a second half devoted to Chausson: an extended song and what amounts to a double concerto.

Debussy’s Violin Sonata in G minor dates from 1917, the year before he died, so falls technically outside the belle époque. Nevertheless, its nostalgia harks back to an earlier age, more in regret for the ravages of war than self-pity at his terminal illness.

In a piece where you never quite know where the composer is going next, Charlotte Scott’s violin and Katya Apekisheva’s piano were alive to the many moods of the opening Allegro vivo.

There was dizzying staccato and pizzicato in the dry intermezzo, carrying more than a hint of its origins in fantasy. Apekisheva contrived to be both intimate and expansive at the start of the finale, with Scott scouring the lower regions of her instrument before soaring majestically into the concluding Presto. They remained in close harness, however, and revelled in the fireworks at the finish.

Violinist Charlotte Scott. Picture: Matthew Johnson

It is good that this festival remembers that the voice, too, is an instrument and includes vocal music especially when accompanied by more than ‘just’ a piano. Fauré was not the only composer to sense that extra instruments often suited the voice, and he expanded his 1892 song-cycle La Bonne Chanson by adding a string quintet (including double bass) six years later.

Conditions were particularly gusty for this recital. Even though mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley battled bravely, her words were not always easy to discern against the flapping of the tent. It became necessary to treat her voice as just another instrument in a septet – at which point the music became thoroughly satisfying.

Behind Verlaine’s nine poems lie strong undercurrents of romantic love, which suited Fauré’s affaire with Emma Bardac (who was to become Debussy’s wife). Huntley did her very best to explore the many facets of emotional entanglement, from early stirrings to full-blown ecstasy, reserving glorious full tone, for example, for ‘Ô Bien Aimée’ (O My Beloved) but toning it down for a confident C’est l’heure Exquise’ (Exquisite Hour).

The strings masterfully reflected the ebb and flow of excitement, not least in tremolo associated with a whirring flock of quails. Daniel Lebhardt’s piano carried the burden of the argument with subtlety and the instrumental postlude spoke of ultimate contentment, whatever the season.

Mezzo-soprano Anna Huntley: “Battled bravely with the gusty conditions”. Picture: Kaupo Kikkas

The wind had abated during the interval, when Huntley returned with Chausson’s Chanson Perpétuelle, this time with piano quintet in support. She brought fuller tone to Charles Cros’s picture of a woman abandoned in love and with it greater intensity, helped by individual instruments acting as her alter ego. Apekisheva’s agitated piano completed a well-rounded portrait.

Chausson’s Concert, Op 21 is a concertante piece for violin and piano (to all intents a concerto, here with Alena Baeva and Vadym Kholodenko respectively), with accompaniment from a string quartet rather than a full orchestra.

A bold duo-cadenza was the highlight of the portentous opening movement, followed by a pensive Sicilienne that threatened to wind up into a full-blown allegro but never quite managed it.

After a darkly elegiac Grave, which came to an anguished climax, all six players were asked to stretch themselves to the limit in the finale’s variation form. Marked ‘trés animé’, its thrills were much enhanced by the tautness of the ensemble. The soloists had previously predominated, but here they were subsumed into a glorious tutti.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Miles And The Chain Gang take darker direction on cover of Griff’s Black Hole and confirm Food and Drink Festival gig

Miles And The Chain Gang: “It’s a lot more guitar orientated than the original”

YORK band Miles And The Chain Gang release a cover of Griff’s 2021 hit, Black Hole, as their eighth standalone track on September 6.

“I loved the song,” says band leader Miles Salter. “I thought it was one of the best pop songs of the last few years. It absolutely epitomised the sensation of heartbreak and loss at the end of a relationship.

“I wanted to see what we could do with it. I wanted to do a guitar band version. We changed one or two things – our version is slightly quicker, it’s a lot more guitar orientated than the original. I really like what we’ve done with it.”

Miles continues: “It’s nice to do something different. It’s a little darker than the other songs we’ve released, and Griff is not an act you’d associate with guitar bands.

“I’ve discovered music via having a teenage daughter. She’s introduced me to various things in the last four years. She’s very aware of female singer-songwriters. We’ve been to see gigs by Olivia Rodrigo, Caity Baser and Olivia Dean. A lot of the best pop that’s been released recently has come from female solo acts, it seems to me.”

Miles And The Chain Gang have released eight songs in total, clocking up 24,000 Spotify streams and 60,000 video views on YouTube and other platforms. “We play gigs in Yorkshire and are working on our debut album,” says Miles. “It’s taken ages, but we’re nearly there.” 

Singer, songwriter and guitarist Miles is joined on the recording by Mat Watt (bass), Mothers stalwart Rob Wilson (guitar), Ava Hegarty (backing vocals) and renowned York musician Charlie Daykin (keyboards), as well as Anthony Thompson (trumpet) and Jonny Hooker (drums).

“Jonny produces our music at Young Thugs Studio, in York, and always works hard to get great results,” says Miles. “The video was made my animator, Jamie Scrutton, and the song is distributed digitally by Kycker Music, a Sheffield-based company. I’ve worked hard to build a team and it’s starting to pay off.” 

Miles And The Chain Gang play the York Food and Drink Festival, in the Parliament Street marquee, on Thursday, September 26 at 8pm. Entry is free. Watch the video for Black Hole at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYLCkbb1I2Y

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What’s On in Ryedale, York & beyond when Ayckbourn delivers love letter to theatre. Hutch’s List No.31, from Gazette & Herald

York actress Frances Marshall in rehearsal for Alan Ayckbourn’s 90th play, Show &Tell. Picture: Tony Bartholomew

ALAN Ayckbourn’s 90th play and the Fangfest arts weekend lead Charles Hutchinson’s recommendations for the weeks ahead.

Premiere of the week: Alan Ayckbourn’s Show & Tell, Stephen Joseph Theatre, Scarborough, September 5 to October 5

BILL Champion, Paul Kemp, Frances Marshall, Richard Stacey and Olivia Woolhouse will be the cast for the 90th play by Scarborough writer-director Alan Ayckbourn, a love letter to theatre entitled Show & Tell.

In a delightfully dark farce that lifts the lid on the performances we act out on a daily basis, Jack is planning a big party for his wife’s birthday. Pulling out all the stops, he has booked a touring theatre company to perform in the main hall of the family home. Unfortunately, Jack is becoming forgetful in his old age, rendering him unable to remember all the details of the booking.

The Homelight Theatre Company is on its knees, desperately needing a well-paid gig – and Jack’s booking is very well paid. Pinning him down on the details has been tricky, however and something does not feel quite right. Box office: 01723 370541 or sjt.uk.com.

Allied Air Forces Memorial Day at the Yorkshire Air Museum, pictured in 2023

We will remember them: Allied Air Forces Memorial Day, Yorkshire Air Museum, Halifax Way, Elvington, near York, Sunday, from 1.45pm

THE Yorkshire Military Marching Band will lead the 1.45pm parade featuring standard bearers from 16 Royal British Legion and RAF Association branches in one of the biggest events in the museum’s calendar.

Representatives of the RAF will join with counterparts from the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and France in honouring the bravery and sacrifices of the allied air crews who flew from the airfield during the Second World War, many of whom did not survive. The day will climax with a 2.15pm service in the main hangar, under the nose of Halifax Bomber Friday the 13th. Open to museum visitors and invited guests.

Busted: Concluding the 2024 season at Scarborough Open Air Theatre on Saturday

Coastal gig of the week: Busted, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, Saturday, gates open at 6pm

BUSTED close Cuffe & Taylor’s summer of outdoor gigs in Scarborough 22 years after first bouncing into the charts with the pop-punk energy of What I Go To School For and a year on from releasing Greatest Hits 2.0, an album of re-recorded hits with guests to mark the reunion of James Bourne, Matt Willis and Charlie Simpson.

Expect number one smashes Crashed The Wedding, Who’s David, Thunderbirds Are Go and You Said No to feature in Saturday’s set list, along with Year 3000, Air Hostess, Sleeping With The Lights On, Loser Kid and Everything I Knew. Support comes from Skinny Living and Soap. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com/busted.

William Dalrymple: Reflecting on India’s impact on the ancient world in his Grand Opera House talk

History talk of the week: William Dalrymple, How Ancient India Transformed the World, Grand Opera House, York, September 2, 7.30pm

HISTORIAN William Dalrymple, co-host of the Empire podcast, tells the story of how, from 250BC to 1200AD, India transformed the world: exporting religion, art, science, medicine and language along a Golden Road that stretched from the Red Sea to the Pacific, creating a vast and profoundly important empire of ideas.

Dalrymple explores how Indian ideas crossed political borders and influenced everything they touched, from the statues in Roman seaports to the Buddhism of Japan, the poetry of China to the mathematics of Baghdad. Box office: atgtickets.com/york.

Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Tales of a foster parent in her Peacock show at Pocklington Arts Centre

Comedy gig of the week: Kiri Pritchard-McLean: Peacock, Pocklington Arts Centre, September 5, 8pm

KIRI Pritchard-McLean has had a busy few years, hosting Live At The Apollo, fronting the BBC Radio 4 panel show Best Medicine, co-hosting the All Killa No Filla podcast, starting a comedy school and becoming a foster parent. 

After a couple of the eggiest gigs of her career in boardrooms to social workers, a show about being a foster carer has been signed off, wherein she lifts the lid on social workers, first aid training and what not to do when a vicar searches for you on YouTube. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

Tribute acts at the treble: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now re-heat the hits at Milton Rooms, Malton

Tribute gig of the week: Coldplay It Again, Stereoconics and Oasis Here Now, Milton Rooms, Malton, September 7, 7pm

THIS tribute triple bill brings together Coldplay It Again replicating the look, sound and spirit of a Colplay show, Stereoconics’ faithful versions of Stereophonics’  songs and Oasis Here Now’s devotion to the style and swagger of Oasis in their Nineties’ heyday, just as the Gallagher brothers announce their first gigs since 2009 for next summer. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Gerry Grant: Demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery

Festival of the week: Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, near York, September 7 and 8. 10am to 4pm

TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend.

The festival features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, the Story Craft Theatre Company, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops in needle felting, wood carving, spinning and embroidery. Entry to Fangfest is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martins School.

Bjorn Again: Thanking Abba for the music in York and Hull on their 2025 tour

Gig announcement of the week: Bjorn Again, York Barbican, September 28 2025, and Connexin Live, Hull, October 29 2025

AFTER festival appearances at Wilderness and Glastonbury this summer, Bjorn Again announce a British and Irish tour from September 26 to November 2 2025, taking in York Barbican on the third night and Connexin Live, Hull.

Founded in 1988 in Melbourne by Australianmusician/manager Rod Stephen, the tribute show carries the endorsement of Abba’s own Agnetha Fältskog. Designed as a tongue-in-cheek, rocked-up, light-hearted ABBA satire, the show is in its 37th year, having seen more than 100 musicians and vocalists and 400 technical crew/support staff contribute to 5,500 performances in 75 countries. Tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am at yorkbarbican.co.uk and connexinlivehull.com.

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Vienna!, Welburn Manor Marquee, 17/8/24

Violinist Charlotte Scott. Picture: Matthew Johnson

THE two Viennese Schools – the classical and the post-romantic – were brought into sharp contrast in this succulent programme, in which works by Mozart and Schubert framed music by the big three of the Second Viennese Schoool, Schoenberg, Berg and Webern.

Charlotte Scott and Joseph Havlat took the stage for Mozart’s two-movement Violin Sonata in E minor, K.304, which he wrote in the wake of his mother’s death. Scott’s perceptive violin has long been a favourite with this audience, whereas Havlat’s piano is a relative newcomer, but they blended sympathetically.

They treated the Allegro’s development section as a clear attempt by the composer to exorcise his grief, its storminess bordering on anger here. The tender, sighing motif in the succeeding trio had great feeling, although the minuet – hardly a dance – was much more fiery.

Webern’s Langsamer Satz (‘slow movement’) in C minor is a student piece for string quartet. With Scott at the helm, the ensemble worked its way urgently to its central unison before a muted elegy and a satisfyingly tender final pianissimo.

In similar vein was Berg’s Adagio, a distillation for trio of the slow movement of his Chamber Concerto. Here Scott’s violin was joined by Matthew Hunt’s clarinet, the two phrasing sensitively while Ariel Lanyi’s piano was intuitive in initiating mood changes.

Webern saw the commercial sense of thinning down Schoenberg’s First Chamber Symphony from the original 15 players to a mere quintet. Here we had the rare chance to hear the version with flute and clarinet alongside piano trio.

Forthrightly led by Alena Baeva’s violin, with Lanyi at the piano, the ensemble delivered clarity and vigour in equal measure, with contrastingly elegant lines in the Adagio before an exciting climax.

But the best was, incredibly, yet to come. Schubert’s Fantasy in C major, D.934 is rightly regarded as an Everest of the violin and piano repertoire, not to be undertaken lightly. Benjamin Baker’s violin was on fire and he played with assuringly few glances at his score.

Vadym Kholodenko recorded this work last year with his regular duo partner Alena Baeva. So we were in the hands of experts: both clearly knew the score in every sense. There was an immediacy here that felt utterly spontaneous, from the teasingly enigmatic opening to the spine-tingling final Presto.

En route, Baker was amazingly fluent, throwing off the variations on Sei Mir Gegrüsst (I Greet You), a song of romantic yearning, with carefree abandon after a gaily dancing czardas: we had eloquent rubato, dazzling pizzicato, breathtakingly accurate moto perpetuo, it was all there.

Kholodenko was with him every step of the way, indeed spurring him on: their relish was intoxicating. They were not afraid to be coolly meditative in the Allegretto before a finale of heart-stopping virtuosity. This was a sensational performance, surely destined to be the highlight of the festival.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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REVIEW: Martin Dreyer’s verdict on North York Moors Chamber Music Festival, Towards The Edge, Welburn Manor Marquee, August 16

The Paddington Trio: North York Moors Chamber Music Festival’s Young Artists for the 2024 festival

IT is not often the opportunity arises to hear a 19th-century work for the first time, especially one by a composer whose music rarely graces concert platforms.

Juliusz Zarębski, a Pole born in what is now Ukraine, died in 1885 at the age of 31, leaving a host of piano pieces – apart from a piano quintet written in the final months of his terminal battle with tuberculosis.

It was the highlight of this programme, whose backbone was provided by the Paddington Trio, the festival’s Young Artists. The added guests were violinist Benjamin Baker and viola player Max Mandel.

The evening had opened with Liszt piano music and included Shostakovich’s Second Piano Trio. Zarębski’s Piano Quintet in G minor is in the conventional four movements, but in other respects it strays from the norm.

For a start, this is no piano concerto with added strings: the keyboard role is beautifully integrated into the whole. Furthermore, its opening theme is given to the viola and only the second theme taken by the first violin, its long, lyrical lines contrasting well with the viola’s earlier probing. The composer cleverly thinned the texture right down – drawing our attention – before a huge climax at the close of the first movement.

The Adagio’s opening sounds as if improvised before growing increasingly anguished, with folk-like harmonies. Here we heard strings alone more than once. Its three-part shape petered into a quiet ending with cello and piano, gently treated here.

The ensemble was sprightly in the jaunty scherzo before a smooth trio over rippling piano. There were more than a few shades of Dvořák in the finale, with Bohemian themes always close to the surface.

After a quiet interlude, the ebb and flow became quite volatile right up until a closing race for the tape. The ensemble, persuasively led by Baker, seemed to relish this rare opportunity, their lively approach evoking the spirit of the dance.

The Paddingtons were equal to the challenges of Shostakovich’s E minor trio, spearheaded by the tricky harmonics of Patrick Moriarty’s cello at the start. The fugue accelerated neatly and pizzicato was always taut. The group was fully alive to the quirks of the madcap scherzo, with its constant swerving between major and minor keys.

The elegiac Largo reflected the composer’s mood in 1944, in the wake of the tragic siege of Leningrad, but there was a contrasting urgency in the finale, with its elements of gypsy dance. The Paddingtons showed themselves to be a well-knit ensemble, even if occasionally Tuulia Hero’s violin might have been a touch more daring.

The group’s pianist, Stephanie Tang, had given us Liszt’s original version of La lugubre Gondola, written in the aftermath of Wagner’s death in Venice. It is so bare it sounds almost like doodling and Tang’s deliberately harsh tone did nothing to alleviate the composer’s evident grief. But it swayed smoothly enough, in true barcarole fashion.

Review by Martin Dreyer

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Next Door But One receives ‘life-changing’ £20,000 after winning Sky Bet Ebor Festival Community Sweepstake

Next Door But One artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, left, receives the “life-changing” £20,000 cheque from Sky Bet’s Steve Birch after winning the Sky Bet Ebor Festival Community Sweepstake at York Racecourse

MATT Harper-Hardcastle attended York Races for the first time on Saturday and headed home with £20,000…without placing a bet.

To explain, Matt is the artistic director and chief executive officer of York community arts collective and charity Next Door But One (NDB1), who won the Sky Bet Ebor Festival Community Sweepstake.

As part of the joint initiative between York Racecourse and Sky Bet, the sweepstake rewards good causes from across Yorkshire in acknowledgement of their hard work within the community. Each shortlisted charity was awarded a £1,000 donation to put towards a project or initiative.

This year, more than 150 entries to the sweepstake were made, leading to a final shortlist of 22, each allocated a runner in the 3.35pm Sky Bet Ebor Handicap from the sweepstake draw.

From a ceremony shown live on TV at the Knavesmire course on Thursday, Matt drew the horse names from one tombola; Pam, from Hull & East Riding Breast Friends, the charities from the other.

Matt turned out to have the magical touch, having drawn Magical Zoe for NDB1. Trained by Henry de Bromhead and ridden by Billy Lee, the hurdler-turned-flat racer lived up to being the favourite in the betting by finishing first past the post, a victory that brought NDB1’s £20,000 grand prize. Second place went to The Clothing Bank with Menfulness taking third, securing £5,000 and £2,000 respectively.

Next Door But One, an award-winning LGBTQ+ and disability-led theatre company, delivers a programme focused on workshops and performances for and with cohorts of the community with disabilities, mental ill health, unpaid carers, women from lower socioeconomic backgrounds and LGBTQ+ individuals.

In the wake of Magical Zoe’s triumph, a delighted Matt said: “This is the first time I’ve ever been to the races, so the fact that we’ve come away with £20,000 for the charity is absolutely amazing. This donation has meant that we’ve already reached our funding target for the year, which will continue to be hugely beneficial into 2025.

Next Door But One’s leadership team: creative engagement manager El Stannage, left, producer Joshua Goodman, artistic director Matt Harper-Hardcastle, associate director Kate Veysey and communications coordinator Anna Johnston

“The donation will be used for our participatory arts programme for marginalised communities. For every £20 invested, we’re able to provide a whole year’s worth of free and inclusive arts engagement for one person, so this means we’re able to make a difference to so many. The whole team would like to thank York Racecourse and Sky Bet for their support. It really is a life-changing amount of money.”

James Brennan, head of marketing and sponsorship at York Racecourse, added: “The Ebor always proves to be a very special event in our racing calendar, and 2024 proved no different as we saw Billy Lee ride to victory.

“Hosting the shortlisted good causes is always a pleasure, and we’re looking forward to following their journeys and seeing how they utilise the valuable donations they receive.”

Michael Shinners, head of sports PR at Sky Betting & Gaming, concluded: “A huge congratulations to Next Door But One, The Clothing Bank and Menfulness for placing in our community sweepstake.

“The Sky Bet Ebor Festival Community Sweepstake is an annual highlight for us, as we learn about all the amazing work that our charities and good causes support across the Yorkshire region. We hope that our donations for all of those shortlisted go a little or a long way in helping them continue their great work.”

The final 22 shortlisted Yorkshire charities, foundations and community groups were:

Active Independence; Beverley Community Lift; BIADS – Barnsley Independent Alzheimer’s and Dementia Support; Day One Trauma Support; Declan John Foundation; Hornsea First Aid Centre; Hull 4 Heroes; Hull and East Riding Breast Friends; Just ‘B’; Menfulness; MySight York; Next Door But One CIC; Noah’s Ark Centre; Norton Hive Library and Community Hub; Overgate Hospice; Rotherham Cancer Care; Sheffield Mencap and Gateway; Sheffield Steelkings Para Ice Hockey Club; The Clothing Bank; Friends of Rowntree Park, York; The Rainbow Centre, Scarborough, and Yorkshire’s Brain Tumour Charity.

James Brennan said: “As with every year, we have seen so many worthwhile entries to the sweepstake. Choosing 22 from this extensive list is never easy but the final runners reflect a diverse group of worthy causes from across the region.

“The Sky Bet Ebor Festival is the highlight of our racing calendar with this initiative an important part of proceedings.  We always look forward to hosting the shortlisted contenders and to showcasing the amazing work they all do.”

Representatives from the 22 shortlisted Yorkshire charities, foundations and community groups for the Sky Bet Ebor Festival Community Sweepstake at York Racecourse on Saturday
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Fangfest’s celebration of practical arts welcomes 30 exhibitors, workshops, archery, storytelling and a teddy bear trail

Dave Atkin, of Woodwyrm, at work on carving wood

TWENTY-FIVE years on from its inception, the annual Fangfest returns with its celebration of traditional and contemporary art and craft skills as creatives, businesses and charities gather next weekend in Fangfoss, near York.

The festival of practical arts features a flower festival, vintage and veteran cars, archery with Aaron Shooting Archery, Stamford Bridge History Society, music on the green, Story Craft Theatre, a teddy bear trail, produce stalls and free craft activities, as well as 30 working craft exhibitors and workshops.

Among the exhibitors will be Caroline Wagstaff, ceramics and pebble glass; Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, photography with a twist; International Feltmakers Association member Liz Riley, of Everything Felt, felting; Lorina Lynne, jewellery; Pete Thomson, of  Spirit of the Wood, woodwork; Woodwrym, wood carving and trinket boxes; Shan Williams, woven items; Crafty Alfredo, ceramic mosaics; Laura Thompson, illustrations; Tanja Entwistle, glass; and Rosie Glow, terrazzo homeware, soaps and prints.

Rosie Glow: Maker of terrazzo homeware and soaps

Most of the stalls will be in The Orchard of Fangfoss Hall, making the 2024 event more centralised than in past years.

“This year there are more opportunities than ever for visitors to learn a new craft,” says event co-organiser Lyn Grant, of Fangfoss Pottery. “Over the weekend there’ll be a number of workshops, lasting about two hours each, for the public to participate in: needle felting with Brenda Christison, of Felty and Fabulous (10.30am, Saturday); spoon carving with Woodwyrm (11.15am each morning); yarn spinning with Catherine Djimramadji (September 8, 10.30am) and hand embroidery with textile artist Hayley Mills-Styles (September 8, 2pm, upstairs at Fangfoss Pottery).

“Although these are more suitable for older children and adults, there’s a workshop specially geared for children aged five and upwards on the Sunday. Hosted by Thread and Press at 11am to 12.30pm and 2pm to 3.30pm, this is to make and sew a Barn Owl Sock Puppet, decorated and painted.”

Gerry Grant demonstrating Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery

A small charge applies for all these workshops, which must be booked in advance. Details can be found on the Fangfest Facebook page.

One of the youngest exhibitors, photographer Josh Hemmens, of Whimbrel Designs, will demonstrate his lensball technique and talk visitors through his editing processes, wherein he transforms his original photographs into images with a modern twist. His work will be available as fine-art giclee prints, framed photographs and greetings cards.

To accompany their selection of replica medieval tiles across the weekend, Tanglebank Tiles will demonstrate designs and techniques in the medieval style. Gerry Grant will demonstrate Raku firing at Fangfoss Pottery; Laura Thompson Design and Illustration, watercolour painting.

Story Craft Theatre’s Cassie Vallance, left, and Janet Bruce: Making their Fangfest debut

Story Craft Theatre are taking part in Fangfest for the first time. York theatre-makers Cassie Vallance and Janet Bruce will perform a magical and adventurous story for two to eight-year-olds featuring music, games and puppetry on both days at 2.30pm in the Fangfoss Hall orchard. Admission is free.

On the Teddy Bear Trail, visitors and trail finders will be asked to find the nine letters attached to some of the teddies, rearrange them to form a word and collect a prize at the finish point.

On the Sunday morning, at 11.30am, Haigha Lore will be enchanting The Orchard with Anglo-Saxon storytelling, songs, music, poems and ritual, using Anglo-Saxon, Middle English and modern English to weave together poems and extracts from the 5th to the 13th century to re-imagine the lost world of the dark ages in Tales of the Kings.

Archery at Fangfest

Look out for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People, with a chance to meet the team and watch some of the dogs in training.  

More information on the festival, including exhibitors, timings of activities and workshops, can be found on facebook/fangfest or on Instagram, fangfestfestival.

Fangfest Festival of Practical Arts, Fangfoss, ten miles east of York, September 7 and 8, 10am to 4pm. Entry is free; parking is £2 per vehicle in aid of Friends of St Martin’s Primary School, Fangfoss.

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More Things To Do in York and beyond as comedy turns ‘bafflingly optimistic’. Hutch’s List No. 35, from The Press, York

Lord Of The Dance: “Aiming to leave the audience spellbound” at York Barbican

THE summer festival season enters the final furlong with the focus turning to the new season ahead, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.

Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, York Barbican, today, 2.30pm and 7.45pm; tomorrow, 7.45pm

IN the words of Lord Of The Dance impresario Michael Flatley: “Our 2024 tour promises to be an extraordinary journey that will take audiences to the next level once again.

“In 2024, this extraordinary experience for fans will feature new staging, fresh choreography, new costumes, cutting-edge technology, and special effects lighting. It’s a celebration of a lifetime of standing ovations and we aim to leave the audience spellbound.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Living History Weekend: The past comes alive at Eden Camp today and tomorrow

Family fun day out of the week: Living History Weekend at Eden Camp Modern History Museum, Edenhouse Road, Old Malton, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

STEP back in time to be immersed in history at Eden Camp, where the past comes alive with re-enactors around every corner, from captivating displays to engaging talks and activities galore. You can meet with medics; try your hand at authentic ration recipes; explore the intricate details of a Sherman tank and groove to live music in the engine shed. Dressing up in 1940s’ fashion is encouraged. Tickets: edencamp.digitickets.co.uk/tickets. 

The Last Dinner Party: Playing Leeds Festival’s main stage at 2.20pm tomorrow. Picture: Leeds Festival website

Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Leeds, today and tomorrow

AFTER “Mother Nature played her part”, Storm Lilian has put paid to the BBC Radio 1 stage and the new The Aux stage, but The Chevron stage is expected to reopen today.

Blink 182 and Gerry Cinnamon top today’s bill at Leeds Festival, when Two Door Cinema Club and The Prodigy. Tomorrow has Fred Again and Lana Del Rey on headline duty, backed up by Raye, Fontaines DC, Bleachers and The Last Dinner Party. Look out too for Sonny Fodera and Barry Can’t Swim. Box office: leedsfestival.com/tickets.

Lana Del Rey: Playing the main stage at Leeds Festival tomorrow at 7.30pm. Picture: Leeds Festival website

York gig of the week: New York Brass Band, Big Summer Party, The Crescent, York, tonight, doors 7.30pm

YORK’S top brass come together for an evening of big, bangin’, brassy tunes at The Crescent, featuring a line-up of percussion, saxophone, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone.

Taking inspiration from contemporary New Orleans musicians, the New York Brass Band will be in party mood after festivals appearances at Glastonbury and Latitude. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

New York Brass Band: Big, bangin’, brassy tunes at The Crescent tonight

Coastal gig of the week: Becky Hill, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 29, gates 6pm

BRIT Award-winning Becky Hillis a pop powerhouse with a reputation as a pioneer in electronic music, not least in her collaborations in the dance-pop genre with everyone from David Guetta to Little Simz over the past decade.

Hill has written or performed on 17 UK Top 40 singles, including five top ten singles and a number one, amassing more than four billion streams on Spotify. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Steve Cassidy: Playing with his band and friends at the JoRo Theatre

New amid the familiar: Steve Cassidy Band & Friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, September 1, 7.30pm

YORK’S Steve Cassidy Band return to their favourite venue, where three-time New Faces winner, singer, guitarist and songwriter Cassidy is joined by John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele and guitar, Brian Thompson on drums and George Hall on keyboards.

Expect a few special guests throughout an entertaining night of rock, country and instrumental music, plus new pieces prepared specifically for this concert. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Robyn Hitchcock: Heading for The Crescent next month

Art rocker returns: Robyn Hitchcock, The Crescent, York, September 1, 7.30pm

IN a career spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a one-of-a-kind artist: surrealist rock’n’roller, acoustic troubadour, poet, painter and writer.

From The Soft Boys’ art-rock and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to such solo masterpieces as 1984’s I Often Dream Of Trains and 1990’s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted songs with recurring references to marine life, obsolete electric transport, ghosts and cheese. Tickets for this seated show are on sale at thecrescentyork.com.

Olivia Graham: Performing in the style of the Celtic bards of old at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Richard Gatecliffe

Come, all ye old souls and dreamers: Olivia Graham, An Evening In Avalon, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 6, 7.30pm

CELTIC folk musician Olivia Graham delivers a spellbinding evening of enchanting music, woven through the tales of Morgan Le Fay and other legendary figures from across the British Isles.

Performed in the style of the Celtic bards of old, An Evening In Avalon embarks on a magical journey through Ancient Ireland, Dark Age Britain and even the elusive shores of mystical Avalon itself. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Snake Davis: On his own at Helmsley Arts Centre

Saxophone solo: Snake Davis, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 6, 7.30pm

ONCE a member of York jazz and soul band Zoot And The Roots, saxophonist Snake Davis will be on his own in this informal acoustic evening of music and chat in two parts. Not really on his own, he clarifies, because in Part One he will have his musical instrument family with him: myriad saxophones plus flutes, whistles, steel handpan, didgeridoo and the Japanese Shakuhachi. Questions are encouraged. 

In Part Two, the focus is on My Greatest Hits, highlighting Snake’s work as sax hired gun to the stars, adding Olly Murs and Shania Twain to the list this year after sax solos forTake That, M-People, Lisa Stansfield and The Office theme tune. Playing the songs in context, he will tell the stories behind them. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

There’s no bursting Andy Parsons’ balloon: Comedian will be in “Bafflingly Optimistic” mood at Joseph Rowntree Theatre in October

Comedy gig announcement of the week: Andy Parsons: Bafflingly Optimistic, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 11

DESPITE everything that Great Britain has had to face in recent years, Mock The Week lynchpin, Stacktivist Action Group podcaster and comedian Andy Parsons has found cause to be optimistic.

“I think there are reasons to be hopeful,” says Parsons, 55. “It’s not a depressing show.  The positive side is the pandemic is over, we are statistically more united as a nation than it might seem. And despite what you’ve heard, comics are not being cancelled.” Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

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What’s On in Ryedale, York and beyond, from Discworld lecture to Nineties’ disco. Hutch’s List No. 30, from Gazette & Herald

The Magic Of Terry Pratchett: Marc Burrows discusses the Discworld author at Pocklington Arts Centre

THE summer festival season enters the final furlong with the focus turning to the new season ahead, as Charles Hutchinson highlights.

Discworld comes to Pock: Marc Burrows, The Magic Of Terry Pratchett, Pocklington Arts Centre, October 17, 7.30pm

AUTHOR, comedian and super-fan Marc Burrows bases his Edinburgh Fringe hit lecture The Magic Of Terry Pratchett on his Locus Award-winning biography, officially endorsed by the author’s estate, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Discworld books.

Taking a journey through the life and work of Sir Terry Pratchett OBE, he explores his influence, impact, wit and wisdom, from Pratchett’s days as a school librarian, through his time as a trainee journalist, to his untimely death from Alzheimer’s in 2015. Box office: 01759 301547 or pocklingtonartscentre.co.uk.

So 90’s: Disco party time at Milton Rooms, Malton

Disco world comes to Malton: So 90’s with DJ Matt Vinyl and the So 90’s Dancers, Milton Rooms, Malton, August 30, 8pm

FROM S Club to Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys to Robbie Williams, Cascada to Gala, the best 1990s’ pop, dance, cheese and Ibiza club anthems are celebrated in this disco party with visual effects, live choreographed performances, DJs and interactive competitions and giveaways. Box office: 01653 696240 or themiltonrooms.com.

Lord Of The Dance: “Aiming to leave the audience spellbound” at York Barbican

Dance show of the week: Michael Flatley’s Lord Of The Dance, York Barbican, today until Sunday, 7.45pm, plus Saturday matinee at 2.30pm

IN the words of Lord Of The Dance impresario Michael Flatley: “Our 2024 tour promises to be an extraordinary journey that will take audiences to the next level once again.

“In 2024, this extraordinary experience for fans will feature new staging, fresh choreography, new costumes, cutting-edge technology, and special effects lighting. It’s a celebration of a lifetime of standing ovations and we aim to leave the audience spellbound.” Box office: yorkbarbican.co.uk.

Living History Weekend: The past comes alive at Eden Camp this weekend

Family fun day out of the week: Living History Weekend at Eden Camp Modern History Museum, Edenhouse Road, Old Malton, today and tomorrow, 10am to 5pm

STEP back in time to be immersed in history at Eden Camp, where the past comes alive with re-enactors around every corner, from captivating displays to engaging talks and activities galore. You can meet with medics; try your hand at authentic ration recipes; explore the intricate details of a Sherman tank and groove to live music in the engine shed. Dressing up in 1940s’ fashion is encouraged. Tickets: edencamp.digitickets.co.uk/tickets. 

Liam Gallagher: Headlining Friday’s bill at Leeds Festival, playing Oasis’s debut album Definitely Maybe in full. Picture: Leeds Festival website

Festival of the week: Leeds Festival, Bramham Park, near Leeds, Friday to Sunday

LIAM Gallagher and Catfish And The Bottlemen headline the first day of Leeds Festival, when 21 Savage, Pendulum, Skrillex, NIA Archives, Beabadoobee and Ashnikoo are further attractions. Blink 182 and Gerry Cinnamon top Saturday’s bill, when Two Door Cinema Club, The Prodigy and Jorja Smith perform too.

Sunday has Fred Again and Lana Del Rey on headline duty, backed up by Raye, Fontaines DC, Bleachers and The Last Dinner Party. Look out too for Sonny Fodera and The Wombats. Box office: leedsfestival.com/tickets.

Lana Del Rey: Playing the Leeds Festival main stage at 7.30pm on Sunday. Picture: Leeds Festival website

York gig of the week: New York Brass Band, Big Summer Party, The Crescent, York, Saturday, doors 7.30pm

YORK’S top brass come together for an evening of big, bangin’, brassy tunes at The Crescent, featuring a seven or eight-piece line-up of percussion, saxophone, trumpets, trombones, guitar and sousaphone.

Taking inspiration from contemporary New Orleans musicians, the New York Brass Band will be in party mood after summer festivals appearances at Glastonbury and Latitude. Box office: thecrescentyork.com.

New York Brass Band: Back home in old York after the summer festival season

Coastal gig of the week: Becky Hill, Scarborough Open Air Theatre, August 29, gates 6pm

BRIT Award-winning Becky Hillis a pop powerhouse with a reputation as a pioneer in electronic music, not least in her collaborations in the dance-pop genre with everyone from David Guetta to Little Simz over the past decade.

Hill has written or performed on 17 UK Top 40 singles, including five top ten singles and a number one, amassing more than four billion streams on Spotify. Box office: scarboroughopenairtheatre.com.

Steve Cassidy: Playing with his band and friends at Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York

New amid the familiar: Steve Cassidy Band & Friends, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, September 1, 7.30pm

YORK’S Steve Cassidy Band return to their favourite venue, where three-time New Faces winner, singer, guitarist and songwriter Cassidy is joined by John Lewis on lead guitar, Mick Hull on bass guitar, ukulele and guitar, Brian Thompson on drums and George Hall on keyboards.

Expect a few special guests throughout an entertaining night of rock, country and instrumental music, plus new pieces prepared specifically for this concert. Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.

Robyn Hitchcock: Heading to The Crescent, York

Art rocker returns: Robyn Hitchcock, The Crescent, York, September 1, 7.30pm

IN a career spanning six decades, Robyn Hitchcock remains a one-of-a-kind artist: surrealist rock’n’roller, acoustic troubadour, poet, painter and writer.

From The Soft Boys’ art-rock and The Egyptians’ Dadaist pop to such solo masterpieces as 1984’s I Often Dream Of Trains and 1990’s Eye, Hitchcock has crafted songs with recurring references to marine life, obsolete electric transport, ghosts and cheese. Tickets for this seated show are on sale at thecrescentyork.com.

Olivia Graham: Performing in the style of the Celtic bards of old at Theatre@41, Monkgate, York. Picture: Richard Gatecliffe

Come, all ye old souls and dreamers: Olivia Graham, An Evening In Avalon, Theatre@41, Monkgate, York, September 6, 7.30pm

CELTIC folk musician Olivia Graham delivers a spellbinding evening of enchanting music, woven through the tales of Morgan Le Fay and other legendary figures from across the British Isles.

Performed in the style of the Celtic bards of old, An Evening In Avalon embarks on a magical journey through Ancient Ireland, Dark Age Britain and even the elusive shores of mystical Avalon itself. Box office: tickets.41monkgate.co.uk.

Two pictures, but only one Snake Davis, playing alone at Helmsleyt Arts Centre

Saxophone solo: Snake Davis, Helmsley Arts Centre, September 6, 7.30pm

SAXOPHONIST Snake Davis will be on his own in this informal acoustic evening of music and chat in two parts. Not really on his own, he clarifies, because in Part One he will have his musical instrument family with him: myriad saxophones plus flutes, whistles, steel handpan, didgeridoo and the Japanese Shakuhachi. Relaxed and intimate, questions are encouraged. 

In Part Two, the focus is on My Greatest Hits, highlighting his work as sax hired gun to the stars, adding Olly Murs and Shania Twain to the list this year after sax solos in Take That’s Million Love Songs, M-People’s Moving On Up and Search For The Hero, Lisa Stansfield’s Change and The Office theme tune. Playing them in context, he will tell the stories behind them. Box office: 01439 771700 or helmsleyarts.co.uk.

There’s no bursting Andy Parsons’ balloon: Comedian will be “Bafflingly Optimistic” at JoRo Theatre this autumn

Comedy gig announcement of the week: Andy Parsons: Bafflingly Optimistic, Joseph Rowntree Theatre, York, October 11

DESPITE everything that Great Britain has had to face in recent years, Mock The Week lynchpin, Stacktivist Action Group podcaster and comedian Andy Parsons has found cause to be optimistic.

“I think there are reasons to be hopeful,” says Parsons, 55. “It’s not a depressing show.  The positive side is the pandemic is over, we are statistically more united as a nation than it might seem. And despite what you’ve heard, comics are not being cancelled.” Box office: 01904 501935 or josephrowntreetheatre.co.uk.