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Ten Things To See at Ryedale Festival

The Consone Quartet: Playing at Castle Howard on July 26

Triple Concert, Castle Howard, July 26, 7pm.

IN the festival centrepiece, separate concerts are held in the stately home’s Long Gallery, Chapel and Great Hall, featuring the Consone Quartet, Historical Fiction and Guildhall Gold Medal winner Oliver Wass.

Venus And Adonis, All Saints’ Church, Kirkbymoorside, July 21, 11am; All Saints’ Church, Helmsley, July 22, 4pm; St. Michael’s Church, Malton, July 23, 4pm.

THE first great English opera, composed by John Blow, comes to life in a Ryedale Festival Opera pop-up production in three historic churches. Experience everything from tragedy to comedy, cynicism to flirtations in a tale of love and lust.

Myrtles, All Saints’ Church, Kirkbymoorside, July 16, 7pm; Kate Wakeling, All Saints’ Church, Kirkbymoorside, July 16, 9.30pm.

ROBERT Schumann’s love for his talented pianist wife Clara Wieck finds new form almost 200 years later in the world premiere of Myrtles, translated into English from the original Myrthen by Jeremy Sams with added poems from Kate Wakeling. Wakeling performs her own poetry collection, Her Stride Says Comet, in a separate concert afterwards.

Anna Lapwood: Organ, Ampleforth Abbey, July 15, 7pm to 8pm; Come And Sing, St Peter’s Church, Norton, July 16, 3pm to 5.30pm; Double Concert, Sledmere House and Church, July 17, 7pm; The Echo Of Angels, St Mary’s Church, Lastingham, July 18, 3pm; Discover The Organ, St Mary’s Church, Lastingham, July 19, 3pm to 5pm (free tickets).

ANNA Lapwood is among several young artists-in-residence that form the backbone of the 2023 programme. Noted forher impromptu organ performance with Bonobo at the Royal Albert Hall, she will perform, conduct, lead masterclasses and talk attendees through her instrument throughout the festival.

Tenor Nicky Spence

Nicky Spence: The Food Of Love, Duncombe Park, July 18, 8pm; Vocal Masterclass, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 20, 3pm to 5pm (free tickets); A Most Marvellous Party, Helmsley Arts Centre, July 21, 7pm.

TENOR Nicky Spence, the BBC Music Magazine Personality of the Year 2022, brings his singing and acting skills to Ryedale to mark the 400th anniversary of composer William Byrd’s death and 50th anniversary of Noël Coward’s passing, with a masterclass for budding singers squeezed in.

Dudok Quartet and Philip Ross Bullock: Pre-concert talk – From The Depths Of My Soul I, All Saints’ Church, Hovingham, July 19, 6pm; Dudok Quartet, All Saints’ Church, Hovingham, July 19, 7pm.

Pre-concert talk – From The Depths Of My Soul II, Birdsall House, July 20, 10am; Dudok Quartet, Birdsall House, July 20, 11am.

Pre-concert talk – From The Depths Of My Soul III, All Saints’ Church, Slingsby, July 22, 10am; Dudok Quartet, All Saints’ Church, Slingsby, 11am.

Late Night Candlelit Concert – What Remains, St Gregory’s Minster, Kirkdale, July 22, 9.30pm.

IN addition to a beautiful candlelit concert, the Dutch quartet take festival attendees on a journey through Tchaikovsky’s compositions for the ensemble, with time to take in quartets from Glinka, Shostakovich, and Mozart, and songs from Boulanger performed with soprano Siân Dicker. Professor of Russian Literature and Music Philip Ross Bullock delivers talks on the Tchaikovsky pieces before each performance.

Bomsori Kim and Mishka Rushdie Momen, Church of St Peter and St Paul, Pickering, July 22, 7pm.

Mishka Rushdie Momen: Church of St Peter and St Paul, Pickering, July 24, 4pm.

Orchestra of Opera North and Bomsori Kim, Church of St Martin- on-the-Hill, Scarborough, July 24, 8pm.

Mishka Rushdie Momen and Friends, National Centre for Early Music, York, July 25, 8pm.

THE final two artists-in-residence join forces for a vivacious night of Beethoven violin sonatas. Classical Breakthrough Artist in The Times Arts Awards 2021 Mishka Rushdie Momen also performs both a varied solo programme ranging from Byrd to Prokofiev and as part of a piano trio for a Romantic period-fest.

Korean violinist Bomsori Kim plays with the Orchestra of Opera North, performing Brahms’s stirring Violin Concerto between orchestral masterpieces from Mozart and Tchaikovsky.

Saxophonist Jess Gillam

Jess Gillam Ensemble, St Peter’s Church, Norton, July 27, 8pm.

CUMBRIAN saxophonist Jess Gillam will pique interest and begin journeys of musical discovery with her ensemble.

The Clare Teal Seven, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 7.30pm

YORKSHIRE jazz vocal legend, four-time winner of BBC Jazz Singer of the Year and performer of popular songs Clare Teal leads seven-piece troupe through a night of storytelling and euphoric music

Concerteenies and baby-friendly concerts: A Musical Story I, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 11am; Baby-friendly Concert I, Milton Rooms, Malton, July 23, 1pm (free for babies).

Concerteenies – A Musical Story II, Scarborough Library, July 24, 11am; Baby-friendly Concert II: Scarborough Library, July 24, 1pm (free for babies).

Concerteenies – A Musical Story III, National Centre for Early Music, York, July 25, 11am; Baby-friendly Concert III, NCEM, York, July 25, 1pm (free for babies).

POLLY Ives and Louise Thomson narrate and play a reimagining of Arre Chung’s Mixed for children aged three to seven in Concerteenies, as well as performing concerts from all genres for pre-crawling babies where parents can learn baby massage techniques and enjoy their own dose of relaxation.

Ryedale Festival runs from today to July 30. For full festival details and tickets, go to: ryedalefestival.com.

RYEDALE Festival artistic director Christopher Glynn’s eye for spotting and supporting early-career artists runs through his 2023 programming.

 Among the artists in residence is organist Anna Lapwood, who gives two recitals, conducts her choir and invites all to join her in open-access Come and Sing and Discover the Organ events.

Also in residence is BBC Music Magazine’s 2022 Personality of the Year, Scottish tenor Nicky Spence, Korean violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen, won The Times Classical Breakthrough Artist Award.

The King’s Singers and assorted actors lead celebrations of the 400th anniversaries of William Byrd and the First Folio of Shakespeare, while Boris Giltburg is among performers marking Rachmaninov’s 150th birthday. The Dudok Quartet presents a complete cycle of Tchaikovsky’s string quartets, as well as bringing audiences their arrangements of jazz and folk legends.

Groundbreaking musicians such as Cumbrian saxophonist Jess Gillam and the joyful Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective mingle with young artists, among them guitarist Plínio Fernandes, showcasing his debut album Saudade, trumpeter Aaron Akugbo, innovative pianist George Xiaoyuan Fu and the vibrant voices of the National Youth Choir of Scotland.

Yorkshire jazz singer Clare Teal performs with an all-star band; The Young’uns, from the north east, present a folk night; A Light Music Afternoon celebrates Max Jaffa, remembered fondly in North Yorkshire for his many seasons performing in Scarborough, and a concert at Birdsall House revels in the music of Noel Coward, with Mary Bevan among the singers.

Further highlights will be the Orchestra of Opera North with Jonathan Bloxham; Royal Northern Sinfonia with violinist Maria Włoszczowska; a Triple Concert at Castle Howard; a pop-up production of John Blow’s magical mini-opera Venus and Adonis that tours to ancient and atmospheric churches across the region, and four world premieres, including an innovative new take on Schumann’s song cycle Myrthen, sung in English and interwoven with poems by Kate Wakeling.  

Young audiences can enjoy Arree Chung’s Mixed, as presented by Polly Ives and harpist Rosanna Rolton in Concerteenies, while babies and their grown-ups are invited to a magical musical experience across classical, folk, world and popular music.

The festival takes place in more than 30 venues, ranging from Castle Howard to a remote moorland chapel, taking in York and Scarborough too. The event was runner-up in the Best UK Concert Series category at the Royal Philharmonic Society Awards 2023 with the citation: “Yorkshire’s Ryedale Festival always wraps its arms around its community. Local people don’t just watch the star visitors; they come in droves to get equally involved.”

A new initiative this year is the Ryedale Primary Choir for children aged seven to 11, run by Caius Lee,  launched in collaboration with the Richard Shephard Music Foundation.

Children are having fun attending free music sessions in school holidays, where they meet and sing with professional musicians, especially Ryedale Festival Young Artists. The choir will make its festival debut by appearing on stage with The King’s Singers at the opening concert, having worked with them in a masterclass.

Christopher Glynn says: “This year’s programme brings together great performer-communicators like Anna Lapwood and Nicky Spence, with exciting talents such as superstar violinist Bomsori Kim and pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen.

“Trailblazers like Jess Gillam and the Kaleidoscope Chamber Collective mingle with world-famous artists like the King’s Singers and stars of the new generation. We celebrate the anniversaries of composers William Byrd and Sergei Rachmaninov but also break new ground with five world premieres, including a co-created Community Song Cycle.

“The festival is all about quality, innovation and enjoyability, sharing great music with more people every year. I look forward to welcoming audiences to be part of this year’s adventure.”

Artist in residence Bomsori Kim says: “I am absolutely thrilled to be chosen. This is an incredible opportunity for me to connect with audiences in the UK and share my love and passion for music. I am particularly excited to perform Brahms’ Violin Concerto and Beethoven’s Violin Sonatas, as these are true masterpieces that have always inspired me.

“I cannot wait to communicate with the festival audiences through the universal language of music, and I hope to create a truly meaningful and unforgettable experience for everyone who joins me on this wonderful journey of discovery.” 

Fellow artist in residence Anna Lapwood says: “My first performance after lockdown was filming a performance for Ryedale Festival after the in-person festival had to be cancelled. It feels really special to be returning to the festival now and to have the chance to perform to a real audience, both on some of the amazing organs in the area and conducting the Pembroke College Chapel Choir.”

Mishka Rushie Momen says: “I’m delighted to be returning to the Ryedale Festival this summer for a residency at the end of July. The three concerts encompass wonderful works by Byrd, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Smetana, in solo, duo, and trio programmes. I’m really looking forward to reconnecting with the fantastic festival audience and sharing this great music together.”

Nicky Spence says: “It’s a privilege to bring such a varied offering to the Ryedale Festival this year. What could be better than making music with longtime collaborators in the beautiful surroundings of North Yorkshire?

“Having so enjoyed the audience’s response when I featured in the festival in Wagner’s Parsifal a few years ago, I look forward to buttering many a crumpet with new friends and music lovers alike.”

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‘We don’t make music for an audience; we make music with the audience,” says Ryedale Festival director Christopher Glynn

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe: Playing Ryedale Festival on two days

HOW does a festival reinvent itself for the Covid-confused summer of 2021? 

At Ryedale, celebrating its 40th year, although not in the way it had planned, the answer is a one-off, late-announced, open-ended, can-do-spirited programme of summer events that brings inspiring performers to play together in beautiful Ryedale places from this weekend to July 31 .

Presenting 40 live concerts to celebrate its 40 years, Ryedale Festival welcomes performers such as Jess Gillam, Abel Selaocoe, Carolyn Sampson, Isata Kanneh-Mason, Lara Melda, Milos, the Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment, BBC Big Band, Kathryn Tickell and Tenebrae, as well as Poet Laureate Simon Armitage – and many more besides.

The Festival will be popping up in Pickering Parish Church; All Saints’, Kirkbymoorside; Hovingham Hall; St Olave’s Church, York; Birdsall House and Church; St Peter’s Church, Norton; Duncombe Park; the Milton Rooms, Malton, and Ampleforth Abbey.

Events will be around one hour long, with no intervals and reduced capacity to prioritise audience safety, but multiple performances to enable as many people as possible to attend.

Ryedale Festival artistic director Christopher Glynn. Picture: Gerard Collett

Artistic director Christopher Glynn says: “We’ve brought together a wonderful programme of British-based artists that is both vibrant and diverse. The formats of our concerts have changed but the core elements are what they have always been: great music, beautiful Ryedale locations, and audiences.

“Because, for performers like me, after the experience of the past year, one thing seems clearer than ever before: we don’t make music for an audience; we make music with the audience.” 

The festival’s two weeks of summer music opened last night (17/7/2021) with the Albion String Quartet’s programme of Haydn and Shostakovich at St Mary’s Priory Church, Old Malton, and soprano Carolyn Sampson and pianist Joseph Middleton’s all-Schubert recital, themed around Elysium, the ancient Greek concept of afterlife, in St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Pickering.

Today, cellist Hannah Roberts joined the Albion String Quartet for Schubert’s String Quintet at All Saints’ Church, Kirkbymoorside, at 5pm and St Michael’s Church, Malton, at 9pm, followed by a third performance tomorrow at 11am at St Olave’s Church, York.

Birdsall House and Church is the scene for a double concert tomorrow from 5pm. Fresh from her Proms debut, British/Turkish pianist Lara Melda plays Rachmaninov and Chopin’s epic third sonata in the house, while classical guitarist Miloš plays Villa Lobos, Bach and Albeniz, among others, at the church.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage: Marsden poems

The format of the double concert encompasses a two-hour interval, when the audience is invited to picnic in the grounds of Birdsall House between the two performances.

Poet Simon Armitage grew up among the hills of West Yorkshire and always associated his early poetic experiences with the night-time view from his bedroom window. Now Poet Laureate, he visits the Milton Rooms, Malton, on Tuesday to read from Magnetic Field: The Marsden Poems, his compendium of poems about the village where he grew up. The 40-minute 11am and 3pm readings and question-and-answer sessions each will be followed by a book signing.

On Wednesday, in Cubaroque at 11am and 9pm at All Saints’ Church, Hovingham, tenor Nicolas Mulroy and guitarist and theorbo player Toby Carr perform a rare combination of music from two golden ages, as songs of love, sorrow and faith by baroque composers Purcell, Monteverdi and Strozzi speak across the oceans and centuries to modern Latin-American standards by Silvio Rodríguez, Caetano Veloso, Pablo Milanés and Victor Jara, who gave voice to a continent emerging from years of suppression.

At the Palladian-style Hovingham Hall on Wednesday at 3pm and 6pm, Orchestra Of The Age Of Enlightenment violin soloists present music written for violins alone, highlighting the contrasts, textures and colours of an instrument that is usually on top of the sound-world of string instruments.

The programme takes in solos by master composer-performers, programmatic duets, profoundly beautiful trios, concertos for four violins and new arrangements.

Tina May: Singing with the BBC Big Band

On Thursday at 3pm and 6pm, trailblazing Jess Gillam leads her ensemble in an electrifying programme at St Peter’s Church, Norton, designed to inspire you to reflect, dance and smile with the aid of compositions by Meredith Monk, Philip Glass, Björk, Thom Yorke, Will Gregory, Ryuichi Sakamoto and Piazzolla.

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is joined by pianist Benjamin Powell on Thursday at 11am and 9pm at Birdsall House, Birdsall, as he highlights the links between Western and non-Western musical traditions in a programme that complements his own work Nagula with compositions by Debussy, James Macmillan, Ravel and Schedrin.  

Selaocoe returns on Friday at 3pm and 6pm with Sirocco, his energetic, joyful collaboration with Manchester Collective and Chesaba, at the Milton Rooms, Malton. Their great storm of music celebrates the warmth and diversity of folk traditions from across the globe, from Purcell to Stravinsky, original African folk to Danish folk songs.

The BBC Big Band and jazz chanteuse Tina May perform timeless feel-good numbers from the classic era of swing, all arranged and curated by leader Barry Forgie, on Saturday at 5pm and 8pm at the Scarborough Spa Grand Hall. Expect Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman works, plus a few surprises along the way.

On Sunday, July 25, pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason performs a wide-ranging programme of contrasting sonatas by Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin and Gubaidulina at Duncombe Park at 3pm and 5.30pm.

Amy Thatcher and Kathryn Tickell: Playing the Milton Rooms, Malton

The festival’s second week opens with speaker Lucy Beckett discussing Rievaulx and Mount Grace: Contrasting Histories on July 27 at 11am and 3pm at St Michael’s Church, Malton. Twelve miles apart, both mediaeval monasteries were abolished by Henry VIII, but their glory days were nearly four centuries apart, and the difference in their histories makes for a gripping tale.

Fresh sounds merge with ancient influences when Kathryn Tickell, British folk scene luminary and Northumbrian piper, and her close collaborator, accordionist and clog dancer Amy Thatcher, of The Monster Ceilidh Band, perform at the Milton Rooms, Malton, on July 27 at 5pm and 8pm.

Coco Tomita, winner of the strings category in this year’s BBC Young Musician competition, joins pianist Simon Callaghan to play Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Poulenc’s Violin Sonata at Duncombe Park on July 28 at 11am and 3pm.

Directed by Nigel Short, Tenebrae sing Renaissance Glories, music from the Golden Age of Spanish art, on July 29 at the Benedictine monastery of Ampleforth Abbey at 7.30pm. The closing piece will be Tomás Luis de Victoria’s luminous Requiem Mass of 1605, full of humanity and beauty.

All Saints’ Church, in Hovingham, plays host to two Young Artist Day concerts on July 30.  The first, at 11am and 6pm, promises a wide-ranging programme from pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen, who journeys from Bach to Ligeti to Schubert’s most virtuosic work for solo piano, Wanderer-Fantasy.

York artist Jake Attree: Ryedale Festival exhibition at Helmsley Arts Centre

In the second, two fast-rising artists, violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and pianist Ljubica Stojanovic, present works by Biber, Schubert and Brahms (“Rain” Sonata) at 3pm and 9pm.

The final concert, by Solem Quartet and Friends at Hovingham Hall on July 31 at 3pm and 6pm, is filled with music of optimism and friendship, led off by Florence Price’s tribute to her extraordinary friend, the jazz musician and singer Memry Midgett, Summer Moon, and her arrangement of the folk song Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes. Schubert’s Octet, a work of dazzling invention and uplifting lyricism, is the finale.

Throughout July and August at Helmsley Arts Centre, York-born artist Jake Attree presents The Spirit Of The North, an exhibition inspired by time spent in and around Ryedale, dedicated to the memory of Dr Richard Shephard, York composer and headmaster.

“I want the paintings, oil pastels and drawings to have a sense of the places that inspired them, whether York, the landscape around Welburn, the River Derwent at Malton, or a view across the Howardian Hills from Pickering Castle,” says Jake, whose studio is at Dean Clough, Halifax.

“Completely dependent on the subject while simultaneously independent of it, these works are a celebration of Paul Cézanne’s idea that art is ‘a harmony that runs parallel to nature’ and full of a sense of what it feels like to spend time in North Yorkshire.” 

The full programme and ticket details can be found at ryedalefestival.com.