The Ryedale Festival’s Spring Launch Weekend took place on 15-17 March and with it the full programme for North Yorkshire’s leading summer music festival was published. We are now pleased to report that the Festival will be returning to Slingsby’s All Saints’ church on Monday 15 July, when pianist Jonathan Plowright will be playing Brahms. This concert will be preceded by a talk by BBC radio regular Katy Hamilton, exploring the public and private faces of Brahms.
The Spring Launch weekend featured BBC New Generation Artists and proved a big success.
The Aris String Quartet kicked off proceedings in Helmsley on Friday 15 March, with quartets by Haydn, Janacek and Dvorak.
On Saturday “Come and Sing with John Rutter” in St Peter’s Norton welcomed some 300 amateur singers from across Ryedale and beyond. By all accounts, they enjoyed the occasion immensely.
Saturday evening was jazz night. In the National Centre for Early Music in York, the Festival presented composer and bass player Misha Mullov-Abbado, with his talented group of young jazz names.
The weekend was brought to a close on Sunday afternoon with a piano recital by Mariam Batsashvili, a prodigiously talented young pianist from Georgia, who beguiled with her Haydn and Mozart and wowed with her Liszt, which rocked the Birdsall House ballroom with its power.
Booking for all July’s Festival events opens on 10 April. To book, go online at www.ryedalefestival.com or book by post to Ryedale Festival Box Office, The Memorial Hall, Potter Hill, Pickering, YO18 8AA or by phone on 01751 475777.
