EarlyMusicNews.Org

“It may take two to tango, but it took several to create a festival of Baroque music. It is perhaps rare that a collective vision should converge and be realised in a single event, but that is what happened, and that is what no doubt laid the foundations for its success.

 In 1984 Ivor Bolton and I were married in the Wren church of St. James's, Piccadilly, where he had been appointed Director of Music by the then rector, the Reverend Donald Reeves. Donald was a man with a vision: for him, St. James's was to be a centre for as many activities of a positive and creative kind as possible. A more than competent organist himself, he set out to enable music (among many other things) to happen in the church, and his energy and enthusiasm were matched by those of Ivor, not long graduated from Clare College, Cambridge, where he had been Organ Scholar. And, it could be said, it was in the formation of the St. James's Baroque Players to accompany Ivor's performances of Bach cantatas at Sunday services that the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music had its roots. The St. James's Baroque Players also performed in some of the concerts that formed part of the 1984 Piccadilly Festival, a wide-ranging arts events organised at the church; the following year the concerts were grouped under the title of the Lufthansa Festival of Baroque Music with Ivor as Musical Director.  …“

Visit the website for more information (ed.) (History pages of interest)

Category: Festival/Workshops/Summer Schools/Conferences / Europe

Added on: Feb 19, 2011 | Hits: 239