Director’sPicks

SAVE

20%

On your c

hoice of

!ve e

vents

Festival Director Meurig Bowen reveals his pick of this year’s top events.

Hallé Finale Saturday 18 July

3 – 18 JulyBox O!ce 0844 576 7979cheltenhamfestivals.com

NEW! M

EMBE

RSHIP

for e

xclusiv

e discounts

see pag

e 36

Media Partners

SAVE

20%

On your c

hoice of

!ve e

vents

See back

cover for detailsJoin the Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme and:

Save 20% on your choice of at least !ve events at every festivalJump the queue with priority bookingGet closer to the artists at member eventsDiscover more at every festival with exclusive Director’s Picks

Oh dear! I’ve been asked to choose just !ve events from a total of 70. Isn’t that a bit mean?!

Yes it is! I feel a bit like a spoilt-for-choice Australian cricket selector, or a shoe enthusiast who’s got more shoes than days in the year to wear them on.

But of course it’s also an interesting exercise, because it’s making me ask hard questions about how !ve separate events can best encapsulate the huge breadth of what’s on o"er in this 2009 Music Festival. You’ll see that I’ve plumped, in the end, for something choral, something symphonic, something intimate, something in between and something rather wonderfully di"erent.

The new Membership Scheme means it’s easier than ever to try something new, with savings on up to !ve events when you join. But before you do, take a look at what I’ve picked out and see if you agree with me. Meurig BowenDirector, HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival

With eight centuries of classical music to discover, Meurig Bowen is always searching for something exceptional to bring to the festival. The programme re#ects his wide ranging tastes, developed from his time reading music at Cambridge as a choral scholar, in Sydney as Artistic Administrator of the Australian Chamber Orchestra and as Director of the Lich!eld Festival and Head of Programming at the Aldeburgh Festival. Now settled in Cheltenham, Meurig travels extensively to discover the best in British and International talent to delight those who return to the festival year after year, as well as those attending for the !rst time. His !rst programme in 2008 was enthusiastically received - but don’t just take our word for it. One critic, after attending a performance in Tewkesbury Abbey, wrote that this was ‘one of the most intelligent, perceptive and unusual concert programmes I have ever encountered.’ Expect more of the same in 2009.

Klezmer Band Kol Simcha M29, Thursday 9 July, Pittville Pump Room, 8.30pm£10 / £14 / £18

In two previous programming roles, I’ve taken a bit of a punt on this Swiss klezmer quintet - and on neither occasion have I regretted it. Although - to me rather inexplicably - they’re not particularly well known

over here in the UK, I think they’re one of the most compelling groups of musicians on the planet. For their virtuosity, creative spontaneity and soulful engagement with this ancient, but also very contemporary, strand of East European Jewish folk music, it would be an almost unforgivable act to stay at home when Kol Simcha are in town. MEURIG’S PICK FOR: JAZZ AND WORLD MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS, AND LOVERS OF CHAMBER MUSIC IN ITS BROADER SENSE

Haydn Trio EisenstadtM57, Thursday 16 July, Pittville Pump Room, 11am£14 / £18 / £22

There are so many enticing concerts in the Pump Room this year that it’s really hard to pick one out in particular. I’ve chosen this for its combination of mainstream works such as Beethoven’s Archduke Trio and

a couple of things slightly o" the beaten track - but not too much. In the Haydn anniversary year, this Austrian trio of piano, violin and cello play a new Haydn homage by John Woolrich - a composer of depth and distinctiveness who is on the right side of ‘accessible’ - and are joined by rising-star soprano Elin Manahan Thomas for some of Haydn’s settings of Welsh folksongs - sung in her native Welsh!

MEURIG’S PICK FOR: PEOPLE WHO’D LIKE TO TRY A PITTVILLE MORNING CONCERT THAT HAS ACCESSIBILITY AND VARIETY

Supported by Elizabeth Jacobs

Gloucester Cathedral ChoirM39, Saturday 11 July, Gloucester Cathedral, 6.30pm £8 / £10 / £15 / £20 / £25

Last year, we had a great response to two fantastically atmospheric choral concerts in Tewkesbury Abbey. This year, we’re o"ering two such concerts again, but with one each in Tewkesbury (a concert from the superb Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge) and in the

equally magni!cent Gloucester Cathedral. This is a bit of a blockbuster programme - focusing on psalm settings - with choral favourites such as Parry’s I Was Glad, Allegri’s Miserere and Mendelssohn’s O For The Wings Of A Dove. There’s Handel’s Dixit Dominus, too - a stunner of a piece for choir, soloists and string orchestra that Handel wrote in his early 20s when living in Rome.

MEURIG’S PICK FOR: PEOPLE WHO LOVE TO HEAR BEAUTIFUL CHORAL MUSIC IN A STUNNING ARCHITECTURAL SPACE

Supported by Diana Woolley

Festival Academy M26, Thursday 9 July, Pittville Pump Room, 11am£10 / £14 / £18

The Festival Academy, a group of professionals and top students from UK conservatoires, has a di"erent focus this year which I’m really excited about. This year’s project is a string orchestra plus soloists - ranging from tenor, clarinet and

piano to the West-African kora - and allows for some intriguing, appealing repertoire combinations. This !rst concert features Cheltenham-resident, globetrotting tenor James Gilchrist in Finzi’s beautiful song cycle Dies Natalis, and some great string orchestra pieces that will be familiar from various !lms - Mahler’s Adagietto (Death in Venice), Barber’s Adagio (Platoon/The Elephant Man) and Herrmann’s amazing music for Hitchcock’s Psycho.

MEURIG’S PICK FOR: FILM MUSIC ENTHUSIASTS AND PEOPLE WHO WANT AN ORCHESTRAL CONCERT WITH A TWIST

Choose any !ve events from this year’s programmeSave 20% on full price ticketsDiscover more with membership

Meurig’s picks...

Hallé Orchestra M70, Saturday 18 July, Cheltenham Town Hall, 7.30pm£5 / £12 / £18 / £24 / £30

This year’s Music Festival shows o" the enormous scope of what we call, broadly, an ‘orchestra’. With no fewer than !ve youth orchestras, a Hollywood !lm-studio band, Handel on period instruments and the Festival Academy Strings, July 2009 in Cheltenham will be an orchestral treasure-trove.

When starting to plan the 65th Music Festival this time last year, the !rst call I made was to the Hallé Orchestra. This great Manchester institution, together with legendary conductor John Barbirolli, was such an essential part of earlier Cheltenham Music Festivals, it seemed crucial that they came back for our !nal concert this year.

It’s particularly pleasing that the conductor for this concert is someone who has close links with the area. Edward Gardner, now Music Director of English National Opera and one of British music’s white-hot young talents, was a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral. He has told me how excited he is to be returning to conduct in Cheltenham - the Town Hall is where he !rst got interested in orchestral music, attending Music Festival concerts there as a child.

The programme he and I have put together for this !nale combines two orchestral favourites - Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto featuring young Norwegian soloist Vilde Frang, and Sibelius’ 5th Symphony - with two pieces closely associated with Cheltenham. Britten’s Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes were the !rst brand-new sounds to be heard in the !rst ever Cheltenham Music Festival - we simply had to include this 20th century orchestral masterpiece in the programme. 50 years later, Cheltenham audiences had the privilege of hearing Thomas Adès’ !rst opera Powder Her Face for the !rst time. Tom has recently adapted some of this brilliantly inventive and witty music into a short orchestral suite. I think the four works together will make up a very satisfying whole, and a !tting close to our 65th Festival.

MEURIG’S PICK FOR: THOSE WANTING TO FEAST ON A BIG ORCHESTRAL BANQUET - FLAVOURSOME, COLOURFUL AND SATISFYING

Supported by the Oldham Foundation

MEURIG’S

TOP PICK!

Edward Gardner Vilde Frang

Members’ Music Festival Quiz Sunday 12 July, Pittville Bistro Marquee, 3- 4pm, £5

Why should trivia quizzes only happen in pubs midweek? Why not in a beautiful marquee on a sunny Sunday afternoon?

Sign up as pre-formed teams or as individuals (we can team you up on arrival) and pit your wits against each other for a selection of great prizes.

Meurig Bowen and Christopher Cook will devise the questions – music-related for sure, but politics, history, sport, architecture, entertainment and more too.

Festival Academy – your chance to support young musicians

It’s like Boot Camp for student instrumentalists - a hand-picked bunch from the UK’s music conservatoires who are keen to roll up their sleeves and soak up everything that !ve or six days’ intensive work with professionals can o"er them. They rehearse hard for a sequence of concerts, and learn enormous amounts from working alongside some of the best, most experienced instrumentalists in the business. They also spend a day at the National Star College creating a project with the students – a crucial, and a"ecting, experience for young musicians in outreach work.

The Festival Academy project is far from cheap to make happen, and only possible with the help of our patrons, Festival Society and members. But we do it with your help because we believe passionately in nurturing young talent, and o"ering something di"erent to both musicians and audiences.

Discover more...With a special event that’s exclusive to members

See all of our painted violins, violas and cellos at the Painted Quartets exhibition - further details in your brochure and on cheltenhamfestivals.com

Here’s what you get...20% discount on full priced tickets at your choice* of up to:

5 events at the Budvar Cheltenham Jazz Festival 5 events at the HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival10 events at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival15 events at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival

Exclusive access to member events and o"ers at all four festivalsAt least one week’s priority booking for you and your guestsPriority access to the best seats wherever availableDirector’s Picks from all four festivalsRegular email news and exclusive artist contentA £10 Cheltenham Festivals voucher when you attend all four festivals

* Discounts are not available on tickets which include food

Joining couldn’t be easier, just !ll out the form overleaf and return to the address shown,

call 0844 576 7977 visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/membership

Discover more...Join the Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme - new for 2009

Budvar Cheltenham Jazz Festival 28 April – 4 May The Times Cheltenham Science Festival 3 – 7 June HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival 3 – 18 July The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival 9 – 18 October

Membership is of the Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme and does not constitute membership of the charity, Cheltenham Festivals.Discounted tickets are only to be used by the member and are not transferable. All discounts and concessions are o"ered subject to availability on a limited allocation basis and cannot be combined with any other o"er or concession.Details correct at time of going to print, E&OE. Terms and conditions apply; see cheltenhamfestivals.com/membership for full details.

Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme is run by Cheltenham Festivals Charity No 251765.

Here’s what it costs... Introductory promotional rate

Membership Cost Discounted tickets (per event) Priority tickets

Up to 25 years old £15 1 4

Individual £26 1 4

Joint £42 2 8

Family £47 Up to 6 12

Membership is for one cycle of four festivals.Joint membership is available for two people living at the same address.Family membership is available for up to two adults and up to four children aged eighteen and under, living at the same address.Discounted ticket allocation is per event, for each festival’s speci!ed number of events. Priority tickets are available to members and their guests for all events.

JOINTODAY!

Membership details

Title First name Surname

Address

Postcode

Tel Day* Mobile

Email

For joint members

Title First name Surname

Date of birth (if 18 or under)

Email Mobile

For family members

Second adult

Title First name Surname

Email Mobile

Children’s names and dates of birth

1. 2.

3. 4.

*Please provide in case of queries with your payment. Your phone number will not be used for any other purpose.

Please complete andreturn this form to: Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme 109 Bath RoadCheltenham GL53 7LS

Membership type

Up to 25 years old (£15) Individual (£26) Joint (£42) Family (£47)

Donation

£10 £15 £25 £ other

Make your donation go further at no extra cost to you by completing the gift aid declaration overleaf.

Total £

Please send me further information on: Becoming a Patron Leaving a Legacy to Cheltenham Festivals

Con!dentiality: As part of our service to you, we will hold your details on our database in order to ful!l your membership and to contact you about the Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme bene!ts. From time to time, we may send you additional information about Cheltenham Festivals. Please tick the box below if you would prefer not to receive such information.

I do not wish to receive information about Cheltenham Festivals other than relating to my membership of Cheltenham Festivals Membership Scheme.

If you would like to receive this information by email then please tick the box below. I do wish to receive information by email relating to Cheltenham Festivals.

Company No 456573. VAT Registration No 274 1846 44. Charity No 251765.

For o$ce use:

R

D

PP

RE

Payment details

Cheque payable to Cheltenham Borough Council

Cash (please do not send cash in the post)

Credit or debit card

Please tick card type: Mastercard Visa Switch/Maestro Solo

Card number

Issue number (Switch/Maestro only) Valid from Valid to

Security number (last three digits on reverse of card)

Signature(s) Date

If you have made a donation, please complete this gift aid declaration to enable Cheltenham Festivals to reclaim the tax, at no additional cost to you.

I would like Cheltenham Festivals to reclaim the tax on all qualifying subscriptions and donations made for the six years prior to this date and all further gifts I make from the date of this declaration – until I notify you otherwise. I con!rm I am a UK taxpayer and that I have paid an amount of UK income tax or capital gains tax equal to any tax reclaimed by Cheltenham Festivals. I will inform you should my tax status change.

Signature(s) Date

Which of the Cheltenham Festivals have you attended in the last two years?

Jazz Science Music Literature

Are you:

Under 25 25 - 34 35 - 44 45 - 54 55 - 64 65+