St Andrew's Festival
Having been starved of live music and cultural events for so long due to Covid, CollectIvel would like to offer the opportunity for citizens in Mid Beds and further afield to hear top notch musicians perform concerts of high quality; our musician ‘CollectIvists' typically have trained at European Conservatoires, play with UK-based professional orchestras and have performed at major concert halls all around the world.In this festival we will also showcase some extraordinarily talented up-and-coming musicians straight out of conservatoires... Excellent music on your doorstep!
To start this mini Festival, on Friday 9th July at 7pm we will be welcoming our friends from Eden Baroque, a duo partnership, who will perform ‘Summer Serenade’; uplifting music from the 17th and 18th century, for voice, violin and harpsichord.
On Saturday, 10th July, we will be treated to a fabulous lunch-time concert of organ music on the newly restored organ of St Andrew’s Church, Biggleswade, by award winning organist Michael Overbury; his varied programme will take us on a journey spanning the centuries from music by Frescolbaldi to that of Eric Coates, with a chance to hear a newly commissioned work, Toccata Festiva! by Guy Turner
This will be followed at 7pm by Corno-copia! featuring Peter Moutoussis in a programme of the Mozart Horn quintet and Telemann Horn Concerto Peter is a young horn player currently completing his MMus at the Royal College of Music. Already an in-demand baroque and hand horn performer, Peter is principal horn on the Ann and Peter Law Experience Scheme with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment and has participated in the Ton Koopman Academy in the Netherlands and Festival du Périgord Noir. He performed as part of the Jeune Orchestre Européen Hector Berlioz alongside Les Siècles and Stour Festival with Florilegium. Peter loves to engage with audiences as much as possible on and off stage, so feel free to chat to him after the concert!
Our final concert, outside the church on Sunday 11th July, is a picnic concert featuring Home Brass; a proudly Home-County-based young ensemble. The group was formed in 2017 during their studies at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and Trinity Laban Conservatoire and their repertoire reflects the varied freelance engagements of its individual members. They enjoy performing brass quintet classics, musical theatre favourites and jazz numbers, as well as their own arrangements. This versatility is even reflected in their choice of venue; from recital performances at St. James’ Piccadilly, to outreach work in schools, and even playing at Inferno’s nightclub in Clapham as part of the 2018 World Cup festivities!
So bring a rug, chairs and a picnic, and join us for the fun-filled festival conclusion…
All the festival events will be Covid-secure concerts of approximately one hour with a socially distanced audience, as permitted under the current regulations. Due to current necessity of contact tracing etc we would ask that you buy tickets in advance, or indicate your wish to attend via the CollectIvel website.
For more info about the concerts and ticket availability, visit www.collectivel.org