Cheltenham Music Festival

Cheltenham Music Festival 2012 is one of the UK’s most prestigious classical music events, with world class concerts from the likes of Nigel Kennedy, Milos and Melvyn Tan scheduled this summer.

Cheltenham Music Festival will be hosting a line-up of classical music concerts from some of the world’s finest musicians and performers, sure to have both dedicated fans and first-timers alike flocking to the town.

Running from Wednesday 4 to Thursday 15 July 2012, the programme of summer concerts will be taking place at Cheltenham Town Hall and Pittville Pump Room, as well as cathedrals, abbeys and churches across the region.

Audiences can see violinist Nigel Kennedy, cellist Steven Isserlis, pianists Benjamin Grosvenor and Melvyn Tan, mezzo Sarah Connolly, guitarist Milos and former Cheltenham Director Martyn Brabbins conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra this year.

The themes for Cheltenham Music Festival 2012 are Flying the Flag, Two 150th Birthdays, and Time Capsule: 1914-18, with some of SoGlos.com highlights as follows:

Flying the Flag

One of the early highlights of this year’s festival will be the chance to hear Melvyn Tan perform Ravel’s G Major Piano Concerto with the Orchestra of the Music Makers from Singapore on Friday 6 July 2012, from 7pm, with tickets costing from £12 to £32.

Perfect for the Queen’s Jubilee, a concert of Royal Musical Treasures will include music by Handel, Parry, Elgar, Walton and Mathias, as well as composers featured in the 2012 Queen’s Choirbook, being held at Cheltenham Town Hall on Sunday 8 July 2012, from 6pm, with tickets costing from £12 to £28.

Find out more about the Gloucester-born poet and composer at Iain Burnside’s staged musical biography of Ivor Gurney, A Soldier and a Maker, taking place at Parabola Arts Centre on Saturday 14 July 2012 at 3pm, with tickets costing £20.

A London Marathon, meanwhile, features the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins and Steven Isserlis in musical tributes to London by Elgar, Holst, Vaughan Williams and more, at Cheltenham Town Hall on Sunday 15 July 2012, from 5pm, with tickets costing from £12 to £42.

Two 150th birthdays

Courtesy of festival favourite Jean-Efflam, The Essential Debussy concert is described as a real treat for Claude Debussy and piano fans alike, taking place at Pittville Pump Room on Friday 6 July 2012, from 10am, with tickets costing from £18 to £28.

The Ken Russell film Song of Summer: Delius traces the last five years of Delius’ life through the eyes of a young man who helped the blind, paralysed composer set down the unfinished scores he could hear in his head, and will be screened at Cheltenham Town Hall on Thursday 5 July 2012 at 5.30pm. The event is free of charge.

Organisers warn audiences to ‘hang onto your berets’ when the Classic Buskers kick-off with a light-hearted tour of French musical treasures, including Debussy favourites and familiar tunes from Ravel, Lully, Bizet and Offenbach, at Parabola Arts Centre on Monday 9 July 2012, from 6pm, with tickets costing £12.50.

Time Capsule: 1914-18

Nigel Kennedy and Steven Isserlis will be playing together for the first time in years for The 1918 Concert, a climax of the Time Capsule series, at Cheltenham Town Hall on Friday 13 July 13 2012 from 8pm, with tickets costing from £12 to £35.

For the full line-up of events and to book tickets in advance, as well as information on festival venues, visit cheltenhamfestivals.com/music directly.