That festival FEELING

The Newbury Spring Festival is one of Berkshire’s hidden treasures and features artists and performers from the worlds of classical music, folk, jazz, cabaret and musical theatre...

Now in its 42nd year, the Newbury Spring Festival takes place from 9-23 May and there will be a whopping 40 concerts held at venues in Newbury and the surrounding area.

The Festival opens in St Nicholas Church on 9 May with an all-Beethoven programme and the BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sakari Oramo (conductor of Last Night of the Proms) and Paul Lewis playing Beethoven Piano Concerto No 4.

On the same night, opening the Corn Exchange programme, The Sons of Pitches, winners of The Naked Choir, will perform their unique versions of crowd-pleasing hits.

Other artists and performers appearing during this action-packed two weeks are The Sixteen, Solomon’s Knot, Clare Teal, Ballet Central and Solid Steel Ambassadors to name but a few.

But tucked away in the Festival’s programme is the much sought-after Young Artists lunchtime recital series. These are six concerts that give young performers on the brink of their career a performing platform. Over the years, many of these artists that have appeared have not only returned to the Festival but gone on to perform on the world stage.

Mark Eynon, Festival Director, spends much of his time scouring the country for talented young musicians and takes great care to find a good variety of players for the series. This year the programme has an interesting mix of performers from the horn player Ben Goldscheider through to the talented guitarists Duo and also not forgetting the winner of the Festival’s own Sheepdrove Piano Competition.