2012 Festival dates: 4 - 15 July

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Welcome...

Britain will be at the heart of things this summer, the focus of global attention. We have celebrated a Royal Diamond Jubilee before, and we have hosted the Olympics too – twice. But for the two to happen in the same year is a remarkable thing, an historical one-off that we can all share in.

It so happens that the Cheltenham Music Festival falls nicely between the Diamond Jubilee and the
London Olympics. So this year, it seems absolutely right to fly the flag for British music in all its glorious variety...

I look forward to seeing you in Cheltenham in July.

Meurig Bowen
Music Festival Director

 

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• New Variation - Composition Competition
• Under 25 concession offer
• Music Festival Lunch offer
• Festival Exhibitions
• Festival Plus Events

 

Maestro

Read a selection of articles that bring the hugely varied programme of the Cheltenham Music Festival alive in a new way. These articles highlight all of the fascinating performances and events that we’re sure will have an appeal far beyond a traditional classical music audience. Find out how Debussy can be compared to Jimi Hendrix, read the intimate story behind classical guitarist, Miloš' meteoric rise to fame and take musical journeys to places as far away as Africa, Bolivia...

View Maestro

Flying the Flag

Whether or not Britain rules the waves in the final Olympic medal tally, there is plenty of world-beating music from these Isles to enjoy in Cheltenham this July.

• Royal Musical Treasures for the Diamond Jubilee – majestic, ceremonial music by Elgar, Handel, Parry and Walton M34 8 July
  
• Thomas Tallis’ 40-part Spem in alium in Tewkesbury Abbey from a ‘super-sized’ line-up of I Fagiolini M39 9 July
  
• The glories of English song James Gilchrist sings Britten, Finzi and Tippett M3 4 July and a new musical play about Ivor Gurney M62 & M67 13 & 14 July
  
• A London Marathon Saluting the Olympic city with orchestral gems by Elgar, Holst, Ireland and Vaughan Williams M74 15 July

Select your own seat when booking online

Our online booking system now allows you to select your own seat for most resreved events at The Cheltenham Music Festival 2012. Click here to find out more or click on the link below to view seating maps

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British Musical Explorers

Cheltenham 2012 focuses especially on British composers for whom the rest of the world has been an inspiration – its music, its languages, its religions.

• Holst in Africa with his Beni Mora suite M15 6 July
• Holst in India with Savitri, Rig Veda settings and Vedic songs M70 & M72 14 and 15 July
• Delius in Baghdad with his incidental music to Flecker’s Hassan M26 7 July
• Charlie Barber’s score for Salomé M16 6 July
• Edward Rushton’s new opera Babur in London M22 7 July
• David Fanshawe’s African Sanctus M57 12 July
• Svara Kanti M71 14 July
• Songs of the Exotic, a journeying recital M72 15 July
• And related works by Giles Swayne, John Tavener, Jonathan Harvey and Bob Chilcott M9, M18, M36 5, 7, 8 July

Browse British Musical Explorers events 

Time Capsule: 1914-18

 

This three-day sequence of concerts and associated events isn’t some kind of premature WW1 anniversary feature; it’s more about the fact that Debussy died in 1918, and that he wrote some major chamber works in the years just prior to that.

The idea of a total immersion in a concentrated period of time comes from violinist and guest curator Katharine Gowers. ‘So much changed between 1914–18,’ Katharine says. ‘It’s often suggested that the modern world began with the end of the war in 1918. Musically speaking, it’s a fascinating era. Romanticism has its last gasp alongside forward-looking modernity, and Debussy is at the heart of those cross-currents.’

As well as Debussy’s music from this period, key works performed between 11–13 July include:

• Ravel Piano Trio (1914) & Le Tombeau de Couperin (1914–17)
• Janáˇcek Violin Sonata (1914)
• Szymanowski Mythes (1915)
• Rachmaninov Vespers (1915) & Etudes Tableaux Op.39 (1916)
• Fauré Cello Sonata (1917)
• Bartók String Quartet No 2 (1917)
• Stravinsky The Soldier’s Tale (1918)
• Elgar Piano Quintet (1918)

Katharine Gowers is joined by a stellar cast of performers, including violinists Nigel Kennedy and Henning Kraggerud, violist Lars Anders Tomter, cellists Steven Isserlis and Adrian Brendel, pianists Christian Ihle-Hadland, Charles Owen and Connie Shih, clarinettist Matthew Hunt, flautist Emily Beynon, harpist Catherine Beynon, the Escher Quartet and Ex Cathedra choir.

Journalist and broadcaster Julia Somerville will read a news bulletin for each year’s concert.

A series of talks on the art and architecture, literature, politics, science and technology of the 1914–18 period will accompany the concerts in the afternoons of Wednesday 11, Thursday 12 and Friday 13 July. Further information will be available here soon.

Browse Time Capsule events

Would you like to hear your music performed by acclaimed pianist Melvyn Tan? Cheltenham Music Festival is running a competition to write another ‘Variation for Judith’, and two winning entries will be premiered by Melvyn Tan during the 2012 Cheltenham Music Festival. Find out more

Two 150th Birthdays

Claude Debussy and Frederick Delius were both born 150 years ago in 1862. Cheltenham marks their unique contributions to the musical world with the following performances:

• The Essential Debussy with pianist Jean-Efflam Bavouzet M10 6 July
• La Mer M15 6 July
• Danses Sacrée et Profane, Prélude à l’après- midi d’un faune M26 7 July
• An Anniversary Tribute from The Classic Buskers M38 10 July
• Sonatas for flute/viola/harp and cello M49 11 July
• En blanc et noir M56 12 July
• Violin Sonata M60 13 July
• Percussions Claviers de Lyon M65 14 July
• Ken Russell Delius film M8a 5 July
• On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring, Summer Night on the River M8 6 July
• Paris: The Song of a Great City M15 6 July
• Hassan M26 7 July
• In the Garden of the Seraglio M72 15 July

Browse Debussy and Delius events

Music Festival Exhibitions

Find out about a range of exhibitions taking place in association with this year’s Music Festival. All of the exhibitions are free, and open to the public one hour prior to an event taking place at the exhibition venue and 30 minutes after its conclusion.

Find out more about Exhibtions

Image right - Pavel Nikl, viola player in the Pavel Haas Quartet, rehearses at the Pump Room in 2011. Painting by Rob Goldsmith.

Sounding the New

 

You’ll be hearing these for the first time in Cheltenham this July:

• Alexander Goehr Horn Trio M4 5 July
• Choral works by Judith Bingham, Lauri Supponen, Einojuhani Rautavaara (UK premiere), John Tavener & Hugh Wood M9 5 July
• Liz Lane choral work M57 12 July
• Hannah Kendall Shard M74 15 July

Other living composers’ works featured this year include:
Charlie Barber, Michael Berkeley, Diana Burrell, Jonathan Dove, Graham Fitkin, Jonathan Harvey, Stephen Hough, Peter Maxwell Davies, Michael Nyman, Roxanna Panufnik, Tarik O’Regan, Richard Rodney Bennett, Edward Rushton, Rhian Samuel, Giles Swayne, Steve Reich and Judith Weir.

Browse all new works

Concerts at Pittville Pump Room

It’s 50 years since the Cheltenham Music Festival started putting concerts on in the architecturally and acoustically stunning surroundings of the Pittville Pump Room.

• M2 Wed 4 July, 6pm Miloš/Carducci Quartet
• M4 Thu 5 July, 11am Nash Ensemble
• M10 Fri 6 July, 10am Jean-Efflam Bavouzet
• M27 Sun 8 July, 11am Melvyn Tan
• M31 Sun 8 July, 3pm Florilegium
• M36 Sun 8 July, 8.30pm Castalian Quartet
• M37 Mon 9 July, 11am Grosvenor/Escher Quartet
• M40 Tue 10 July, 11am Prince Consort
• M45 Wed 11 July, 11am The 1914 Concert
• M49 Wed 11 July, 7pm The 1915 Concert
• M52 Thu 12 July, 11am The 1916 Concert
• M60 Fri 13 July, 11am The 1917 Concert
• M72 Sun 15 July, 11am Songs from the Exotic
  

And don’t forget: included in your ticket price for all the 11am concerts is free tea or coffee.

Browse Chamber Music

Music Festival Lunch Offer

Enjoy a delicious two course Cheltenham Music Festival lunch at the Official Hotel of the Pittville Pump Room Concert Series.

Ellenborough Park has created a special two course Cheltenham Music Festival lunch in The Brasserie with a glass of house wine in honour of being the official hotel of the Pittville Pump Room Concert Series. £16.00 (valid 4th – 15th July excluding Sundays).

Find out more

Norway

The third year of our partnership with The Royal Norwegian Embassy brings yet more outstanding music-making from Norway. Violinist Henning Kraggerud, violist Lars Anders Tomter and pianist Christian Ihle Hadland will all play significant roles in the Time Capsule: 1914-18 concerts. And the Trondheim Soloists make their Cheltenham debut on Saturday 14 July in music by Holst and Tavener.

Browse Norway events

Festival Plus

Your guide to other events taking place in and around Cheltenham over the Festival period...

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Listen to sample tracks from Music 2012 artists

 

Listen to more audio clips at soundcloud.com/cheltenhamfestivals

Directors' Picks

View our Directors' Picks for first details of the 2012 Festival line-ups, behind the scenes interviews and Festival Director Meurig Bowen's picks of the programme. Find out how you can discover more with Membership - from priority booking, ticket discounts and exclusive events...

Read Music Directors' Picks

Education

Away from the Festival’s concert venues, our Education team works hard to take music to as many young people as possible before and during the Festival. More information about all our Festival education programmes click the link below or call 01242 775822/91.

Education - Take Part

Brochure Archives

One of the oldest running annual music festivals in Britain, The Cheltenham Music Festival began in 1945. Relive the highlights and line ups of recent Festivals in our brochure archive. Here you'll also find brochures from our other Festivals, Music, Science and Literature.

Browse our brochure archive