The Engegård Quartet perform at St Andrew’s Church, Fingringhoe – part of the Roman River Festival
Troutfishing on the Tees – Me and Tony Blair is now available to buy.
Promo video here and landing page here!
There will be a launch event at the amazing Morocco Bound bookshop in Bermondsey SE1 3HB on Tuesday, October 14th at 6pm. All welcome!
– Graham Dransfield
My Westminster Bridge sonnet for 26 Bridges will go up on 8 October. Meanwhile, you can bid for Clare Trowell’s print of the bridge. I’ll read my sonnet at Hot Numbers in Cambridge on 25 September, and put a film of my performance on YouTube.
– Aidan Baker
(The full collection of 26 Bridges is available to view online – and also to bid for!)
Orlando Jopling performs at Jaywick Martello Tower – part of the Roman River Festival
I’ve been particularly busy this month. We finished our summer opera tour (of The Elixir of Love, Eugene Onegin, and an opera gala night) on 18 September, and in less than 24 hours had dashed up to Essex for the launch of our chamber music series, the Roman River Festival, which is still ongoing.
I have only been involved in the festival for the last few years, but it is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, and it is simply beautiful. They bring some of the best musicians working in the UK and plonk them down in unlikely venues across coastal Essex – the beautiful Butterfield church in Ardleigh, Jaywick’s Napoleonic Martello Tower, or a vault underneath the ruins of St Osyth Priory – and perform anything from Rachmaninov’s Vespers, to the Shostakovich Piano Trios; from tuned percussion (the wonderful BBC Young Musician winner Jordan Ashman), to Indian kathak dance.
For the last week I have been hopping between picturesque and fascinating venues, with stunning music and the most supportive audience you could hope for, and I’m feeling incredibly privileged.
Finale concert in Coggeshall church tomorrow with Beethoven’s Triple Concerto and Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, and then a free orchestral performance for families in Colchester on Sunday afternoon. Heaven.
If you can’t come along then come to our performance at Saffron Hall on Friday. The Beethoven will be led by Tom Poster, Elena Urioste, and Laura van der Heijden. Will be something quite special x
– Max Parfitt