How like a winter hath my absence been

In a fortnight, 14 outstanding musicians, an actor, and a lecturer will gather in Beverley for the New Paths Summer Festival.  The festival runs 1st - 3rd July and is virtually sold out, but there are currently just a few tickets left for the following events:

America the beautiful

A morning concert of chamber music and song from across the pond including Amy Beach's Piano Quintet, and Andre Previn's Vocalise. One of the events in the festival inspired by Beverley's American connections. Click here to see the programme.

Foreign affairs

Barber's brooding, powerful Cello Sonata is at the heart of this programme - which explores works by composers inspired by places away from home. Click here to see the programme.

Late Bach

A late night performance in the beautiful surroundings of Beverley Minster of Bach's Partita for solo violin in D minor by Maria WÅ‚oszczowska, winner of the 2018 Leipzig International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition. See the programme here.

The arc of time

A concert which crosses bridges across time, culminating in Britten's cycle of Hardy settings, Winter Words, performed by Joshua Ellicott and Libby Burgess. One of the events in the festival inspired by the 40th birthday of the Humber Bridge. Click here to see the programme.

Oh so spacious

New Paths Music decided to mount the festival this year, amidst the ongoing turmoil of the pandemic, for the sheer love and joy of live music-making in Beverley, and there is sure to be an added intensity to the experience in these troubled times.  Whilst we haven't yet reached Step 4 in the Government's roadmap out of lockdown, the festival has always been planned to fully comply with the Step 3 restrictions which are still in place, and so it is good to go!

They will welcome 100 festivalgoers to each of the events in the festival (apart from the one late night concert in the more intimate surroundings of St John of Beverley RC Church). They limited audience sizes in this way out of an abundance of caution - in order to ensure ample distancing between people in our large and airy venues (comfortably less than 50% of each of the venue's normal capacity). Toll Gavel United Church, the Memorial Hall and Beverley Minster will therefore feel all the more spacious this year.

Other measures in place to help keep everyone safe include:

• concerts without interval, to reduce mingling
• allocated seating to audience members (whose contact details are kept for track and test purposes) with distancing between different bubbles
• the wearing of masks by audiences and staff
• the thorough ventilation and sanitisation of venues between events

The friendly front of house team will guide audience members in and out of venues quickly and efficiently, and will be working tirelessly to make people feel at ease. Please do not hesitate to contact New Paths Music if you have any questions or concerns about the anti-covid steps they are taking.

Due to the shifting sands of the quarantining regime, there are two changes of cast to announce. They are sad that James Baillieu and Claire Wickes are no longer able to be in Beverley in July, but they are over the moon that pianist Chris Hopkins and flautist Dan Watts were able to step in. Chris and Libby perform Stravinsky's own arrangement of his The Rite of Spring for piano duet on the Saturday afternoon of the festival. Earlier in the day they perform Fauré’s beloved Dolly Suite in the concert By the dawn’s early light. Highlights of Dan's return to Beverley include Mozart's sunny Flute Quartet in Immortal Mozart and Copland's Duo for flute and piano.