Festivals from Massachusetts to Yorkshire are going on-line, enabling us to visit virtually

The Koussevitzky Music Shed, Tanglewood (Photo John Phelan, Wikipedia)

Festival season is upon us, and with the cancellation of live performances many festivals are going on-line. Whilst this means that we miss out on the experience of live music making, it does mean that we can eavesdrop on festivals that we would not otherwise be able to visit, so that we can virtually eavesdrop on performances at the Boston Symphony Orchestra's Summer home of Tanglewood in New England, or at iconic historic venues such as Castle Howard for the Ryedale Festival's live-streamed concerts, whilst the Live from London festival has been crafted specially for lockdown with the aim of giving the artists valuable support.

Over in New England, the Tanglewood Online Festival opens this week so that we can virtually visit western Massachusetts for a variety of content. The online festival is featuring both specially recorded content from artists such as violinist Gil Shaham and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, including Jacques Lacombe conducting the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra in Aaron Copland's Lincoln Portrait and pianist Kirill Gerstein in Gershwin's Piano Concerto. Full details from the Boston Symphony Orchestra's website.

Castle Howard (Photo Pwojdacz, Wikipedia)

And in Yorkshire, the Ryedale Festival will be live-streaming eight concerts, free-to-view, from 19 July to 26 July 2020, opening on 19 July with Isata Kanneh-Mason. Many of the concerts will be filmed in iconic Yorkshire venues, so there will be violinist Rachel Podger in Biber at Castle Howard, organist Anna Lapwood at St Michael's Church, Coxwold, cellist Abel Selaocoe at All Saints' Church, Helmsley, clarinettist Matthew Hunt and pianist Tim Horton in Schubert, Jorg Widmann and Ireland from the Long Gallery at Castle Howard, and the Albion Quartet in Schubert in the great hall of Castle Howard. Soprano Rowan Pierce will join festival director Christopher Glynn for songs by Purcell, Schumann, Schubert & Grieg, violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen will join Glynn for music by Elgar. Members of Streetwise Opera will join Roderick Williams, Christopher Glynn, the Brodsky Quartet and Genesis Sixteen for a virtual performance directed by Freya Wynn-Jones inspired by The Linden Tree from Schubert's Winterreise. Full details from the Ryestream website.

By contrast, the Live from London on-line has been designed specifically for lockdown. Filmed at the VOCES8 Centre in London, the festival will feature performances every Saturday for ten weeks from 1 August 2020, with ensembles such as VOCES8, I Fagiolini, Stile Antico, the Swingles, The Sixteen and Chanticleer. The concerts will be pay-per-view (with season tickets available) and are intended to raise money for artists, venues and promoters. The concerts start on 1 August with VOCES8 in a programme inspired by the group's recent CD After Silence with music from Orlando Gibbons and Monteverdi to the premiere of Marten Janssens' Elemental Elegy, followed by I Fagiolini in an all-Monteverdi programme on 8 August, followed by a guest appearance of the Academy of Ancient Music on 15 August.. Full details from the Live from London website.