Celebrating 10 years of the Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival

Guy Johnston and friends performing in the Marble Hall of Hatfield House (Photo courtesy of Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival)

Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary this year with five days of music-making in and around Hatfield House from 29 September to 3 October 2021. The festival includes two celebratory commissions for artistic director, cellist Guy Johnston, a cello sonata from Joseph Phibbs (to be premiered at the opening concert with pianist Tom Poster) and a solo cello suite by Matthew Kaner. Other contemporary works in the programme include music by Paul Wiancko, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Stephen Johnson, Brett Dean, Olav Berg and Stephen Paulus.

Performers at the festival this year include regulars, Magnus Johnston (violin), Brett Dean (viola), Tom Poster (piano), Adam Walker (flute), and Nicholas Daniel (oboe), also resident during the week are the Carducci Quartet and the Orsino Ensemble, with guests including Carolyn Sampson (soprano) and Joseph Middleton (piano), IMS Prussia Cove musicians and vocal ensemble VOCES8.

On the final day of the festival VOCES8 will be inspiring local young choral singers in a singing masterclass in the morning and performing as part of the Finale concert in the Old Palace, giving a solo spot and joining the festival resident musicians for Britten’s Rejoice is the Lamb and Lili Boulanger’s Vieille Prière Bouddhique.

Carolyn Sampson and Joseph Middleton's recital will feature Cheryl Frances-Hoad's Six Songs of Melmoth (commissioned for the 2020 Oxford Lieder Festival), plus music by Schubert, Ravel, Gaubert and Schoenberg. The premiere of Kaner's cello suite will be juxtaposed with an organ recital performed by William Whitehead which explores Hatfield House’s musical archives, and other new pieces are performed alongside works by Schubert, Reicha, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Fauré, Nielsen, Debussy, Poulenc, and André Caplet.

Alongside the public concerts there are activities for local schoolchildren, opportunities both to listen and to perform, plus a family concert with Holst's The Planets, performed by the festival's resident musicians alongside musicians from the Purcell School,  live-illustrated by James Mayhew.

Full details from the festival website.