Archive for the ‘Festival News’ Category

Wednesday, June 25th, 2008

WETHERBY FESTIVAL ~ ‘One of Yorkshire’s best-kept secrets.’

Wetherby Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in October/November 2007. Our superb programme of fantastic literature, music and drama saw many events completely sold out. We were very proud indeed to play host to the late, great jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band, in one of his last major performances.

As ever, we hosted a wide and exciting range of both professional and amateur events. Giving platform to professional and amateur events alike makes Wetherby unique on the UK festival calendar. Also appearing at our Festival in 2007 were the London Community Gospel Choir, Abba tribute band Voulez Vous, the North Country Theatre Company, Mighty Zulu Nation, and top names from the folk world, including Julie Fowlis and Dochas, Kathryn Tickell, and Maire ni Chathasaigh and Chris Newman.

‘Folk in the Fall’ – an exciting folk festival planned for 2008!

Our next major festival will take place in 2009, and we are planning on bringing the best of the Arts to the town again. But we cannot let a year pass by without bringing some top quality, innovative events to Wetherby. For 2008 the Festival Board have decided to do something different. On Friday 31 October and Saturday 1 November, we have programmed a warmly-anticipated event – ‘Folk in the Fall’, a superb programme that will feature some of the most gifted and friendliest young musicians on the UK’s thriving contemporary folk scene. We’re bringing BBC Horizon Award winners, the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year, and even one of the musicians taking part in the prestigious BBC Proms ‘Folk Day’ this July. We’ve crammed in around a dozen top quality acts who will grace our stage with their beautiful singing and excellent musicianship, and, being the folk scene, some of the friendliest and most relaxed banter you’ll find at any performance anywhere. We also hope to invite a local Morris side or two to town to add to the atmosphere, and to provide a Festival Ale courtesy of Rudgate Brewery.

The best of the contemporary folk scene

We’re bringing the best vocalists: our headliner is multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, whose songs are very moving; Ruth Notman (blessed with a truly beautiful voice); the highly talented singer-fiddler Bella Hardy from Edale in Derbyshire; Scottish Gaelic songstress Rachel Walker; Nashville-inspired, York-based singer-songwriter Edwina Hayes (she’s played to 6,000 at Harewood!); and the wonderful rootsy voice of Yorkshire’s own Duncan MacFarlane. We’ve invited some of the finest instrumentalists we could track down: Anglo-Scots band Bellevue Rendezvous, with their passionate musical explorations of the Celtic world, featuring the beautiful sound of the nyckelharpa; young Scots flautist Calum Stewart, with his expressive, fluid playing. He’s bringing award-winning fiddler Lauren MacColl and Northumbria’s Andy May with him, so expect a Northumbrian pipe set or two! Gifted clarsach player Rachel Hair, one of the hardest working musicians on the folk circuit, is bringing along Gaelic singer and step-dancer Joy Dunlop with her. Yorkshire musician Chris Sherburn, with his brilliant line in on-stage banter, guarantees great fun as well as sensitive concertina playing. The local lads from Gary Stewart’s fine acoustic band will also be on hand to play in our bar marquee.

An exciting programme of school workshops!

The Festival is excited to be working for the first time with Wetherby High School (who will host our main events) and the local Primary Schools to host a range of music-related activities in the week before the October half term. One of the Festival’s directors, Mary Anslow, said: ‘We’ve been working closely with children, teachers, and Leeds Education to come up with some ideas that will give our children creative, imaginative and fun access to a superb range of music events. Key to this will be the assistance of one of Yorkshire’s best-loved folk musicians, Sam Pirt (pictured), with his huge range of experience working with children at all the major UK festivals. It’s an exciting development for Wetherby Festival to be able to offer this. We’re working hard too with Wetherby High School to offer our town’s older pupils some really enjoyable activities.’

Fellow director Debbie Koritsas added: ‘Our aim with Folk in the Fall has been to offer local people a chance to hear some of the very best, friendliest acoustic musicians from around Britain, and to just come along and relax and enjoy themselves. We’ll be providing a bar marquee, staffed by Wetherby Lions, high quality catering facilities, and good car parking. We’re also working hard to find good accommodation for our artistes and visitors, for Folk in the Fall has already captured the imagination of the folk community, and we know already of people planning to travel from Denmark, France and Orkney for our event. If any local people can assist with accommodation, please get in touch. Our details can be found via our ‘contact’ tab. We would equally be delighted to hear from anyone who has any questions at all, or would simply like to know more about our Festival. Many of our visitors tell us that we are one of Yorkshire’s best kept secrets, and we rather like that accolade!’

Photos © Debbie Koritsas.

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Tickets

Saturday, June 21st, 2008

You can buy tickets in several ways from 6 September 2008:

ONLINE BOOKING – here at www.wetherbyfestival.co.uk/online. Credit card booking only. Secure site. Note: handling charge is £2 per transaction, not per ticket.

BY POST – Please send your order, together with a cheque payable to Wetherby Festival, plus SAE, to the Festival Office, 47 North Street, Wetherby, LS22 6NU.

IN PERSON – On Saturday 6 November in the Garden of Rest, from 10 am till 2 pm, and thereafter from Wetherby Library during opening hours.

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Folk in the Fall

Friday, June 20th, 2008

Folk in the Fall LogoWe’re planning something very special for Wetherby this year!

Folk in the Fall: a superb weekendof the very best in contemporary British folk and acoustic music!

Thursday 30 October 2008 – the Swan & Talbot pub (time to be confirmed)

Come and spend an enjoyable evening listening to improbably tall tales in the Swan & Talbot pub whilst enjoying a drink – help us decide upon Wetherby’s Biggest Liar. If last year’s contest is anything to go by, we’re in for a treat – and a good laugh!

Friday evening, 31 October 2008 – Wetherby High School/Festival Marquee

7 pm – 7.45 pm Edwina Hayes – Nashville-inspired, York-based singer-songwriter Edwina has played to a crowd of 6000 at nearby Harewood House. She writes lovely original songs, and sings them beautifully. Her gig calendar is always full, and we’re delighted she is coming to play in Wetherby for us. She’s inspired by the likes of Mindy Smith, Carole King, Bob Dylan and Nanci Griffith, and her songs are a joy

8 pm -9.15 pm Bellevue Rendezvous – This wonderful Anglo-Scots trio will be performing a passionate, lyrical selection of Celtic and European tunes on nyckelharpa, fiddle and bouzouki. These musicians have soaked up the most beautiful tunes on their travels around France, Scandinavia, and beyond, and they intersperse them with fiddler Gavin Marwick’s wonderful original compositions. Genuine listening pleasure.

9.30 pm – 10.45 pm Rachel Walker Band – you can expect very beautiful Gaelic singing from Rachel, the original founder of Dochas (who wowed Wetherby Festival last October). Rachel will be accompanied by the very graceful, highly gifted Shetland fiddler Jenna Reid, singer/guitarist Ewan Robertson, and bagpiper Angus Mackenzie of the powerhouse Scottish band Daimh. Ewan was voted BBC Scotland’s Young Trad Musician of the Year in 2008. Expect a set that throws gorgeous Gaelic songs at you one minute, and lively instrumental tunes the next!

Saturday, 1 November 2008, all day – Wetherby High School/Festival Marquee

12 noon – 1 pm Duncan MacFarlane – foot-stomping folk and great craic from one of Yorkshire’s finest folk musicians. Duncan will be superbly accompanied by the excellent Anne Brivonese on fiddle, and singer-songwriter Gerry MacNeice on bass, and will be playing a fantastic selection of songs and tunes from his highly acclaimed CD ‘All Rogues and Villains.’

13.15 pm – 14.30 pm Rachel Hair – this highly gifted young Scottish harpist/composer from Ullapool will be superbly accompanied by Paul Tracey on guitar and the beautiful voice of Joy Dunlop, who will also be step-dancing for us! Rachel is one of the hardest working musicians on the scene and can be seen at many of the major folk festivals at home and abroad – you will love her sparkling original tunes, such as Hubcaps and Potholes – inspired by the damage she did to her mum’s car when she’d just learned to drive! Joy is actively involved in the furtherance of Scottish Gaelic language and song, both in her native Argyll and overseas.

14.45 pm – 16.00 pm Ruth Notman – Nottingham’s Ruth Notman is being hailed as ‘the new Kate Rusby’, and listening to her beautiful voice, already so full of maturity, you can so easily see why. She caught the ear of BBC Radio 2 presenter Mike Harding, who described her debut album Threads as ‘a stunning piece of work.’ She’ll be accompanied by the incredibly fine musicianship of Hannah Edmonds and Saul Rose.

16.15 pm – 17.30 pm Calum Stewart Trio – Calum is a Morayshire flautist who plays with a beautifully fluid style. He’ll be accompanied by award-winning Black Isle fiddler Lauren MacColl, who plays with real intensity, and by Northumbrian multi-instrumentalist Andy May – expect a Northumbrian pipe tune or two, and a whole host of gorgeous original compositions. Here we have 3 of the finest contemporary instrumentalists around.

17.45 pm – 19.15 pm Bella Hardy & Chris Sherburn – Derbyshire singer-fiddler meets Yorkshire concertinist for a set of superb traditional and contemporary songs. But songs with a twist, for Bella pulls no punches in her choice of material. And with Bella and Chris on stage, you will laugh, for Chris is hilarious! Bella is taking part in the BBC Proms ‘Folk Day’ this July – it’s pretty much official now: folk music is cool! Edale-born Bella is deservedly building herself an assured reputation on the folk circuit. We were delighted that she and Chris could make Wetherby.

19.30 pm – 21.00 pm Karine Polwart Trio – this Horizon Award-winning Scottish singer-songwriter will move you with her exquisitely crafted songs. She will be accompanied by Fair Isle accordionist Inge Thomson, blessed with a very beautiful voice herself, and by her brother Steven Polwart, superb on acoustic and electric guitar. Karine’s songs are full of conscience, she sings about subjects that matter, tackles subjects that are often very painful. She sings songs with allegorical lyrics about George Bush, and a mother’s terrible anguish at the loss of her son to AIDS (The Fire Thief). And truly inspiring songs like ‘Dig a Little Well for Zoe’, highlighting the work of an organisation providing safe drinking water in Malawi.

21.15 pm – 22 45 pm The Shee – we round off Folk in the Fall with a superbly lively set from all-girl powerhouse band The Shee, who emerged out of the Newcastle Folk Degree – this is great music for dancing to! Fantastic instrumentalists each and every one, and fine singers too. Wetherby Festival has strong links with Newcastle, and a fair chunk of our audience regularly travels down from the North East for our main events. Beware, these lasses recently rebranded themselves: they used to be called The Sirens, but we think they wanted to emphasise their all-girl status even more when they chose their new name!

We’re also offering an exciting programme of music-related workshops in local schools in the week before the October half term, featuring well-loved Yorkshire folk musician Sam Pirt. We’ll be offering something similarly music-related for our older students too.

Plus: live music in the Bar Marquee with the fabulous lads of the Leeds-based Gary Stewart Band, Morris dancing in town, quality on-site catering, a fine Festival Ale from Rudgate Brewery, excellent car parking, good quality accommodation, shops, pubs and restaurants in town, and much more.

Other events planned for 2008

An evening of celestial music with Peadar Long in our Parish Church, planned for December 2008.

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Wetherby Festival presents ‘Folk in the Fall’ – a superb weekend of the very best in contemporary British folk and acoustic music.

Thursday, June 19th, 2008

Humph at Wetherby Festival by Debbie KoritsasWETHERBY FESTIVAL ~ ‘One of Yorkshire’s best-kept secrets.’

Photo by Debbie Koritsas

Wetherby Festival celebrated its 30th anniversary in October/November 2007.  Our superb programme of fantastic literature, music and drama saw many events completely sold out. We were very proud indeed to play host to the late, great jazz trumpeter Humphrey Lyttelton and his band, in one of his last major performances. As ever, we hosted a wide and exciting range of amateur events, and many of these were sold out.  Giving platform to professional and amateur events makes Wetherby unique on the UK festival calendar.

Our next major festival will take place in 2009, and we are planning on bringing the best of the Arts to the town again.  But we cannot let a year pass by without bringing some top quality, innovative events to Wetherby.  For 2008 the Festival Board have decided to do something different.  On Friday 31 October and Saturday 1 November, we have programmed a warmly-anticipated event – ‘Folk in the Fall’, a superb programme that will feature some of the most gifted and friendliest young musicians on the UK’s thriving contemporary folk scene.  We’re bringing BBC Horizon Award winners, the BBC Young Traditional Musician of the Year, and even one of the musicians taking part in the prestigious BBC Proms ‘Folk Day’ this July.  We’ve crammed in around a dozen top quality acts who will grace our stage with their beautiful singing and excellent musicianship, and, being the folk scene, some of the friendliest and most relaxed banter you’ll find at any performance anywhere.  We also hope to invite a local Morris side or two to town to add to the atmosphere, and to provide a Festival Ale courtesy of Rudgate Brewery.

We’re bringing the best vocalists: our headliner is multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Karine Polwart, whose songs are very moving; Ruth Notman (being heralded as ‘the new Kate Rusby’); the highly talented singer-fiddler Bella Hardy from Edale in Derbyshire; Scottish Gaelic songstress Rachel Walker, Nashville-inspired; York-based singer-songwriter Edwina Hayes (she’s played to 6,000 at Harewood!); and the wonderful rootsy voice of Yorkshire’s own Duncan MacFarlane.  We’ve invited some of the finest instrumentalists we could track down:  Anglo-Scots band Bellevue Rendezvous, with their passionate musical explorations of the Celtic world, featuring the beautiful sound of the nyckelharpa; young Scots flautist Calum Stewart, with his expressive, fluid playing.  He’s bringing award-winning fiddler Lauren MacColl and Northumbria’s Andy May with him, so expect a Northumbrian pipe set or two!  Gifted clarsach player Rachel Hair, one of the hardest working musicians on the folk circuit, is bringing along Gaelic singer and step-dancer Joy Dunlop with her.  Yorkshire musician Chris Sherburn, with his brilliant line in on-stage banter, guarantees great fun as well as sensitive concertina playing.  The local lads from Gary Stewart’s fine acoustic band will also be on hand to play in our bar marquee.

The Festival is excited to be working for the first time with Wetherby High School (who will host our main events) and the local Primary Schools to host a range of music-related activities in the week before the October half term.  One of the Festival’s directors, Mary Anslow, said:  ‘We’ve been working closely with children, teachers, and Leeds Education to come up with some ideas that will give our children creative, imaginative and fun access to a superb range of music events.  Key to this will be the assistance of one of Yorkshire’s best-loved folk musicians, Sam Pirt, with his huge range of experience working with children at all the major UK festivals.  It’s an exciting development for Wetherby Festival to be able to offer this.  We’re working hard too with Wetherby High School to offer our town’s older pupils some really enjoyable activities.’

Fellow director Debbie Koritsas added: ‘Our aim with Folk in the Fall has been to offer local people a chance to hear some of the very best, friendliest acoustic musicians from around Britain, and to just come along and relax and enjoy themselves.  We’ll be providing a bar marquee, staffed by Wetherby Lions, high quality catering facilities, and good car parking.  We’re also working hard to find good accommodation for our artistes and visitors, for Folk in the Fall has already captured the imagination of the folk community, and we know already of people planning to travel from Denmark, France and Orkney for our event.  If any local people can assist with accommodation, please get in touch.  Our contact details can be found on www.wetherbyfestival.co.uk.  We would equally be delighted to hear from anyone who has any questions at all, or would simply like to know more about our Festival.  Many of our visitors tell us that we are one of Yorkshire’s best kept secrets, and we rather like that accolade!’

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