Author: Noriko Tsuzaki

An hour-long concert full of beautiful music. These relaxed performances are particularly suited to those living with dementia and other similar health conditions, adults and children with additional learning needs, their carers and anybody who wishes to experience classical music in a relaxed and informal environment.

Perhaps no other orchestra has done so much to champion the incredible tradition of British music for strings as the legendary English String Orchestra, whose recordings carry the music of England from Elgar to today to listeners worldwide. William Walton was perhaps the true heir of Elgar’s legacy, and his Sonata for Strings is one of the highest peaks in the string orchestra literature. The programme opens with a set of short pieces which showcase Elgar’s genius for the miniature and continues with works showcasing two of today’s most engaging and exciting composers, Peter Fribbins and Ian Venables. Rosalind Ventris is the featured soloist.

An hour-long concert full of beautiful music. These relaxed performances are particularly suited to those living with dementia and other similar health conditions, adults and children with additional learning needs, their carers and anybody who wishes to experience classical music in a relaxed and informal environment.

We’re delighted to welcome renowned presenter, composer and author Zeb Soanes from Classic FM who will be both hosting and narrating the story of everyone’s favourite bear in Paddington Bear’s First Concert! The concert also includes the winning performances of the festival’s 2025 Young Composers Competition. An uplifting event not to be missed.

In addition to playing bassoon in a woodwind quintet (two flutes, oboe, clarinet, and bassoon) with his brother Frank, the young Edward Elgar wrote seven pieces of “Harmony Music” beginning in 1878, seven years before the publication of his Opus 1. The players for whom Elgar wrote the quintets were his young friends, who met regularly for music on Sunday afternoons in a garden shed behind his father’s shop.