Young musicians to open Bromsgrove Festival

Buy photos » The Midland Youth Jazz Orchestra will perform at the festival. s

THIS YEAR’S Bromsgrove Festival kicks off at 7pm on Sunday with the Young Musicians’ Platform Final at Avoncroft Museum’s New Geusten Hall.

The event will see musicians aged between 17 and 25 compete for a first prize of £3,000, a second prize of £1,500 and a third prize of £1,000.

The chairman of adjudicators will be Sir Philip Ledger CBE and tickets are £15.

Admission is free to the early rounds, which take place between 9.30am and 6pm today (Friday) and tomorrow and from 9.30am to 1pm on Sunday.

The action then moves onto A Delius Anniversary event, also at Avoncroft’s New Geusten Hall. Tickets for that are £17.50.

That, at 7pm on Wednesday, starts with Ken Russell’s acclaimed 1968 film Song of Summer about Delius and his amanuensis Eric Fenby. That will be followed by a recital by the Sitkovetsky Duo - violinist Alexander Sitkovetsky and pianist Wu Qian.

The programme will include Delius’ sonata for violin and piano and Cesar Franck’s sonata.

The official opening reception of the festival will take place at 7.45pm on April 27 at Artrix, where ‘Upstairs, Downstairs’ will be performed. That has been devised by Gabrielle Byam-Grounds and features celebrity narrators from the Royal Shakespeare Company and English Serenata. Tickets are £20 and pieces include a lively musical flirtation in ‘my lady’s chamber’, Bertie Wooster singing ‘Oh by Jingo’ and Irish dancers on the Titanic.

Coun Mike Webb and Mrs Mary White, MBE and chairman of the festival, offer an open invitation to all residents to that.

On April 28, In the Bleak Midwinter - a film about Gustav Holt - will be shown at Artrix, with a short introduction by director Tony Palmer. Tickets for that, which include a glass of wine or a soft drink, are £8.

On May 4, at 6.30pm, there will be the Big Spring Sing at Artrix. That features pupils from four Bromsgrove middle schools who will take the audience around the world with a performance of songs they learned on the, Big Spring Singing day, with Birmingham choir, Ex-Cathedra’. Tickets to the event, which is being held at in association with the David Morgan Music Trust, are £5 and £2. They are available on the door.

Mrs White said: “Bromsgrove isn’t the easiest place to put entertainment on because its so close to Birmingham and Worcester.

“We always try to bring some international stars to our programme and we like to put an emphasis on the young.”

For a full list of festival events, visit www.bromsgrovefestival.co.uk, pick up a programme from Artrix or visit The Standard’s Bromsgrove office.

The booking office is on 01527 876504 and open from Thursday April 12 to Friday May 11, between 10.30am and 3.45pm on Monday-Friday and 10.30-1pm on Saturdays.

Regional news »