Cheltenham Music Festival
10 April 2019
Premier is providing national publicity for the 75th Cheltenham Music Festival, one of the annual highlights of the classical music calendar and the first under the direction of new Artistic Director, virtuoso trumpeter Alison Balsom.
Celebrated from its inception for championing new music, the 2019 Festival features more than 20 world premieres, a major focus on women composers and performers, and Composium; a major new day-long event for the classical music industry and audiences, celebrating the Festival’s foundation as a place for composers and new music. World-leading ensembles and instrumentalists performing at the Festival include the London Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, violinist Nicola Benedetti, soprano Danielle de Niese and Jazz legend Wynton Marsalis.
A four-year community project culminates at the Festival with a major new Community Opera Across the Sky, and the Festival’s cross-cultural performance and education programme sees a residency by young Ugandan brass players from charity Brass for Africa.
Other highlights include Simon Russell Beale and cast members from the National Theatre’s production of The Lehman Trilogy performing poetry and drama around Shostakovich’s Eighth String Quartet, and Sam Mendes in conversation with Clemency Burton-Hill.