Cheltenham Music Festival 2008

4 – 19 July 2008, Cheltenham Town Hall and other venues

2008 Cheltenham Music Festival brings 70 events at various venues spread over 16 days. This year's themes include music by Gloucestershire born Ralph Vaughan Williams, Franz Schubert's song cycles, sonatas and more, folk music of many diverse countries, such as Hungary, Norway, Spain, Estonia and Venezuela. You can enjoy medieval music, 18th century operas, as well as premieres of music pieces by contemporary composers. Most of the concerts of this year's Cheltenham Music Festival take place in Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room, All Saints' Church, St. Andrew's Church in Montpellier, Tewkesbury Abbey and other Gloucestershire churches.

Many free family events taking place in Imperial Gardens behind the Town Hall will accompany the festival, such as on Saturday, 5 July, when Gloucestershire Youth Dance will show off various forms of folk dance - from the Cotswolds to the Caribbean, and from the past to the present. Cleeve Samba then will play traditional Brazilian carnival rhythms fused with some original ideas of their own. The event starts at 11am. On Sunday, 6 July Gloucestershire’s Youth Jazz Orchestra will be performing a mixture of jazz standards, big band and Dixieland jazz and Gamelan Community Players will be playing traditional music from Java. Gloucestershire Academy of Music will also be performing. All this will be taking place in Imperial Gardens from 11am. Saturday, 12 July at 2pm a community choir Vocal Antics will perform fantastic a cappella music from around the world. Later in the afternoon Tewkesbury Town Band will play music by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Another free event will take place on Saturday, 12 July at 3pm this time in the Pittville Bistro marquee - Mackwoods Fine Tea and Opera - an afternoon tea tasting and opera cabaret. Saturday, 19 July from 4pm there will be a performance of London Bulgarian Choir in Imperial Gardens.

PROGRAMME:

Fri 4 July

7.30pm BBC Philharmonic 1, Town Hall

Sat 5 July
11am SURROUND SOUND Gloucestershire Youth Dance, Imperial Gardens
12noon Trio Medieval, All Saints Church
12noon Cleeve Samba Band, Imperial Gardens
2pm SURROUND SOUND Gloucestershire Youth Dance, Imperial Gardens
3pm Rolf Lisevand Ensemble, Pittville Pump Room
5pm FILM The Full Monteverdi ,Pittville Campus, University of Gloucestershire
6.15pm EXPLORE Meurig Bowen & Christopher Cook, Town Hall Drawing Room
7pm BBC Philharmonic, Town Hall

Sun 6 July
9.30am Cereal Samba, Town Hall
11am The Dowland Project, Pittville Pump Room
11am SURROUND SOUND Glos Youth Jazz Orchestra, Imperial Gardens
12pm SURROUND SOUND Gamelan Community Players, Imperial Gardens
3pm SURROUND SOUND Gloucestershire Academy of Music, Imperial Gardens
3pm A Shropshire Lad & Songs of Travel, Pittville Pump Room
6pm EXPLORE Meurig Bowen on Grainger ,Town Hall Drawing Room
7pm Carmina Burana, Town Hall

Mon 7 July
11am Ingrid Fliter, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Estonian Television Girls Choir, Pittville Pump Room
6.00pm EXPLORE Gamelan Community Players, Tewkesbury Abbey
7.30pm From Spem to Et Exspecto, Tewkesbury Abbey

Tues 8 July
11am Gringolts & Madžar, Pittville Pump Room
4.30pm Wells A Cappella, All Saints Church
7.30pm On Wenlock Edge / Schubert Ensemble / Gilchrist, Pittville Pump Room

Wed 9 July
11.00am Elias String Quartet, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Barbirolli String Quartet, St Peter’s Church, Winchombe
6pm The Maxness of King George / Discovering Music, Pittville Pump Room
6.30pm Time to Sing, Town Hall
7pm Cabaret Dinner / Fascinating Aida, Pittville Bistro
9pm Fascinating Aida, Pittville Pump Room

Thurs 10 July
11am Marc-André Hamelin, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Thomas Carroll, St Swithin’s Church, Quenington
7pm Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Tewkesbury Abbey
9.30pm SPNM’s Folk From Here / Tickell / Bhamra ,Pittville Pump Room

Fri 11 July
10.30am EXPLORE Veljo Tormis in conversation, Pittville Pump Room
11am Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Lulu Yang, Pittville Pump Room
7.30pm Philharmonia Orchestra / Hickox, Tewkesbury Abbey
8pm Kathryn Tickell Band, Town Hall

Sat 12 July
10.30am EXPLORE Mark-Anthony Turnage in conversation, Pittville Pump Room
11am Craig Ogden, Pittville Pump Room
2pm FILM O Thou Transcendent, Pittville Campus, University of Glos
2pm SURROUND SOUND Festival Community Choir, Imperial Gardens
3pm SURROUND SOUND Tewkesbury Town Band, Imperial Gardens
3pm Mackwoods Fine Tea & Opera, Pittville Bistro
7.30pm Strings Fantasia / Manchester Camerata, Town Hall
6.30pm Trabuco dinner, Pittville Bistro
8pm Virtuoso Venezuela / Trabuco, Pittville Pump Room

Sun 13 July
10am Maxwell Davies & Hellawell in conversation, Pittville Bistro
11am Primrose Piano Quartet, Pittville Pump Room
2pm FILM Akenfield, Pittville Campus, University of Glos
4.30pm Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra, Pittville Pump Room
7.30pm Sarah Connolly / La Serenissima, Town Hall

Mon 14 July
11am Ishizaka & Wosner, Pittville Pump Room
4.30pm Calefax, Pittville Pump Room
6.30pm EXPLORE Michael Tavinor on RVW, Town Hall Drawing Room
7.30pm Cheltenham Bach Choir, Town Hall

Tues 15 July
11am Samhadi Ensemble, Pittville Pump Room
2.30pm Schools Concert: Young & Live, Pittville Pump Room
3pm FILMS The Noble Savage & Bert, A Personal Memoir, Pittville Campus, University of Glos
4pm Schools Concert: Young & Live, Pittville Pump Room
6.30pm Tango Dinner Cabaret, Pittville Bistro / Pump Room
7.30pm The Band of HM Royal Marines, Town Hall

Wed 16 July
11am Pavel Haas Quartet / Ishizaka, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Alasdair Macaskill, St Andrew’s Church, Montpellier
7.30pm Dante Quartet, Pittville Pump Room

Thurs 17 July
11am Festival Academy, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Rosy Hall, St Andrew’s Church, Chedworth
7.30pm Die Schöne Müllerin / Clayton / Lewis, Pittville Pump Room

Fri 18 July
11am Festival Academy, Pittville Pump Room
3pm Amy Dickson, St Mary’s Church, Painswick
6.00pm SURROUND SOUND Bells in Motion, Town Hall, Pillar Room
7.30pm Schwanengesang / Boesch / Vignoles, Pittville Pump Room
10pm Festival Academy, Quartet for the End of Time, Pittville Pump Room

Sat 19 July
10am Schubert’s Painters, Pittville Bistro
11am Winterreise / Padmore / Lewis ,Pittville Pump Room
1pm WORKSHOP London Bulgarian, Choir Town Hall
2pm FILMS Cymbalom Legacy & The Miraculous Circumstance, Pittville Campus, University of Glos
4.30pm SURROUND SOUND London Bulgarian Choir, Imperial Gardens
6.15pm Peter Dickinson on Lord Berners, Pittville Pump Room
6.30pm Hungarian Dances - Jessica Duchen in conversation, Town Hall, Drawing Room
7.30pm Festival Academy, Pittville Pump Room
8.00pm Taraf de Haidouks, Town Hall

For more information about this and other Cheltenham events please visit our Cheltenham events guide.