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Spotlight on: Brecon Baroque Festival
We have a special blog entry today! October sees the return of the popular Brecon Baroque Festival. Tickets are for sale on our website but already selling fast! Last week we were lucky enough to get an interview with the organisers!
Brecon Baroque Festival was founded in 2006 by Rachel Podger, one of the world’s leading interpreters of Baroque music. Each October she gathers together the best period musicians from all over the world for a long weekend of performances, talks and workshops in Brecon. We are extremely grateful to host some of the Brecon Baroque Festival once again here in our amazing theatre. Brecon Baroque Festival is also available to watch online click here and in other venues such as Brecon Cathedral.
Who will be performing this year?
The 2021 Festival features Rachel and her own ensemble, Brecon Baroque plus Trinity Baroque, directed by her brother Julian Podger; the viol ensemble Fretwork; author Horatio Clare and The Society of Strange and Ancient Instruments.
What is it about BBF that is so special to all those involved e.g. singers, musicians, audience, and the team behind it?
It’s a very special weekend for everyone involved not only because of the calibre of musicians and music but also because of the variety of artists that come to Brecon from string players like Rachel to singers, lutenists and for the first time this year, trumpet marines.
Can you tell us a little about the background of the performers?
Beyond the Festival Rachel performs as soloist and guest director with orchestras and ensembles worldwide, including the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the Academy of Ancient Music (UK), Arte dei Suonatori (Poland), Tafelmusik (Canada) and the Handel and Haydn Society (USA). Rachel’s recordings have won many awards. She is also a respected teacher: she holds chairs at the Royal Academy of Music and the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and has recently taken up a role at the Juilliard School in New York.
Brecon Baroque was founded in 2007 as the resident ensemble for the festival and now enjoys an international reputation in its own right. Brecon Baroque’s recording of Vivaldi’s ‘L’Estro Armonico’ was released in 2015 to critical acclaim and has just won the 2016 BBC Music Concerto Award.
How has BBF adapted to the disruption caused by Covid? over the past few years, and what does the future hold?
This autumn sees the launch of a brand new adventure for the Festival entitled ‘Walk with Bach’, a three year programme exploring the life and music of JS Bach from his early days in Arnstadt and Lübeck to his most prolific years in Weimar and Cothen and finally to the end of his life in Leipzig.
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