Stour Music 2012

22 June – 1 July 2012

This year’s festival marks the 50th anniversary of Stour Music, and also the centenary of the birth of its founder Alfred Deller, so the programme contains a number of concerts which celebrate both these events. We shall also be producing a souvenir booklet, containing articles and recollections of Stour festivals over the years, and illustrated with specially commissioned paintings by Toby Ward.

It is now more than thirty years since Alfred died, and there are many people who will not have had the chance to hear him sing ‘live’ as it were. With this in mind, I thought it would be a nice idea to have him singing again in Boughton Aluph Church, albeit this time on record. As an added attraction, we shall be mounting an exhibition of paintings and drawings by the artist John Ward.

The second weekend of the festival will see two special concerts to honour Alfred’s legacy; on Friday 29th June, the counter-tenor Andreas Scholl will make his first appearance at Stour, in a recital which includes some of Alfred's most frequently heard Lute Songs; and then on the following evening he will be joined by a host of other distinguished counter-tenors, including Iestyn Davies, Michael Chance and Robin Blaze, members of the Deller Consort, Brecon Baroque led by Rachel Podger and Trevor Pinnock, for a special programme of homage to Alfred.

But it’s not all Alfred and counter-tenors! We shall be welcoming back Ex Cathedra, His Majesty’s Sagbutts & Cornetts, The Hilliard Ensemble and The Gonzaga Band, and rounding off our 50th anniversary celebrations with a performance of Bach’s monumental Mass in B minor. I suspect tickets for this very special year will be in great demand, so be sure to book early!

Mark Deller
Festival Director