Bath Mozartfest

11th - 19th November 2011
This year Bath Mozartfest is celebrating a significant anniversary: twenty increasingly successful years of music making of the highest quality, with W A Mozart at its heart and set against the backdrop of the beautiful Georgian City of Bath.

Amelia Freedman, Bath Mozartfest’s much acclaimed artistic director, has programmed a nine day feast of delicious classical concerts, featuring some of the world’s leading musicians, to celebrate the occasion.

Appropriately, the 2011 Mozartfest will open with the music of Mozart played by America’s leading String Quartet, the Emersons. Fine chamber music has always been central to this festival and other chamber highlights will include two concerts from the Quatuor Mosaïques, plus the British violin star Daniel Hope and his regular musical partner Sebastian Knauer paying homage to the great violinist Joseph Joachim. Steven Isserlis, together with pianist Dénes Várjon, will explore the riches of the cello repertoire from Beethoven to Brahms, and the wonderful Nash Ensemble will take a break from their new residency at the Wigmore Hall to make a welcome return to Bath.

There is always one concert in the inspirational setting of Bath Abbey, and this year the world renowned singers and players of The Sixteen will perform music by two of the masters of the Baroque period, Handel and Purcell.

The human voice will be celebrated again when The Cardinall’s Musick, directed by Andrew Carwood, takes audiences on Mozart’s Pilgrimage, tracing the roots of the composer’s style back to the music of the Renaissance and Baroque periods featuring works by Allegri, J S and J C Bach and Palestrina to drop just a few names. And the most acclaimed of British tenors, Mark Padmore, will be joined by Richard.

Watkins (horn) and Julius Drake (piano) to present a fascinating programme of music by Beethoven, Schubert and Britten.

Imogen Cooper has long been a favourite of Bath audiences, and she makes two appearances this year. Her solo piano recital will include Robert Schumann’s intensely poetic Fantasiestucke Op12.

Although now retired from the concert platform Alfred Brendel continues to give entertaining and thought-provoking lectures which he illustrates from the keyboard. Here he will be addressing the question Does classical music have to be entirely serious?

Monday to Thursday inclusive there are one hour, 1pm lunchtime concerts given by talented young artists starting out on international careers: the Olivier Ensemble; Sitkovetsky Trio; pianist Grace Francis and the Elias String Quartet.

Finally, as ever, Bath Mozartfest 2011 will end on a high note with a big orchestral concert in the extraordinary art deco Forum. This year’s closing concert will see Sir Mark Elder bring his famous Hallé orchestra to Bath for the very first time. Music from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream will, a trifle unseasonally, opens the concert, then Imogen Cooper will return to play Mozart’s Piano Concerto No 18. Dvořák’s much-loved and deeply evocative From the New World symphony will provide the resounding finale to this very special 20th anniversary Bath Mozartfest.

The Bath Mozartfest was made possible by the A M Purnell Charitable Trust, created at the bequest of Mrs Mary Purnell in memory of her son Mark. It remains entirely privately funded and is indebted to its generous sponsors and individual supporters, although financial support continues to be sought to ensure its long-term future.

Brochures are available now and tickets for all Bath Mozartfest events will be available from Monday 1 August from Bath Box Office, tel: 01225 463362 or visit www.bathmozartfest.org.uk