The 2012 Frome Festival’s programme contains a significant programme for classical music and fans, with some of the UK’s top acts in their field.
This year’s Artist in Residence is the outstanding young violinist Tamsin Waley- Cohen who will be making three appearances at the Festival, starting with performances of Elgar’s Violin Sonata, and Vaughan Williams’ popular masterpiece “Lark Ascending”, on Thursday 12th July. This exciting evening will take place at the recently restored Cooper Hall at Selwood Manor. A glass of “bubbly” will greet the audience in this beautiful setting.
Ms. Waley- Cohen will return to Selwood Manor on Friday 13th July for a lunchtime concert featuring Bach’s “Partita D Minor”, and Bartok’s Violin Sonata. Her final appearance will be on Saturday 14th July, with the outstanding Bath Philharmonia, conducted by Frome Festival Classical Producer Jason Thornton. Jason, who recently conducted the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra on BBC’s The One Show, has put together one of the most ambitious concerts seen at the Frome Festival. Celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee, the concert incorporates pieces by Britten, Jenkins, Warlock, Elgar, and the “Concerto Grosso”- a rarely performed piece by Vaughan Williams, with the string section of the Frome Symphony supplementing the Bath Phil. The “Concerto Grosso” will be conducted by Mark Gateshill, Frome Symphony’s promising young conductor.
In a change from the usual choral format, this year’s candlelit concert at Trinity Church will feature the Amati String Quartet, who played at last year’s sell out performance which incorporated the letters of Christina Rossetti. The performance includes Dvorak’s String Quartet No.12, String Quartet No.2 by Philip Glass, and Ravel’s String Quartet.
The idea of working classical music into a literary theme has been very popular in previous Frome Festivals. Renowned stage and screen actor Mark McGann was a major hit when presenting the poems of Siegfried Sassoon in an Elgar themed evening three years ago. This year, Mark McGann will be appearing alongside the 2010 Sainsbury’s Choir of the Year, the Wellensian Consort, in a programme that sets descriptions of the Monmouth Rebellion to the music of Henry Purcell. “Purcell and Pitchforks” commemorates the part played by Frome folk in the Pitchfork Rebellion, when the Duke of Monmouth and his army descended on the town and claimed local allegiance in his attempt to overthrow James the Second. Failing to make progress in battle at Norton St. Phillip, Monmouth’s army withdrew and were finally overcome in the Battle of Sedgemoor. There were tragic consequences for his followers, at the hands of the infamous Judge Jefferies and the Bloody Assizes. Subsequently, the Constable of Frome and a group of townsfolk were hanged in public at Gore Hedge, close on the site of the current fire station. “Purcell and Pitchforks” promises to be an evocative and powerful evening in the atmospheric setting of St. John’s Church on Wednesday 11th July.
In an coup for Trinity Church, one of the country’s eminent pianists,  David Owen Norris, has agreed to play a concert of works by Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert using a Broadwood piano, and other period instruments, constructed by locally based specialist Chris Barlowe. The concert will also feature some of David Owen Norris’s students on forte piano.
Lunch time concerts also play an important part in the Festival’s classical programme, particularly at Christ Church when the Christ Church singers and organist David Turner are main attractions. Also, virtuoso violinist Daniel Pioro will be appearing at St. Katherine’s Church East Woodlands on Saturday 7th July in an 11 am recital.
Rook Lane Arts makes an ideal venue for classical music, and on Sunday 8th July audiences will be spoiled by afternoon and evening performances. John Law’s classically influenced jazz piano will underscore Barry Cooper’s improvised painting in “Spacetime” in a unique cross over between music and art. This is followed in the early evening with a piano recital by the brilliant Stephen Marquiss, and then John Law returns with his jazz trio for an evening performance. All events can be booked through the Cheese and Grain Box office in the Market Yard on 01373 455420.