‘A Man of the People’ is the theme of this year’s Malcolm Arnold Festival; the annual celebration of the multi-faceted composer and his music. Available online for the first time, listeners will be able to join proceedings via the website portal, streamed and free to view, over 17-18 October 2020.
Directed by Paul Harris and launched this year by Professor Colin Lawson, Director of the Royal College of Music where Malcolm Arnold studied, the event will be broadcast from the Festival Director’s studio using pre-recorded events inter-cut with both live and recorded music and informative introductions and discussions. Free-to-view, audiences will be invited to donate to the Festival’s charity, who’s objective is to advance the understanding and appreciation of Malcolm Arnold’s music.
Amongst the recital performers recording especially for the event will be flutists Jenny Dyson and Emma Halnan. Peter Fisher will give a violin recital, whilst Roger Coull will be joined by pianist Lynn Arnold. Onyx Brass will play the first Brass Quintet, whilst pianist Scott Mitchell will be performing selections from the ballet The Three Musketeers.
Classical guitarist, Hugh Millington, will be marking the half-century of the Fantasy for Guitar, edited by Julian Bream, who gave the first performance at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in May 1971. And signing off in style will be a recording of the exuberant Fantasy for Audience and Orchestra; a work commissioned by the BBC for performance at the 'Last Night of the Proms' in 1970.
A selection of Guest Spots will allow for discussion of the composer’s works and his colourful life featuring John Wallace, Julian Lloyd Webber, Dame Monica Mason, Barry Wordsworth, Hilary Davan Wetton, John Gibbons, Ben Hoffnung and Ben Goldsheider.
Illustrated talks, from Janet Hilton on working with Malcolm Arnold; Ellie Fox on Gordon Jacob, his fellow composer at the Royal College of Music, and from composer Timothy Bowers, will also contribute to this informative strand.
This year’s roster of guest speakers will include broadcaster and Festival regular, John Griff, who will be focussing on Malcolm Arnold’s work with film director, David Lean. Credited with writing over 100 film scores, this was a particularly fruitful genre for the composer and in 1957 he won an Academy Award for the music to Lean's epic The Bridge on the River Kwai. Other collaborations with David Lean included The Sound Barrier (1952) and Hobson's Choice (1954).
Please note that this is an exclusively online event and there are no performances taking place at Royal & Derngate (which is the usual venue for the Festival). This address is given purely for the purposes of being able to upload the information.