DORSET artist Gary Cook has spent much of the past year sketching in the landscape around the Daylesford estate on the Cotswolds, and the results can be seen in a new exhibition, ReWolding, at Daylesford from 16th to 29th April, capturing the unique atmosphere and beauty of this area of sweeping hills, wooded valleys and…
THE iconoclastic Living Spit, led by Stu McLoughlin, now sadly without the late Howard Coggins, tackles one of the greatest stories of all – The Passion, in their latest show, touring this spring, with performances continuing at The Theatre Shop at Clevedon from until 11th May, Plough Arts at Torrington in Devon on 17th May…
THE Urban Folk Quartet – four musicians who have played with many of the biggest names on the contemporary folk scene – come to Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday 13th April. Known to their many fans as UFQ, this exciting group has a repertoire which has much less to do with the traditional idea of…
THREE musicians with very different backgrounds who perform together as Coracle come to the David Hall at South Petherton, on Saturday 13th April at 8pm, for a concert that brings together both traditional and contemporary music. The spring tour also comes to the Arts Centre at Shaftesbury on 12th May. The trio are Paul Hutchinson,…
THE distinguished conductor Mark Wigglesworth has been announced as the new chief conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. He will take up the role at the start of the orchestra’s 2024-25 season in September, when Kirill Karabits, the BSO’s inspiring chief conductor for the past 15 years, becomes Conductor Laureate and artistic director of the…
CONCERTS in the West, the charity that brings rising stars of the chamber music scene and concert platform to venues in Dorset, Somerset and Wiltshire, makes its debut at Shaftesbury in April, when the Gildas Quartet give the fourth concert of their tour, at St Peter’s Church on Sunday 21st April at 3pm. All four…
HURN Court Opera, the company set up to provide performance opportunities for young singers, is this year staging Mozart’s dark comedy, Don Giovanni, at Christchurch Regent Centre on Tuesday 9th April, Theatre Royal, Winchester, on Thursday 11th, both at 7pm, and at Bryanston School’s Coade Hall, Blandford, on Saturday 13th at 4pm. The cast is…
THE Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and assistant conductor Tom Fetherstonhaugh celebrate the Classic FM Hall of Fame in a series of concerts at Poole, Exeter and Portsmouth, from 18th to 20th April, with award-winning pianist Eric Lu (pictured) as guest soloist. The programme, presented b y Classic FM’s Anne-Marie Minhall, begins with Rossini’s delightful overture, The…
IT’S 34 years since the fledgling Milborne Port Opera took to the village hall stage to perform Trial by Jury, and since then dozens of singing actors, acting singers and dancers have got together around Easter to put on a show. The company’s reputation has grown, the repertoire become more varied, and, from the original…
AFTER singing Climb Every Mountain at a band call in the Circle Bar of Bristol Hippodrome, a friend of mine fixed a steely eye on the conductor and brass section of the orchestra and said, “Listen gentleman, the audience will have paid their money to hear me sing this number, not hear you play it”….