The Ryedale Festival takes place from Friday 11 to Sunday 27 July 2014 in one of the most attractive parts of the country, Ryedale in North Yorkshire. With venues ranging from picturesque country churches, theatres and some of the most celebrated stately homes in the country, the Ryedale Festival 2014 presents an impressive seventeen days of opera, concerts and literary events.

As well as some great names in the classical music world, Ryedale Festival provides a platform for a number of outstanding, young professionals, many of whom perform in the popular series of Coffee Concerts. No Yorkshire Festival would be complete without a brass band, and we are delighted to welcome Kikbymoorside Brass Band for our Garden Party at on the last day of the Festival.

Opening and opera

The opening weekend takes place in Ampleforth Abbey and Theatre with two of Monteverdi’s greatest works, introducing the Italian theme which runs throughout the festival: the Vespers of 1610 and his opera The Coronation of Poppea. The Vespers are performed at 8.00pm on Friday 11 July in Ampleforth Abbey by four groups of musicians, under the direction of Robert Hollingworth. The performers include a rare public appearance by the Monks of Ampleforth Abbey who sing with The 24 Choir, alongside the Echoris Ensemble and the English Cornett and Sackbut Ensemble.

Ryedale Festival presents an opera every year, and this summer brings a new production of Monteverdi’s opera The Coronation of Poppea with a new English translation by John Warrack. Performances are at 6.00pm on Saturday 12 July (with a picnic interval) and 7.00pm on Monday 14 July, both in Ampleforth College Theatre. Performances are preceded by talks by musicologist and Festival President, John Warrack. After Ryedale Festival, the opera will tour the UK, including performances in London in August and venues in Scotland in September 2014.

Italian theme

The Italian theme continues with La Serenissima who perform Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, on Tuesday 15 July at 8.00pm at St Peter’s Church in Norton. On Friday 25 July we have an Italian Music Day at St Mary’s Priory Church, Old Malton beginning with a talk and piano recital by Joseph Houston at 11.00am, celebrating Italy, the birthplace of the piano.

The Italian Music Day continues with the Fieri Consort, a group of young professional singers trained by The Sixteen, in their debut concert at the Ryedale Festival at 3.00pm. Another group linked to The Sixteen is The Genesis Sixteen who appear at Ryedale conducted by Eamonn Dougan. The group was formed to nurture the next generation of outstandingly talented ensemble singers and they perform music including Montiverdi and Gabrieli in St Hilda’s Church, Sherburn at 3.00pm on Monday 21 July.

The Italian Music Day on Friday 25 July closes with a candlelit concert in St Mary’s at 8.00pm when the Scotland’s premiere chamber ensemble, the Scottish Ensemble, return with chamber music by Boccherini, Puccini and Italian-inspired works by Tchaikovsky and Wolf.

Orchestras

The Orchestra of Opera North returns to the festival on Saturday 19 July at 8.00pm in St Peter’s Church, Norton, with Howard Shelley as solo pianist and conductor in Mendelssohn Hebrides Overture, Schumann Piano Concerto and Dvorak Symphony No 7.

The Northern Sinfonia bring the festival to a close with a gala concert at Hovingham Hall on Sunday 27 July at 7.00pm. Here, the riding school stables are transformed into an impressive concert venue. Soloists Simon Desbruslais (trumpet) and Louisa Tuck (cello) perform with the Northern Sinfonia in CPE Bach, Haydn, Mozart and a new work by Deborah Pritchard.

WW1

This year the Festival marks the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War with world premieres of four new works inspired by WW1, while author Lucy Beckett talks about her new novel, set during the two world wars on Tuesday 15 July at 11.00am in Malton Methodist Chapel.

The four new works are Rupture by Joseph Howard, a 21 year-old local student from Pickering performed by Clare Hammond at 3.30pm on Tuesday 15 July in St Michael’s Malton; Pro patria mori by Edwin Roxburgh, in response to Wilfred Owen’s poem and Deborah Pritchard’s Seven Halts after the Somme, inspired by a new series of paintings for the National Gallery, which will be projected during the performance - both of these are in a concert at 11.00am on Wednesday 16 July in St Mary’s Church, Lastingham by Simon Desbruslais, trumpet and Claire Hammond, piano; and a new piece for piano by Michael Zev Gordon which is a joint commission by the Ryedale Festival and Help Musicians UK. This concert is at 11.00am on Friday 18 July in Helmsley Arts Centre.

A notable soloist to perform this year is the outstanding Bavarian soprano Christiane Karg, who appears with Christopher Glynn, Artistic Director of the festival, on Sunday 20 July at 8.00pm at Duncombe Park. The concert gives one of several nods in the festival programme to the 150th anniversary of Richard Strauss’ birth by including his Four Last Songs alongside works by Wolf, Debussy, Shoeck and Schoenberg.

Thomas Gould, violin is already established on the international music scene, joins the young Latvian accordionist Ksenija Sidorova in music including Bach, Piazzolla and Monti’s famous Czardas, on Tuesday 22 July at 11.00am in All Saints Church, Helmsley.

Benjamin Powell, piano, one of the most talented young musicians in Yorkshire, performs at 3.00pm in Helmsley Arts Centre on Saturday 26 July. This is a showcase for the Yorkshire Young Musicians scheme.

Richard Rodgers Day

One of the greatest figures of American show music is Richard Rodgers and we are joined by stars of the stage Jenna Russell, Charlotte Wakefield and David Thaxton, and Jason Carr, piano, for two concerts celebrating Rodgers’ life and works. Writer and Rodgers specialist Edward Seckerson introduces both performances on Thursday 24 July at 3.00pm and 7.00pm Queen Margaret’s School in Escrick. There will also be an exhibition of Rodgers memorabilia.

Donald Swann is often associated as being one half of the comic duo, Flanders and Swann. Ryedale Festival celebrates his life and music, including many lesser-known, more serious works, on Wednesday 16 July. A pre-concert talk by Leon Berger, Donald Swann’s archivist, is at 6.30pm, and Under the hat! is at 8.00pm in Duncombe Park’s Saloon, performed by soprano Caroline MacPhie and tenor Benjamin Hulett, with Christopher Glynn, piano.

Folk-classical

Kathryn Tickell is the world’s leading exponent of Northumbrian Pipes, and performs at Ryedale Festival at 8.00pm on Monday 21 July in the Milton Rooms in Malton. This concert is with her new folk-classical group The Side featuring accordionist and clog dancer Amy Thatcher, Royal Northern Sinfonia’s principal cellist Louisa Tuck and harpist Ruth Wall.

Literature, poetry and theatre

Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy reads from her own work at 3.30pm on Sunday 13 July at Galtres Centre, Easingwold. She is joined by the virtuoso multi-instrumentalist John Sampson, with whom she has been collaborating for over a decade.

Poet Wendy Cope reads poetry from some of her collections at 3.30pm in All Saints’ Church, Hovingham on Sunday 20 July. The second part of the performance is with the Endellion Quartet where she performs a set of comic verses with music by Roxanna Panufnik, The Audience.

As part of the WW1 theme, author Lucy Beckett talks about her new novel The Leaves Are Falling, on Tuesday 15 July at 11.00am in Malton Methodist Chapel.

The innovative theatre company Box Tale Soup present their beautiful puppets and timeless world of Alice in Wonderland in a family performance at 11.00am in Pickering Kirk Theatre on Saturday 12 July.

For more information visit: www.ryedalefestival.com