Little Missenden Festival of Music and the Arts

THE audience will be transported back to 17th-century Venice when the 43rd Little Missenden Festival opens next week.

Monteverdi's Il Combattimento di Trancredi e Clorinda will be performed by vocalists Mark Tucker and Catherine Bott in a miniature opera.

The show will be staged, by candlelight, in the dramatic setting of the Saxon/Norman village church in Little Missenden.

Elizabeth Kenny will carry on the Italian theme when she plays lute music at the Abbey Farmhouse. Elizabeth is one of the UK's foremost lute players and professor at the Royal Academy of Music.

The Shakespearean era will be brought to life when Diana Porteous (cello) and Eamon Dougan (baritone) perform in a concert of Nordic and Elizabethan music in Cello and Song.

However the Little Missenden Festival isn't only concerned with music of the past. Jazz has now become a well established feature, and Michael Garrick and his quartet will be playing everything from Duke Ellington to Bechet.

The festival is giving a rare performance of Viola, Viola which was written in 1997 for the opening of the Tokyo City Opera Concert Hall but is rarely performed in the UK.

The Little Missenden Festival isn't only performing pieces set in the past but also looks towards the future. Contemporary composers are given the chance to play their works with two new commissions by George Benjamin, David Matthew, Huw Watkins and John Webb.

For those interested in learning from the professionals, George Benjamin, one of Britain's leading living composers, will give a workshop on the viola and and insight into how a composer works.

Art is also included in the festival with an exhibition of Valerie Warren's landscapes of Tuscany, Morocco, Rajasthan and Buckinghamshire.

The festival ends with the return of Gary Cooper, who recently played the harpsichord to critical acclaim at Wigmore Hall. He will play Bach, Handel and Couperin.

The Little Missenden Festival of Music and the Arts is on from October 11 to 20. For more information contact the festival box office Michaelmas Meadow, Little Missenden, Amersham, HP7 0QU or telephone 01494 868789

Listings

II Combattimento

Fri, Oct 11, 8pm

Little Missenden Church

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Violin and Piano

Sat, Oct 12, 3pm

Little Missenden Church

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Thomas Gainsborough: an artist of two personalities

Sat, Oct 12, 5pm

Little Missenden Village Hall

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Green and Pleasant Land

Sat, Oct 12, 8pm

Little Missenden Church

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Cello and Song

Sun, Oct 13, 3pm

Little Missenden Church

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Return of the Czardas Duo

Tue, Oct 15, 8pm

Little Missenden

Village Hall

A concert for Michael Cox

Fri, Oct 18, 8pm

Little Missenden Church

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Robin Hood and his merry men

Sat, Oct 19, 11.30am

Little Missenden Village Hall

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When in Rome....

Sat, Oct 19, 3pm

Abbey Farmhouse, Church Street, Great Missenden

Viola, Viola

Sat, Oct 19, 5.30pm

Little Missenden Church

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Mozart and Benjamin

Sat, Oct 19, 8pm

Little Missenden Church

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Gary Cooper

Sun, Oct 20, 3pm

Little Missenden

Church

October 3, 2002 11:00