The Lichfield Festival
Encyclopedia
The Lichfield Festival is an annual multi-art-form festival
held in Lichfield
, Staffordshire
, which aims to combine high quality, challenging and diverse events of an international calibre, alongside community-based, locally-sourced activities. Performances include drama
, dance
, film
, literature
, visual arts
, jazz
, folk
, classical
and world music
. Performances take place principally in the medieval Lichfield Cathedral
and the 21st century Lichfield Garrick theatre, alongside non-traditional venues across the County. The Festival also incorporates free community events such as the Festival Market and the Festival Fireworks.
; and Gordon Clark, who was head of music at Abbotsholme School and Artistic Director of the Abbotsholme Arts Society. Clark, while continuing his work at Abbotsholme, was the Festival’s first Artistic Director
(the two jobs continued to be under the aegis of a single person until 2009); and the founding team was completed by Financial Director John Round and Patrick Lichfield, then Earl of Lichfield, who was one of the first financial contributors.
The inaugural Festival opened on 3 July 1982 with the Band of the Royal Marines
processing from the market square in Lichfield to the west door of the Cathedral, which John Lang described as ‘a kind of trumpet call to the City to be aware of our plans for pleasures to come’. Further highlights of the opening year included performances by the Hallé
and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
s; and the Cambridge Footlights Revue, featuring the then relatively unknown Stephen Fry
, Hugh Laurie
, and Emma Thompson
. The Endellion Quartet
were artists in residence and returned many times in subsequent years. There were also international contributions from the Japanese Suzuki Tour Company, the French Rouen Officium Pastorum and the German Antiqua Cologne. As Lang said, all were ‘a foretaste of what was to become normal festival fayre’.
Highlights from the rest of the eighties included the visit of sitar legend Ravi Shankar
together with tabla
virtuoso Alla Rakha in 1984 — a year which also saw the Festival’s one and only foray into musical theatre, with the Lichfield Cathedral School’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
– a visit from Oscar Peterson
in 1985, and skiffle Legend Lonnie Donegan
came along with his dancing sunshine band in 1987. The Festival also experimented with a two-day show-jumping event in 1989, which managed a reprise in 1990 but hasn’t been heard of since. In 1985, conductor Valery Gergiev
, pianist Evgeny Kissin
, and violinists Maxim Vengerov
and Vadim Repin
all received their UK debuts at the Lichfield Festival.
, the longest serving Artistic Director to date. Spicer sought to ‘cater for all tastes and provide something for everyone’. Different thematic strands were brought into the programme to encourage what Spicer called ‘cohesion and unity’. The first of these were the music of Mozart
, Samuel Barber
, and Cole Porter
in 1991. The bi-centenary of Mozart’s death in this year also saw the Festival’s first opera – a full production of the The Marriage of Figaro
. The Festival acquired a logo – a stylised cello headstock with ‘The Lichfield Festival’ encircling it – and a Fringe, with events taking place in sixteen venues around the city, in 1994.
Spicer also introduced the concept of having a composer-in-residence to Lichfield, the first of whom was William Mathias
, who was succeeded by such luminaries as Robert Saxton
. Sir Michael Tippett
was not a composer-in-residence, but did send in his best wishes in 1992.
Returning artists: András Schiff
, Humphrey Lyttelton
, Endellion Quartet
, National Youth Jazz Orchestra
, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
, Ex Cathedra
, BBC Philharmonic
.
. Bowen had come from a job in Australia
, and his first festival, in 2002, showed an increased antipodean influence which would point the way towards a general expansion of scope.
Some of the highlights included William Barton
, an aboriginal didgeridoo
player, who performed a European premiere of Peter Sculthorpe
’s Requiem for mixed chorus, dideridoo and orchestra.
A new logo, typeface and corporate structure were introduced following Bowen’s arrival, signalling a gentle loosening of the link between the Festival and the Cathedral. The closure of Lichfield Civic Hall in 2001 led to the use of venues including Sutton Coldfield
Town Hall during the festivals of 2002/2003, while film screenings were moved to the theatre at the Friary School in Lichfield. In 2003 the Lichfield Garrick theatre, which had arisen quite literally from the ashes of the Civic Hall, was opened on the same night as that year’s Festival, with a performance by the Jazz Jamaica All-Stars.
Philip Glass
performed a rare solo piano recital in 2007, while virtuoso double bass player François Rabbath
made an extremely rare visit to England to perform at Lichfield in 2006, alongside rising British jazz star Gwilym Simcock
, who was an artist-in-residence in the same year. Simcock's 2006 residency also included the first ever non-London performance of the Gwilym Simcock Big Band and a major big band commission entitled The Lichfield Suite, which was subsequently programmed by the Cheltenham Jazz Festival
, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and shortlisted for a 2007 British Composer Award.
The 2007 Lichfield Festival was on a shortlist of 3 for a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society 'concert series and Festivals' award. Alongside Philip Glass's recital was a unique collaborative performance between Tunisian Oud player Dhafer Youssef
, Norwegian jazz Trumpeter Arve Henriksen
and Armenian Duduk player Djivan Gasparyan
.
Festival 2008 opened with Marin Alsop
's final performance as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
. Mexican rockers Los de Abajo
performed at the Lichfield Garrick, along with jazz vocal group The Passion, The Puppini Sisters
, the Bryan Corbett Quartet, Rainer Hersch
, Sir Roy Strong
and The Hairy Bikers
. 1928 Indian Silent film Shiraz was brought out of the British Film Institute
Archives and a new score was commissioned and performed live by the Sabri Ensemble.http://blogs.birminghampost.net/lifestyle/2008/07/gallifrey-lichfield-india-the.html#more The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performed to an audience of 900 at Lichfield Cathedral, and Gwilym Simcock
returned as part of Acoustic Triangle, who together with the Sacconi Quartet
performed specially composed music in the round.
The 2009 Festival opened - unusually - in the Lichfield Garrick, with a performance by 'Chairman' Ray Gelato and his band the Giants. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returned with their 'Ukulelescope' project in conjunction with the BFI, where the group performed specially composed music in accompaniment to a series of films from the BFI archives. The extraordinary vocal sounds of the Great Voices of Bulgaria filled the Cathedral, as did Fyfe Hutchens - otherwise known as Fyfe Dangerfield - who performed the only late-night concert of that year, improvising on the Lady Chapel piano for exactly 60 minutes, uninterrupted.
Other additions included a late-night Jazz series held at a new Festival venue, the George IV pub in the town centre. An eclectic mix of bands formed from Birmingham's cobweb collective played to sell-out houses on seven of the ten nights of the Festival.
Owing to works being carried out on the masonry and windows of Lichfield Cathedral
's Lady Chapel
, the Cathedral presbytery
was called into use as a replacement performance space. Notable performances there came from Poet Laureate
Carol Ann Duffy
, and Welsh harpist Catrin Finch
performing Bach
's Goldberg Variations
by candlelight. The venue also housed the return to prominence in the Festival of Lichfield Cathedral's musicians, in the form of the Cathedral Choir and the Cathedral Chamber Choir.
Highlights of the programme in the Nave included a performance of Vivaldi's four-seasons by former Young Musician of the Year Nicola Benedetti; The three-year old Festival Chorus performed an evening of a-cappella music with the award winning Voces8.
Lichfield Band Red Light Octopus are rumored to be playing this years Festival with their first gig since 2009.
, David Crystal
and Robert Hutchinson took place in the city’s George Hotel. The Literature Weekend was soon established as an annual fixture in the city’s calendar. A minor re-branding exercise saw the event renamed simply Lichfield Literature in 2009. A change motivated in no small part by the expansion in scope which saw events held at multiple venues around the city and running for four days. The 2010 event encompassed a week for the first time and included talks from comedian Jo Brand
, Labour politicians Tony Benn
and Roy Hattersley
, actor Ron Moody
and the team behind the BBC's smash-hit adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell
's Cranford
Novels.
From 1997–2007 the events in Lichfield were augmented by concerts in churches around Staffordshire, with the aim to provide exposure to the arts for as wide an audience as possible under the Lichfield Festival banner. It was then and remains policy to avoid, as much as possible, repetition of venues, and performances have taken place in Yoxall, Alrewas, Hawksyard, Hoar Cross, amongst many others.
From 2008 the country church series was relabelled as FEAST (Festival Events Around Staffordshire), with the scope for venues, beyond churches and beyond the traditional understanding of what a venue can be, to be brought into the Festival fold.
Other events take place annually at Swinfen Hall Hotel, and within the city St Michael's church and St Chad's church are now regular venues. These events have tended to have a healthy bias towards chamber music and smaller recitals.
. 2010 saw the launch of the first, theme-free 'Festival Market', a showcase and celebration of arts and crafts across the region.
Festival
A festival or gala is an event, usually and ordinarily staged by a local community, which centers on and celebrates some unique aspect of that community and the Festival....
held in Lichfield
Lichfield
Lichfield is a cathedral city, civil parish and district in Staffordshire, England. One of eight civil parishes with city status in England, Lichfield is situated roughly north of Birmingham...
, Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
, which aims to combine high quality, challenging and diverse events of an international calibre, alongside community-based, locally-sourced activities. Performances include drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
, dance
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
and world music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. Performances take place principally in the medieval Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
and the 21st century Lichfield Garrick theatre, alongside non-traditional venues across the County. The Festival also incorporates free community events such as the Festival Market and the Festival Fireworks.
1981–1989
The Lichfield Festival was founded in 1981 by the then Dean of Lichfield Cathedral, John LangJohn Harley Lang
The Very Reverend John Harley Lang was an eminent Anglican priest in the second half of the 20th century. He was born on 27 October 1927 and educated at Merchant Taylors' and King's College London. After National Service with the 12th Royal Lancers he was ordained in 1952...
; and Gordon Clark, who was head of music at Abbotsholme School and Artistic Director of the Abbotsholme Arts Society. Clark, while continuing his work at Abbotsholme, was the Festival’s first Artistic Director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
(the two jobs continued to be under the aegis of a single person until 2009); and the founding team was completed by Financial Director John Round and Patrick Lichfield, then Earl of Lichfield, who was one of the first financial contributors.
The inaugural Festival opened on 3 July 1982 with the Band of the Royal Marines
Royal Marines
The Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
processing from the market square in Lichfield to the west door of the Cathedral, which John Lang described as ‘a kind of trumpet call to the City to be aware of our plans for pleasures to come’. Further highlights of the opening year included performances by the Hallé
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
and Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra is a British orchestra based in London. It tours widely, and is sometimes referred to as "Britain's national orchestra"...
s; and the Cambridge Footlights Revue, featuring the then relatively unknown Stephen Fry
Stephen Fry
Stephen John Fry is an English actor, screenwriter, author, playwright, journalist, poet, comedian, television presenter and film director, and a director of Norwich City Football Club. He first came to attention in the 1981 Cambridge Footlights Revue presentation "The Cellar Tapes", which also...
, Hugh Laurie
Hugh Laurie
James Hugh Calum Laurie, OBE , better known as Hugh Laurie , is an English actor, voice artist, comedian, writer, musician, recording artist, and director...
, and Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson
Emma Thompson is a British actress, comedian and screenwriter. Her first major film role was in the 1989 romantic comedy The Tall Guy. In 1992, Thompson won multiple acting awards, including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award for Best Actress, for her performance in the British drama Howards End...
. The Endellion Quartet
Endellion Quartet
The Endellion String Quartet is a British string quartet named after St Endellion in Cornwall.The quartet was formed in 1979 and has been 'Quartet in Residence' at Cambridge University since 1992. It has an extensive discography and appears in concert halls around the world. In 1997 the quartet...
were artists in residence and returned many times in subsequent years. There were also international contributions from the Japanese Suzuki Tour Company, the French Rouen Officium Pastorum and the German Antiqua Cologne. As Lang said, all were ‘a foretaste of what was to become normal festival fayre’.
Highlights from the rest of the eighties included the visit of sitar legend Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar
Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...
together with tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
virtuoso Alla Rakha in 1984 — a year which also saw the Festival’s one and only foray into musical theatre, with the Lichfield Cathedral School’s production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical with lyrics by Tim Rice. The story is based on the "coat of many colors" story of Joseph from the Hebrew Bible's Book of Genesis. This was the first Lloyd Webber and Rice musical to be performed publicly...
– a visit from Oscar Peterson
Oscar Peterson
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his friends. He released over 200 recordings, won seven Grammy Awards, and received other numerous awards and honours over the course of his career...
in 1985, and skiffle Legend Lonnie Donegan
Lonnie Donegan
Anthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
came along with his dancing sunshine band in 1987. The Festival also experimented with a two-day show-jumping event in 1989, which managed a reprise in 1990 but hasn’t been heard of since. In 1985, conductor Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev
Valery Abisalovich Gergiev is a Russian conductor and opera company director. He is general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and artistic director of the White Nights Festival in St. Petersburg.- Early life :Gergiev,...
, pianist Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Kissin
Evgeny Igorevitch Kissin is a Russian classical pianist and former child prodigy. He has been a British citizen since 2002. He is especially known for his interpretations of the works of the Romantic repertoire, particularly Frédéric Chopin and Franz Liszt.-Biography:Kissin was born in Moscow to...
, and violinists Maxim Vengerov
Maxim Vengerov
Maxim Alexandrovich Vengerov is a violinist, violist, and conductor who was born in the Soviet Union.-Youth:Born on 20 August 1974 in Novosibirsk, Russia, to a family with musical tradition....
and Vadim Repin
Vadim Repin
Vadim Repin is a Belgian Russian violinist who currently lives in Austria....
all received their UK debuts at the Lichfield Festival.
1990–2001
Gordon Clark’s tenure as Artistic Director ended with his untimely death in August 1989. Clark was succeeded by Paul SpicerPaul Spicer (musician)
Paul Spicer is an English composer, conductor and organist. He has worked as a music teacher, at the Royal College of Music and the Birmingham Conservatoire, as a producer for BBC Radio 3, and as artistic director of the Lichfield Festival. He conducts the Birmingham Bach Choir, the Finzi Singers...
, the longest serving Artistic Director to date. Spicer sought to ‘cater for all tastes and provide something for everyone’. Different thematic strands were brought into the programme to encourage what Spicer called ‘cohesion and unity’. The first of these were the music of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
, Samuel Barber
Samuel Barber
Samuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
, and Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
in 1991. The bi-centenary of Mozart’s death in this year also saw the Festival’s first opera – a full production of the The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
. The Festival acquired a logo – a stylised cello headstock with ‘The Lichfield Festival’ encircling it – and a Fringe, with events taking place in sixteen venues around the city, in 1994.
Spicer also introduced the concept of having a composer-in-residence to Lichfield, the first of whom was William Mathias
William Mathias
William Mathias CBE was a Welsh composer.-Brief biography:Mathias was born in Whitland, Carmarthenshire. A child prodigy, he started playing the piano at the age of three and composing at the age of five. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music under Lennox Berkeley, where he was elected a fellow...
, who was succeeded by such luminaries as Robert Saxton
Robert Saxton
-Biography:After early advice and encouragement from Benjamin Britten, Robert Saxton took private composition lessons with Elisabeth Lutyens. He went on to study with Robin Holloway at Cambridge University, with Robert Sherlaw Johnson as a post-graduate at Oxford University, and later with Berio....
. Sir Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
was not a composer-in-residence, but did send in his best wishes in 1992.
Returning artists: András Schiff
András Schiff
András Schiff is a Hungarian-born British classical pianist, who has won a number of awards including the Grammy and made numerous recordings.- Biography :...
, Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Lyttelton
Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...
, Endellion Quartet
Endellion Quartet
The Endellion String Quartet is a British string quartet named after St Endellion in Cornwall.The quartet was formed in 1979 and has been 'Quartet in Residence' at Cambridge University since 1992. It has an extensive discography and appears in concert halls around the world. In 1997 the quartet...
, National Youth Jazz Orchestra
National Youth Jazz Orchestra
The National Youth Jazz Orchestra is a British jazz orchestra founded in 1963 by Bill Ashton.Based in Westminster, London, NYJO started life as the London Schools' Jazz Orchestra and evolved into becoming the national orchestra...
, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
, Ex Cathedra
Ex Cathedra
Ex Cathedra is a British choir and early music ensemble based in Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. It performs choral music spanning the 15th to 21st centuries, and regularly commissions new works....
, BBC Philharmonic
BBC Philharmonic
The BBC Philharmonic is a British broadcasting symphony orchestra based at Media City UK, Salford, England. It is one of five radio orchestras maintained by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The orchestra's primary concert venue is the Bridgewater Hall....
.
2002–2004
Paul Spicer was followed by Meurig BowenMeurig Bowen
Meurig Bowen is artistic director of the Cheltenham Music Festival.Bowen was educated at William Ellis School, London, and King's College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar...
. Bowen had come from a job in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and his first festival, in 2002, showed an increased antipodean influence which would point the way towards a general expansion of scope.
Some of the highlights included William Barton
William Barton (musician)
William Barton is an Australian Aboriginal didgeridoo player. He was born in Mount Isa, Queensland on 4 June 1981. and learned to play from his uncle, an elder of the Wannyi, Lardil and Kalkadunga tribes of Western Queensland...
, an aboriginal didgeridoo
Didgeridoo
The didgeridoo is a wind instrument developed by Indigenous Australians of northern Australia around 1,500 years ago and still in widespread usage today both in Australia and around the world. It is sometimes described as a natural wooden trumpet or "drone pipe"...
player, who performed a European premiere of Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
’s Requiem for mixed chorus, dideridoo and orchestra.
A new logo, typeface and corporate structure were introduced following Bowen’s arrival, signalling a gentle loosening of the link between the Festival and the Cathedral. The closure of Lichfield Civic Hall in 2001 led to the use of venues including Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield is a suburb of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Sutton is located about from central Birmingham but has borders with Erdington and Kingstanding. Sutton is in the northeast of Birmingham, with a population of 105,000 recorded in the 2001 census...
Town Hall during the festivals of 2002/2003, while film screenings were moved to the theatre at the Friary School in Lichfield. In 2003 the Lichfield Garrick theatre, which had arisen quite literally from the ashes of the Civic Hall, was opened on the same night as that year’s Festival, with a performance by the Jazz Jamaica All-Stars.
2005-2009
After a short three year stint at Lichfield, Bowen left to take up a position with Aldeburgh Productions, and was succeeded in Lichfield by Richard Hawley, previously orchestra manager with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO).Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
performed a rare solo piano recital in 2007, while virtuoso double bass player François Rabbath
François Rabbath
François Rabbath is a contemporary French double-bass player, soloist, and composer.He was born into a Syrian family of musicians but his only instruction came from a book written by a Parisian bassist Edouard Nanny...
made an extremely rare visit to England to perform at Lichfield in 2006, alongside rising British jazz star Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock is a British pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, and often blurring the boundaries of the two....
, who was an artist-in-residence in the same year. Simcock's 2006 residency also included the first ever non-London performance of the Gwilym Simcock Big Band and a major big band commission entitled The Lichfield Suite, which was subsequently programmed by the Cheltenham Jazz Festival
Cheltenham Jazz Festival
Cheltenham Jazz Festival is one of the UK’s leading jazz festivals, and is part of Cheltenham Festivals: also responsible for the Science, Music and Literature Festivals that run every year.]-Introduction and history:...
, broadcast on BBC Radio 3, and shortlisted for a 2007 British Composer Award.
The 2007 Lichfield Festival was on a shortlist of 3 for a prestigious Royal Philharmonic Society 'concert series and Festivals' award. Alongside Philip Glass's recital was a unique collaborative performance between Tunisian Oud player Dhafer Youssef
Dhafer Youssef
Dhafer Youssef is a composer, singer and oud player. He developed an interest in jazz at an early age and clandestinely listened to it during his education at a Qur'anic school. He later left Tunisia to start a jazz career and has lived in Europe since 1990, usually in Paris or Vienna. He also...
, Norwegian jazz Trumpeter Arve Henriksen
Arve Henriksen
Arve Henriksen is a Norwegian trumpet player, renowned for his distinctive, flute-like sound on the trumpet, inspired by the sound of the Japanese shakuhachi flute. He also sings; his unique wordless vocalising was central to Chiaroscuro, where he often sings in a soprano's range...
and Armenian Duduk player Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan
Djivan Gasparyan is an Armenian musician and composer. He plays the duduk, a double reed woodwind instrument related to the orchestral oboe. Gasparyan is known as the Master of the duduk.-Biography:...
.
Festival 2008 opened with Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop
Marin Alsop is an American conductor and violinist. She is the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.In 2012, Alsop will replace Yan Pascal Tortelier as principal conductor of the São Paulo State Symphony Orchestra....
's final performance as principal conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
The Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra is an English orchestra. Originally based in Bournemouth, the BSO moved its offices to the adjacent town of Poole in 1979....
. Mexican rockers Los de Abajo
Los de Abajo (band)
Los de Abajo are a band from Mexico City founded in 1992 as a Latin ska four-piece. Since then they have expanded to eight members and widened their musical influences to include rock, salsa, reggae, ska, cumbia, Son Jarocho and banda sinaloense...
performed at the Lichfield Garrick, along with jazz vocal group The Passion, The Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters
The Puppini Sisters are a vocal trio. Arion Berger described them as part of "Retro's futuristic vanguard" and described their sound as "swing-punk". The group has sought to be associated with a burlesque revival....
, the Bryan Corbett Quartet, Rainer Hersch
Rainer Hersch
Rainer Hersch is a British musician and stand-up comedian known for his comical take on classical music. He has toured in more than 25 countries and has broadcast extensively, principally for the BBC...
, Sir Roy Strong
Roy Strong
Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...
and The Hairy Bikers
The Hairy Bikers
David Myers and Simon "Si" King , collectively known as The Hairy Bikers, are British television presenters who have fronted the series The Hairy Bikers' Cookbook, The Hairy Bikers Ride Again, The Hairy Bakers, The Hairy Bikers' Food Tour of Britain and The Hairy Bikers Mums Know...
. 1928 Indian Silent film Shiraz was brought out of the British Film Institute
British Film Institute
The British Film Institute is a charitable organisation established by Royal Charter to:-Cinemas:The BFI runs the BFI Southbank and IMAX theatre, both located on the south bank of the River Thames in London...
Archives and a new score was commissioned and performed live by the Sabri Ensemble.http://blogs.birminghampost.net/lifestyle/2008/07/gallifrey-lichfield-india-the.html#more The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain performed to an audience of 900 at Lichfield Cathedral, and Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock
Gwilym Simcock is a British pianist and composer working in both jazz and classical music, and often blurring the boundaries of the two....
returned as part of Acoustic Triangle, who together with the Sacconi Quartet
Sacconi Quartet
The Sacconi Quartet is a UK based classical music string quartet founded in 2001 by four graduates of the Royal College of Music, London, UK. The Quartet has achieved widespread recognition, having given recitals in leading British concert halls and at music festivals in Britain and across Europe....
performed specially composed music in the round.
The 2009 Festival opened - unusually - in the Lichfield Garrick, with a performance by 'Chairman' Ray Gelato and his band the Giants. The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain returned with their 'Ukulelescope' project in conjunction with the BFI, where the group performed specially composed music in accompaniment to a series of films from the BFI archives. The extraordinary vocal sounds of the Great Voices of Bulgaria filled the Cathedral, as did Fyfe Hutchens - otherwise known as Fyfe Dangerfield - who performed the only late-night concert of that year, improvising on the Lady Chapel piano for exactly 60 minutes, uninterrupted.
The Festival Today
Richard Hawley left to take up a Clore Fellowship following 2009's Lichfield Literature. He was succeeded by Fiona Stuart, previously artistic director of the Chorlton Arts Festival in Manchester and the first female director in the Festival's near 30-year history. The 2010 Festival saw the introduction of several new programming stands. One of the most popular was a 'Young Artist' series held at lunchtimes in St Chad's church and featuring performers from all the Royal Colleges of Music.Other additions included a late-night Jazz series held at a new Festival venue, the George IV pub in the town centre. An eclectic mix of bands formed from Birmingham's cobweb collective played to sell-out houses on seven of the ten nights of the Festival.
Owing to works being carried out on the masonry and windows of Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral
Lichfield Cathedral is situated in Lichfield, Staffordshire, England. It is the only medieval English cathedral with three spires. The Diocese of Lichfield covers all of Staffordshire, much of Shropshire and part of the Black Country and West Midlands...
's Lady Chapel
Lady chapel
A Lady chapel, also called Mary chapel or Marian chapel, is a traditional English term for a chapel inside a cathedral, basilica, or large church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary...
, the Cathedral presbytery
Presbytery (architecture)
The presbytery is the name for an area in a church building which is reserved for the clergy.In the oldest church it is separated by short walls, by small columns and pilasters in the Renaissance ones; it can also be raised, being reachable by a few steps, usually with railings....
was called into use as a replacement performance space. Notable performances there came from Poet Laureate
Poet Laureate
A poet laureate is a poet officially appointed by a government and is often expected to compose poems for state occasions and other government events...
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
, and Welsh harpist Catrin Finch
Catrin Finch
Catrin Anna Finch is a Welsh harpist born in Llanon, Ceredigion, Wales. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is Visiting Professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music...
performing Bach
Bạch
Bạch is a Vietnamese surname. The name is transliterated as Bai in Chinese and Baek, in Korean.Bach is the anglicized variation of the surname Bạch.-Notable people with the surname Bạch:* Bạch Liêu...
's Goldberg Variations
Goldberg Variations
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, is a work for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach, consisting of an aria and a set of 30 variations. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form...
by candlelight. The venue also housed the return to prominence in the Festival of Lichfield Cathedral's musicians, in the form of the Cathedral Choir and the Cathedral Chamber Choir.
Highlights of the programme in the Nave included a performance of Vivaldi's four-seasons by former Young Musician of the Year Nicola Benedetti; The three-year old Festival Chorus performed an evening of a-cappella music with the award winning Voces8.
Lichfield Band Red Light Octopus are rumored to be playing this years Festival with their first gig since 2009.
Lichfield Literature
October 2006 saw the First Lichfield Literature Weekend, a spin-off from the summer Festival. 3 days of talks from authors including John CareyJohn Carey (critic)
John Carey is a British literary critic, and emeritus Merton Professor of English Literature at the University of Oxford. He was born in Barnes, London, and educated at Richmond and East Sheen Boys’ Grammar School, winning an Open Scholarship to St John's College, Oxford. He served in the East...
, David Crystal
David Crystal
David Crystal OBE FLSW FBA is a linguist, academic and author.-Background and career:Crystal was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland. He grew up in Holyhead, North Wales, and Liverpool, England where he attended St Mary's College from 1951....
and Robert Hutchinson took place in the city’s George Hotel. The Literature Weekend was soon established as an annual fixture in the city’s calendar. A minor re-branding exercise saw the event renamed simply Lichfield Literature in 2009. A change motivated in no small part by the expansion in scope which saw events held at multiple venues around the city and running for four days. The 2010 event encompassed a week for the first time and included talks from comedian Jo Brand
Jo Brand
Josephine Grace "Jo" Brand is a BAFTA winning British comedian, writer, and actor.- Early life :Jo Brand was born 23 July 1957 in Wandsworth, London. Her mother was a social worker. Brand is the middle of three children, with two brothers...
, Labour politicians Tony Benn
Tony Benn
Anthony Neil Wedgwood "Tony" Benn, PC is a British Labour Party politician and a former MP and Cabinet Minister.His successful campaign to renounce his hereditary peerage was instrumental in the creation of the Peerage Act 1963...
and Roy Hattersley
Roy Hattersley
Roy Sydney George Hattersley, Baron Hattersley is a British Labour politician, author and journalist from Sheffield. He served as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 to 1992.-Early life:...
, actor Ron Moody
Ron Moody
Ron Moody is an English actor.- Personal life :Moody was born in Tottenham, North London, England, the son of Kate and Bernard Moodnick, a studio executive. His father was of Russian Jewish descent and his mother was a Lithuanian Jew. He is a cousin of director Laurence Moody and actress Clare...
and the team behind the BBC's smash-hit adaptation of Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Gaskell
Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, née Stevenson , often referred to simply as Mrs Gaskell, was a British novelist and short story writer during the Victorian era...
's Cranford
Cranford (novel)
Cranford is one of the better-known novels of the 19th century English writer Elizabeth Gaskell. It was first published in 1851 as a serial in the magazine Household Words, which was edited by Charles Dickens.-Plot:...
Novels.
Out-of-Town Events
The first instance of a local church being used as a concert venue for the Lichfield Festival occurred in 1992, when St. John’s Hospital Chapel in Lichfield and St. Matthew’s Hospital Chapel in Burntwood were added to the roster.From 1997–2007 the events in Lichfield were augmented by concerts in churches around Staffordshire, with the aim to provide exposure to the arts for as wide an audience as possible under the Lichfield Festival banner. It was then and remains policy to avoid, as much as possible, repetition of venues, and performances have taken place in Yoxall, Alrewas, Hawksyard, Hoar Cross, amongst many others.
From 2008 the country church series was relabelled as FEAST (Festival Events Around Staffordshire), with the scope for venues, beyond churches and beyond the traditional understanding of what a venue can be, to be brought into the Festival fold.
Other events take place annually at Swinfen Hall Hotel, and within the city St Michael's church and St Chad's church are now regular venues. These events have tended to have a healthy bias towards chamber music and smaller recitals.
Festival Market
In 1995 the Festival organised the first Medieval Market, taking place in the Cathedral Close. Conceived originally as a one-off which coincided with the wider celebrations of the Cathedral's 800th anniversary, it proved so successful - attracting up to 30,000 visitors - that it became an annual fixture. In 2009 the Market took on a Georgian theme, in recognition of the tercentenary of the birth of Lichfield-born Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
. 2010 saw the launch of the first, theme-free 'Festival Market', a showcase and celebration of arts and crafts across the region.