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10
Oct 2024
Harrogate to host new music festival for British composer
Harrogate is to host a new music festival that celebrates the work of a leading 20th century British composer.
Gerald Finzi was born in London in 1901 and lived on Duchy Road in Harrogate during his adolescence and early adulthood, from 1915-1922.
While in Harrogate, he studied composition with Ernest Farrar and his first published work, the song cycle By Footpath and Stile, was published towards the end of his time in the town.
Finzi went on to compose a wide range of music, including concertos, song cycles and choral work, and was friends with leading composers of the time such as Ralph Vaughan Williams.
A clarinet concerto, which is perhaps his best-known work, was published in 1949 and London's Royal Festival Hall hosted an all-Finzi concert in 1954, two years before he died.
The Harrogate Finzi Festival, which will be held at the Wesley Centre on November 30 and December 1, will include music written by Finzi during his youth in the town.
Artistic director William Rolt has organised two concerts celebrating Finzi’s life and work.
The first will feature Finzi’s song cycles Oh Fair To See and Till Earth Outwears alongside works by Elgar and Haydn, performed by soprano Grace Oliver and pianist Isaac Onyirioha.
The second will include Finzi’s Five Bagatelles for clarinet and piano, as well as his Introit and Elegy for violin and piano, alongside music by Beethoven and Chopin, played by clarinettist Victoria Churcher, violinist William Rolt and pianist Alex Cho.
Mr Rolt, a Finzi enthusiast from Barnard Castle who now works as a freelance violinist in London, said he hoped to make the festival an annual event if this one proves successful.
He said:
It seems that most Finzi concerts are concentrated around where he lived later in life such as Ashmansworth in Hampshire and it seemed a shame to me that Harrogate didn't have quite as much of that. Especially as if Finzi hadn't met Ernest Farrar in Harrogate, he might not have gone on to pursue a career as a composer at all.
Finzi is such a great composer, and his youth in Harrogate had a major impact on the rest of his life. His experiences during this time shaped his view of the world, and some of his major interests -- which became well-known later in his life -- began in Harrogate. All in all, I think Harrogate as a town should be immensely proud of its effect on one of the greatest composers of the 20th century.
Festival tickets are available here.
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