Frome Festival - Commission from Helen Ottaway

Frome Festival is a fantastic ten day event in July when the community can enjoy a huge variety of artistic presentations, many focusing on and promoting new work by local artists. Recent music commissions include two large-scale music theatre works and several other contemporary classical works have received their premieres at the festival.

The PRS Foundation for New Music has enabled Frome Festival to commission a new Sonata for Harpsichord from local composer Helen Ottaway for 2006. Much of Helen's music has been written in response to a particular place or landscape, or a specific player and their instrument. This work is for Frome instrument maker Christopher Barlow's double manual harpsichord (a replica of an eighteenth century English harpsichord by Joseph Kirckman). Christopher believes that harpsichords should be used as contemporary instruments. Helen Ottaway and harpsichordist Helen Coombs agree emphatically that the harpsichord has a place in contemporary music and Frome Festival is delighted to further this concept.

Helen Coombs, a freelance harpsichord specialist, will perform the new work as part of a concert of music featuring instruments by locally based craftsmen. The venue, Rook Lane Chapel, is a beautiful Grade 1 listed building, with an ideal chamber music acoustic, recently renovated by a Frome firm of architects using local labour, craftsmen and materials.

See www.fromefestival.co.uk for more details.

Music type: Classical
Funding Scheme: New Works
Region: South West

Contact:

Martin Bax
Festival Director 25 Market Square Frome Somerset
BA11 1AH
01373 453889
office@fromefestival.co.uk