Halesworth is a market town in North Suffolk, 8 miles inland from Southwold on the coast. For the last 12 years, the Cut Arts Centre has been home to the highly acclaimed Halesworth Arts Festival. The Cut, as it is known, is a fine old converted maltings building with a purpose built auditorium that had raked seating for 240, and superb acoustics.

This small Festival consistently punches above its weight and nowadays attracts audiences from all over the country. Artists appearing over the years have included musicians John Williams, Emma Johnson, Benjamin Grosvenor, Dame Evelyn Glennie and Julian Lloyd Webber; jazz legends such as Glenn Miller Orchestra, Georgie Fame, Paul Jones and Julian Joseph; folk artists like Kathryn Tickell and Show of Hands; comedy performers such as Marcus Brigstoke, Shappi Khorsandi, Arthur Smith, Jeremy Hardy and Barry Cryer.

A highly original collection of events make this year’s Festival unmissable. Among the highlights, Louis de Bernières and the Brook Street Band will be celebrating the life of Handel. The pianist John Lill returns with a programme of Mozart, Schumann, Prokofiev, Brahms & Beethoven. The poet Alice Oswald will give a rare performance from memory of her poem based on Homer’s The Iliad and Radio 4’s The Horne Section will bring their indomitable fanfare to Halesworth. Dance makes a welcome return, there’s a silent movie with live piano accompaniment, and the Cotton Club Revue is back for a grand Festival finalé.

Every effort has been made to keep ticket prices as low as possible. Tickets can be bought in advance online www.halesworthartsfestival.org.uk , by phone on 01986 874264, in person from the Festival box office or on the door. There is a 15% discount for patrons buying tickets for 3 or more events.

The full line this year is as follows:

 

Sat 12th Oct 7:30 PM

Look, Stranger

A highly original start this year, celebrating Britten 100. Britten’s vibrant harmonic soundscapes and WH Auden’s passionate and political lyrics are refracted through diverse influences from samba and swing to blues, folk and funk. The actor SIMON RUSSELL BEALE reads Auden’s poetry and RUTHIE CULVER & UTTER JAZZ provide the music.

Tickets:  £17.50

 

Sun 13th Oct 7:30 PM

The Six Wives of Henry V111

From their success at the Edinburgh Festival, an introduction to ‘speed dating’. A very funny pair of guys, known as ‘Living Spit’ bring Henry VIII’s matrimonial arrangements to life (or should that be death?). Howard Coggins looks just like Henry. Stu McLoughlin doesn’t look like any of the wives – but he’s going to give it a go.

Tickets: £13.50

 

Mon 14th Oct 7:30 PM

Katona Twins

The celebrated Hungarian guitar duo, Peter & Zoltán Katona are identical twins. They have performed at prestigious venues and at major music festivals around the world and are known as the classical world’s best-known guitar duo.

Tickets: £14.50

 

Tue 15th Oct 7:30 PM

7.0 2Faced Dance

“Eloquent, moving and just downright cool. 2Faced Dance is one of the UK’s finest male dance companies” (THE STAGE). 7.0 is the magnitude of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and its effects on the populace.

Tickets: £15.50

 

Wed 16th Oct 7:30 PM

The Horne Section

Hot on the rhythmic heels of their very own Radio 4 series and three years of sell-out shows in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the West End and across the world, the Horne Section bring their indomitable fanfare to Halesworth.

Tickets: £17.50

 

Thu 17th Oct 7:30 PM

London Concertante

London Concertante, the UK’s premiere chamber ensemble, performs a delightful programme focused around Beethoven’s masterpiece – his septet for clarinet, horn, bassoon and strings. Also works by Berwald and Strauss

Tickets: £15.50

 

Fri 18th Oct 7:30 PM

Dervish

County Sligo’s finest export, Dervish is one of the greatest bands ever to have come out of Ireland.

Tickets: £16.50

 

Sat 19th Oct 7:30 PM at St Mary’s Church

Music for a Coronation

Halesworth Festival Voices and Orchestra celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s Coronation with Mozart’s Mass in C ‘Coronation’ and other works, conducted by Philip Simms.

Tickets: £13.50

 

Sun 20th Oct 7:30 PM

Claire Martin

Claire Martin brings her wealth of experience as a jazz vocalist into a brand new arena with the Montpellier Cello Quartet.

Tickets:  £17.50

 

Mon 21st Oct 7:30 PM

Alice Oswald: Memorial

Currently shortlisted for the £25000 Warwick Prize, Alice Oswald is a born poet, embracing and extending the canon of English poetry. With Memorial, she has created a glitteringly original new version of The Iliad. This is a rare opportunity to see Alice perform her entire work off by heart. This performance is presented in association with The Poetry Trust.

Tickets: £10.50

 

Tue 22nd Oct 7:30 PM

Artesian Quartet

An exciting new Arts Festival discovery, the dynamic young Artesian Quartet play Haydn, Prokofiev and Schubert

Tickets: £13.50

 

Wed 23rd Oct 7:30 PM

Silent Movie: The Patsy

A gloriously fun and frothy King Vidor movie from 1926. Presented with live piano music by Stephen Horne.

Tickets: £8.50

 

Thu 24th Oct 7:30 PM

John Lill, piano

Festival favourite, John Lill returns to our stage to play works by Mozart, Schumann, Prokofiev, Brahms and Beethoven

Tickets: £18.50

 

Fri 25th Oct 7:30 PM

A Musical Safari with Sarah Class

‘And now appearing with Sarah we have Bill Oddie, who has asked to come along. He has some questions he’d like to put to her about how she works.’

Sarah is a young English composer, singer and songwriter who is now one of Britain’s most sought-after young film composers, known for her soundtracks on many BBC wildlife and natural history programmes, such as ‘Africa’, ‘Madagascar’, the sequel to ‘The Blue Planet’ and The Meerkats. This show is presented in association with, and for the benefit of, the World Land Trust.

Tickets: £12.50

 

Sat 26th Oct 7:30 PM

Mr Handel

Louis de Bernières and The Brook Street Band celebrate the life of George Frideric Handel – a magical tale of music, passion, rivalry, friendship, struggle and, above all, success.

Tickets: £17.50

 

Sun 27th Oct 11:30 AM

Britten’s Got Talent

A rehearsed reading for a Sunday morning of a new play by Robin Brooks about Suffolk’s greatest composer.

Tickets: £6.50

 

Sun 27th Oct 7:30 PM

Swinging at The Cotton Club

The 1920’s. Harlem’s hottest night club. An unmissable Festival finalé with the Harry Strutters Hot Rhythm Orchestra, featuring the Jiving Lindy Hoppers

Tickets: £19.50

 

And don’t miss …

FESTIVAL ART EXHIBITIONS:

 

MAIN EXHIBITION at The Cut Galleries

Works by Sargy Mann, Olwen Jones, Diana McKenna, Bob Broadley, Heather Hodgson, Zoë Rubens, Glynn Thomas, Lara Cobden and Gill Levin.

 

CHILDREN’S ART 3 X 4

Works from 8 local schools which, this year, will also be on display at The Cut Galleries.

 

WORLD LAND TRUST gallery, Bridge Street, Halesworth

Once again the gallery will be exhibiting a range of works relevant to the work of the WLT.

Halesworth Arts Festival
4 Thoroughfare
HALESWORTH
Suffolk IP19 8AH
01986 872000

www.halesworthartsfestival.org.uk
REGISTERED CHARITY No 1108357

 

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