Ryedale District Council supports the Ryedale Festival.

July 17th to Sunday August 2nd

Dear Friends, Patrons and supporters of the Festival, I hope very much that you enjoyed this year's programme. As you already know, we had record attendance figures this year, which shows just how valuable you all think live music to be. It also shows what a trusting audience you are; in a recession year, it is very tempting to 'dumb down' the programme in a very safe way, but we consciously planned to give you music that you would not be able to hear elsewhere.  By presenting Kodály's wonderful Háry János as our Festival Opera production, we did something that no other Festival in the world was doing, and you seemed to enjoy it! All programming is risky;  it is impossible to predict accurately what an audience, made up of hundreds of individuals with wildly differing tastes, is going to enjoy; but I feel that this year we really enabled everyone to discover and fall in love with so much music that they would never have come across were it not for this Festival.  Thank you for coming to hear it all!

On the front cover of our brochure and programme book, there was a beautifully striking photograph of the Eszterháza palace in Hungary. It struck people in many different ways; one reason for choosing it was that the establishment in which Haydn worked was not that unlike some of the stately homes we know and love in Ryedale.  So by putting on concerts in Castle Howard and similar buildings, rather than 2,000-seat concert halls, we are more likely to be presenting music of the 18th and early 19th centuries in an environment similar to that for which it was written.  Having said that, i) we do so in a very modern way, and it is vital that we don't present just music of any one era and ii) we would love a big concert hall as well!  I think that one of the most obvious successes of recent years is the Castle Howard triple concert format, and it demonstrates so well that we are not afraid of high art and that we are happy to experiment with the way in which it is presented.

I hope you will agree that the calibre of the artists in the Festival continues to be outstanding. Leading the way this year was the Northern Sinfonia, joined by Da Chiesa for magnificent Kodály and Haydn in Ampleforth, and then demonstrating their virtuosity in programmes for strings and winds;  we are very lucky to have an ensemble of this nature in the region and I hope very much that this relationship can continue for many years to come.

Our series of coffee concerts continues to be very well supported.  Alongside Christina Lawrie, Clare McCaldin (also a star of Háry János) and our own local clarinet virtuoso Alan Hacker, it was great to have a full house for a cimbalom recital by Chris Bradley - not something many festivals would risk - and see Harriet Mackenzie and Miloš  Milivojevič playing to a new audience in the Galtres Centre, Easingwold.  We also took music to Ebberston and Scampston Halls and to the newly-restored York House, giving our audience a chance to discover venues they may never have visited before.  That, of course, is the idea behind the Crawl; I know that this year's was more of a 'Swim', but Annie Gill's Dido and her duet with Bibi (from Monteverdi's Poppea) seemed to ensure that we all forgot the rain for a while.

Handel once said after a performance of Messiah "I should be sorry if I only entertained them;  I wished to make them better".  So it is only right that we should be educated a little during the Festival, and my thanks go as ever to Lucy Beckett, John Warrack, and this year Denis McCaldin for our improvement.  Thanks too to Annetta Hoffnung and Wyn Davies for being brilliantly funny and acting as a perfect counterbalance to all this education.

Song, drums, movement and film projection all came together to make 'Rhythm and Ritual' one of the undisputed highlights of the Festival.  This was a project that was close to my heart;  we introduced hundreds of people to the magical, uplifting music of Africa that day, and those of you who were there will probably never forget the sight and sound of Noah's church coming onto the screen, swiftly followed by Dorking Choral Society and the children and drummers.  That is what music is really all about - communication.  If you did go to that concert, please tell someone who didn't what they missed!  The retiring collection made a thousand pounds - thank you so much for your generosity.  I will let you know more about the projects it is supporting in a future newsletter.

Young people were again very much at the heart of this Festival, as we celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Community Opera.  The haunting new version of the Everyman story used rap  in place of the recitative or dialogue that usually narrates opera;  people of all ages and abilities came together to create an outstanding production.  The City of Leeds Youth Orchestra, Future Talent Champions, Yorkshire Young Musicians, Kirkbymoorside Junior Band enabled nearly 150 young musicians to perform in front of a new audience, and in every case they gave their all.  I find it so exciting to watch young musicians of such high standards - and they will be back in a few years as the next raft of professional artists!

Philemon und Baucis was brought to life through the skill and magic of Martin Vander Weyer's narration;  Haydn would have been thrilled to witness that performance, I have no doubt!  At the centre of our activities there remains a solid base of chamber music, which this year included performances by the Barbirolli and Amsterdam String Quartets and return visits from the Gould Piano Trio, Martin Roscoe, Yorkshire Baroque Soloists, Jeni Bern, Midori Sugiyama and Ian Little.  That the audience gets to know musicians such as these over the years is very important to me, and indeed many of our musicians take part in more than one event, often combining with other artists in programmes put together specifically for the Festival.  For example, the members of the Illuminati Wind Quartet and players from the Festival Opera and Philemon returned to play with the King's Camerata for the Final Gala.  This gives a real spirit of 'festival' - people coming together to celebrate music in a collaborative, exciting way.  The two surprises of the Final Gala were great fun - I was really thrilled that the Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band agreed to join the Camerata for that ear-splitting opening - that Handel was originally intended to be performed with dozens of oboes and trumpets outdoors, and I don't think Hovingham could have taken any more than we used!  Inviting the orchestra to take over where the ghost of violinist Joseph Joachim was a very moving moment - proving that the great tradition of music-making in Hovingham and Ryedale continues to flourish a hundred years after Joachim played there.

And so it will continue to flourish for many years to come.  This is a remarkable festival - a combination of dedicated artists, quirky programming, glorious venues, and above all friendship. I have been so privileged to be part of it for the past four years;  and it is therefore with mixed feelings that I have to announce my resignation from the post of Artistic Director.  I do so only because I feel I ought to concentrate on conducting work elsewhere;  I was offered some wonderful opportunities earlier this year which clashed with the Festival and I would be foolish to have to continue to turn such concerts down.

That may sound terribly selfish; but I believe firmly that to be Director of this Festival demands a huge amount of dedication and I would not want to do it in a half-hearted way.  I think we have done some very exciting things together in the past four years, and I will miss you all greatly.  I hope very much that you might allow me to come back occasionally to conduct the odd thing;  in the meantime, the hunt begins for my successor and I have no doubt that the Festival will go from strength to strength!  The Board has kindly suggested that we celebrate in style in November, and I hope very much to be able to have an opportunity to thank you all then, so please do join us on that occasion.  It would have been a shame to dampen the spirits of the Final Gala - although we did play the Farewell Symphony...

Thank you all for your kindness and support during my time in Ryedale.  It will remain part of me for the rest of my life and I look forward to becoming a Friend!

With all my best wishes,