PRESS RELEASE
Dante Summer Festival   27- 31 May 2010

  How often can you hear a famous string quartet playing Mozart and Sibelius in your local church, schoolchildren performing alongside top professionals, and Scotland ’s best female folk singer in a candlelit cabaret? Only at the Dante Summer Festival, running from 27-31 May in the Tamar Valley , in venues from Callington and Lewannick to Tavistock.

This recently established festival attracts big local audiences and visitors from far away. But the members of the Dante Quartet are as keen as ever to entice new converts to listen to musical masterpieces by Shostakovich, Schumann and Beethoven, informally presented and thrillingly played.

“A lot of people feel that classical chamber music is a bit abstract and hard to get into,” - says lead violinist Krysia Osostowicz -  “nice for musical experts and maybe for people who want to look cultured. But we want to cut through all that and show how incredibly exciting and alive this music really is. Our theme this year is “Intimate Voices”, and we’ll be playing all sorts of music with a special message or personal meaning – written maybe as a musical love letter, a lament for war victims, a secret joke or a final statement summing up the composer’s life.”

“We also have Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis - known as The Cast - joining us from Edinburgh for a concert, cabaret and Ceilidh. Their traditional Scots singing and fiddling captivated our festival audience a few years ago. They have now become surprise celebrities, since their mesmerising version of “Auld Lang Syne” was used for the film soundtrack of “Sex and the City”, attracting a whole new following for their music. They sing all over the world, and we are thrilled to have them back at our festival.”

Far from being imported from the city, the Dante Festival has a very strong community base. The players visit in advance and work with local schoolchildren who then take part in a concert with the quartet. At open rehearsals, listeners can see how musicians work together and ask questions. Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis will teach traditional Ceilidh tunes to children and amateurs, inviting them to play alongside their dance band; and Nigel Edwards’ popular “Paint the Music” workshop will get both children and adults creating a huge artwork inspired by live music.

The festival has also built up a tradition of contributing to local charities such as Children’s Hospice South West, Precious Lives Appeal and Cornwall Air Ambulance.

Details can be found on www.dantefestival.org, or by contacting

Festival Administrator: David Seward, 07583050581, dandm@seward.eclipse.co.uk

Artistic Director: Krysia Osostowicz , 07976 755082, krysiao@btinternet.com