Sir Edward Elgar

Benjamin Britten

Henry Purcell

The Dante Quartet welcomes you to its fifth Summer Music Festival in the Tamar Valley . This year we celebrate English music, featuring favourite works by Elgar, Britten, Vaughan Williams and many others. Folk music is never far away from English classical music, as we will hear in a traditional Barn Dance featuring the old songs and dances of Devon and Cornwall .

The Dante Festival Orchestra, made up of local schoolchildren led by our quartet, was such a success last year that we now expand our forces to perform Vaughan Williams’ Concerto Grosso, and invite children to compose music inspired by Purcell’s wonderful Chacony of 1680. Benjamin Britten also took inspiration from Purcell in his very last work, the string quartet of 1976, and we look forward to playing this haunting masterpiece in our opening concert.

For those who enjoy music but feel daunted by string quartets, or simply want to discover more about them, we have a special evening devoted to one of the greatest string quartets of all time, Beethoven’s late quartet opus 130. Before climbing this musical Everest, we will give a guided tour of the piece and also demonstrate how we work at interpreting it (beware – we do argue and it does get personal). Then we will take questions from the audience before embarking on a full concert performance. Join us if you dare: you won’t regret it.

Children are welcome at all the concerts and particularly at special events involving painting, musical storytelling, a farm walk and even a musical treasure hunt. As good food and good music go hand in hand, the festival includes delicious meals or cream teas for musicians and audience. Our support from the local community grows, and as well as contributing to various local charities, we are developing links with other like-minded organisations such as Wren Music and Organic South West.

Living composers feature strongly this year. Come and hear a powerful quartet by Ian Venables (and meet him at dinner before the concert) in Stoke Climsland’s beautiful old church, and enjoy “Heaven to Earth”, written by our friend Roxanna Panufnik for quartet and male voices, in Tavistock alongside Elgar’s Piano Quintet for a glorious finish to the festival.

The concerts all take place in an area of rolling hills, woods and rivers studded with ancient churches, farmsteads and rural chapels not further than 40 miles west of Exeter . Wherever you may live, take this chance to come and join us for a feast of music in a hidden and enchanting corner of England .

The Box Office is open for enquiries and advance reservations at:
Tel: 01579 370589 or boxoffice@dantefestival.org or Fax: 0707 520 9984