Little Missenden Festival: 4 - 13th October, 2024

The Festival is Underway...

We have just enjoyed a wonderful first weekend at the 2024 Festival! From a dramatically and musically stunning programme of baroque arias sung by the incomparable mezzo Helen Charlston, with a suitably effervescent and stylish instrumental ensemble, through a fascinating walk through the history of the National Gallery from Dr Susanna Avery-Quash and an exhilarating evening of jazz from Nikki Yeoh and friends through to an exquisite, magical afternoon of French chamber music from the Fidelio Trio (below, courtesy of Robert Piwko), there hasn't been a dull moment.

And there is more to come... We're now looking forward to virtuoso piano music with the exciting young pianist Aidan Mikdad, modern chamber music including Messiaen's profound and deeply moving Quartet for the End of Time from the Octandre Ensemble, folk with the incomparable Cara Dillon, an evening of Blues - a first for the festival - from Kirris Riviere and his band, an evening of unaccompanied choral music for Remembrance including the Victoria Requiem from Ensemble Pro Victoria and a programme of contrasting string quartets from the Barbican Quartet. There is also a discussion with novelist, composer and performer Kerry Andrew which promises to be fascinating.

All events except the discussion will be held in the intimate and evocative surroundings of the 10th-century church of St John the Baptist in Little Missenden. Seats are still available for all events except Cara Dillon which is returns only. Please explore our 2024 Programme Pages to find out more and to book tickets. You can also see and download a copy of our brochure here. Online and telephone booking for the festival remain open. More details on our Tickets page.

Please do keep in touch through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or email us if you have any questions.

We do hope to see you at one or more events!

And after the main festival, you can still enjoy our programme of Christmas Music for Brass or one of the great events from our friends at Echor Music, Chiltern Arts and Amersham Concert Club.

 

Please Note: Change of Artists and Programme

The Ruisi Quartet are unfortunately unable to appear at the festival this year. They have asked us to publish the following:

Due to unforeseen personal circumstances the Ruisi Quartet will no longer be able to perform at the Little Missenden Festival on Sunday October 13th. Our heartfelt apologies go out to everyone who was looking forward to this performance - we are deeply disappointed to be missing it. We wish the festival all the best and very much appreciate their understanding at this time. 

We wish the quartet well for the future.

We are delighted to announce that we are able to present a very similar programme by the Barbican Quartet, a really exciting young ensemble on the international scene. You can find full details of the new artists and programme here. We will be contacting everyone who has booked for the original event with the option of a refund, but we do hope, given the similarity of the programme, and the excellence of the Barbican Quartet, that ticketholders will be happy to attend the revised event.

 

More about the Festival

The village of Little Missenden has hosted a Festival of Music and the Arts every October since 1960, with 2020 the one exception. This year will be our 64th.

We have from the beginning been rooted in the local community. Most of our audience comes from nearby, with villagers themselves welcoming the opportunity to offer hospitality to our performers by way of food and accommodation. Our enthusiastic Friends of the Festival provide us with very necessary financial support and, just as important, also help spread the word around the neighbourhood. For the first two weeks of October every year Little Missenden is the Festival.

At the heart not only of the village but also of our music-making is the 10th-century church of St John the Baptist. The building itself contains medieval wall-paintings of national significance, which help produce a genuinely magical atmosphere in a timeless setting. And, of even more importance, this small and intimate space creates a perfect acoustic. Every note can be heard clearly, and the result is spellbound audiences and delighted performers.

“…it felt this time as though one was “coming home” in the best way, to friends and listeners that I’ve known for a long time.” Mahan Esfahani, harpsichordist

“Always a pleasure to perform at the Festival - it’s a very special acoustic and atmosphere in the church (helped by your lovely audience!)” Rory McCleery, Marian Consort

Find out more about our story here.

 

Look back at the 2023 Festival

The festival opened on Fri 6th Oct with a triumphant recital by Angela Hewitt. Her programme of Mozart and Schumann, played to an enthralled capacity audience, combined delicacy and passion in equal measure. Saturday saw a two-fold celebration of the music of David Matthews culminating in a hugely enjoyable performance of his vibrant and engaging piano quintet by the Carducci Quartet and Clare Hammond. And huge thanks are due to pianists Lucy Colquhoun and Matthew Fletcher who stepped in at short notice to make Sunday afternoon's concert not just possible but amazing. They accompanied dramatic and moving performances by Christine Rice and Robert Murray in works by Benjamin Britten, Leos Janacek and Rebecca Clarke.

Over the following days we enjoyed an exhilarating recital by Mahan Esfahani, one of the world's great harpsichordists, an entrancing programme of new works given by the Phaedra Ensemble, which included the UK premiere of a work by Gavin Bryars, and a hugely enjoyable gig with Tarren Duo stepping in at very short notice to play and sing old and new music in the English folk tradition. Variety is very definitely the spice of life!

Our main programme of events for 2023 concluded with a weekend demonstrating the variety and artistic excellence which we always aim to achieve at the Little Missenden Festival. Old and new choral music featured in an evening of glorious singing by the Corvus Consort, with appearances by three of the featured composers (see main picture). There was a fascinating insight into the painter Frans Hals with Albert Godetzky, a great evening of intimate jazz with Ant Law and Alex Hitchcock and, finally, an immensely moving concert of Romantic masterpieces by Schubert and Schoenberg given by the Rossetti Ensemble.

The 2023 Little Missenden Festival concluded on Friday 1 Dec with an intimate, beautifully-sung concert of Christmas choral music by Jacobean composers performed by the Marian Consort. There were also a couple of opportunities for the audience to lend their voices to the Christmas spirit...

The 2023 programme details remain available on these pages and as usual our wonderful photographer, Robert Piwko, captured most of the events. You can see some of his favourites from this year on this Facebook page. And we received some very positive comments from many of the artists taking part, a selection of which can be found here.