What does opera composer Richard Wagner have in common with clarinettist Acker Bilk? The answer is that both appear in the billings for this year’s Newbury Spring Festival. So what, I ask festival director Mark Eynon, does he think Wagner would have made of Acker Bilk, and his music?

“Now there’s an interesting one!” Mark laughs. “He would probably have admired the fact that Acker Bilk was a survivor. He might have also admired him for being popular — Wagner certainly wasn’t interested in doing a tiny little thing in a corner that nobody noticed. But as for his music, Wagner never particularly liked the clarinet, and he never discovered jazz: he might have considered jazz adventurous, but it wouldn’t have quite been his cup of tea.”

Newbury is marking this year’s bicentenaries of both Wagner and Verdi, neither of whom exactly stinted themselves on resources. How much of a headache is that for a budget-conscious 21st century festival director?

“We can’t put on the Ring cycle, but I have been as imaginative as I can,” Mark replies. “We’re putting on the film of the Boulez/Chereau Rheingold — it’s been quite an undertaking to get hold of it, although the least expensive thing to do is to show a film. But we are pushing the boat out with David Parry conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra, and they will be covering both composers.”

Mark Eynon has run the Newbury festival since 1999, but his enthusiasm for the job remains hypnotic. He has always been particularly keen on discovering new talent, and demurs only slightly when I suggest that he was one of the first to promote pianist Benjamin Grosvenor, who went on to play at the First Night of the BBC Proms at the age of only 19, and who returns to Newbury this year.

“I can’t claim to be the earliest discoverer,” Mark says with fresh peals of laughter, “But I was certainly there before the Proms booked him, and before he got a CD deal with Decca. It all happened when I heard him by chance on the radio.”

This year Mark Eynon is featuring, among others, 22-year-old clarinettist Mark Simpson, who in 2006 became the first ever winner of both the BBC Young Musician of the Year and the BBC Proms/Guardian Young Composer of the Year competitions. Newbury has commissioned a new setting of Salvator mundi from him, and the world premiere will take place on the last night of the festival, in a concert given by Oxford’s Christ Church Cathedral Choir.

“I never thought I’d set a religious text, not being remotely religious myself,” Mark Simpson tells me. “However, having read the text a few times, I was struck by the intense emotional quality it has just in its three lines. And that’s what turns me on musically: I try to invoke deep emotion in the audience, I want them to feel an intense reaction to my music, whether it’s extroverted or introverted in character. I wanted the piece to be as direct and as clear as possible, so I’ve tried not to be too clever with the musical material, and simply let it speak. “I presume the commission came about because I’ve a strong connection with Oxford, having been an undergraduate at the University. I ran the University Sinfonietta, which I absolutely loved, performed with the University Orchestra, and played in all kinds of bands for shows (and was even in a musical as a member of the chorus for my sins!). “Oxford is my home from home and I wish I could return!”

 

Newbury Spring Festival
May 11-25
Various venues – visit newburyspringfestival.org.uk
Call 0845 521 8218