Nicola Lisle looks forward to this weekend’s performances in Burford

Burford Festival is all about variety, so it’s no surprise to find that its musical offerings this weekend include a youth guitar ensemble, a cabaret-style evening of songs from West End shows and a choral concert that brings together the Cotswold Youth Choir and the Burford Singers.

In true Burford Festival style, they will be interwoven with an eclectic mix of other events, including a children’s party, whisky tasting, a Burford Antiques Roadshow-style event, creative writing and poetry workshops, a historic tour of Burford, celebrity talks – including former government ministers Jack Straw and Douglas Hurd – and pub gigs with local rock and acoustic bands.

It’s a far cry from the modest festival that started in 2001 and was limited to a single weekend. Now there are 50 events spread over 10 days.

“The first one was in 2001 and it’s been every two years since, so this is the eighth,” says chairman Hugo Ashton.

“It was initially set up to provide a medium for the Cotswold Youth Choir – or the Children’s Choir as it was then – and the Burford Singers.

“Now we’re a registered charity and the aim is to bring cultural and educational events to Burford and its visitors and surrounding villages. So any surplus we make goes to local charities, mainly supporting things like Burford Library, the Youth Choir, various things related to the schools’ activities and so on.

“The festival is a mixture of classical music, contemporary music and literary events, and we’re blessed by having a lot of local residents, or people who live nearby, who have interesting backgrounds or jobs, so we have some very interesting talks on a variety of things as well.”

Tonight’s musical event is the Corinium Players Guitar Ensemble, a Cotswold-based group of young guitarists who have been described as an “ensemble of excellence” by Christopher Stell of the Eden-Stell Duo.

Their programme will be a mixture of Spanish, Latin, popular and classical music, including favourite numbers such as Handel’s Arrival of the Queen of Sheba, The Entertainer and In the Mood.

Tomorrow night is Standing Ovation, a celebration of songs from hit stage musicals with a quartet of West End stars, led by ‘local boy’ Russell Hawkins, whose father runs the Burford House Hotel.

Appropriately – as they were the festival’s original raison d’etre – the Burford Singers and the Cotswold Youth Choir will provide this year’s grand finale, with the youth choir singing Bob Chilcott’s Little Jazz Mass under the direction of Adam Treadaway, and the Burford Singers completing the programme with Karl Jenkins’ Gloria and John Rutter’s Feel the Spirit, conducted by Brian Kay.

“The idea is to have a nice summer festival of modern music,” explains Hugo.

“Brian has done the same programme at another festival, and he said it was a very nice combination. Finishing with the Rutter will be very uplifting.

“They’re an amazing choir, and it’s wonderful to have that sort of music just down the road.

“So we thought it would be very nice ending the festival with a big event like that.”

Where & When
Burford Festival
Various venues around Burford until Sunday.
Contact burfordfestival.org