Nicola Lisle discovers some musical treats coming up at Waddesdon Manor

For a concert venue with a difference, Waddesdon Manor’s new Archive and Reading Room, with its idyllic setting at the top of Windmill Hill and its views across the Vale of Aylesbury, certainly takes some beating.

Built on the site of a former dairy farm, this is one of Waddesdon’s unexpected delights – a modern, elegant and spacious building designed to house the Manor, Estate and Rothschild family archives, complemented by some stunning indoor and outdoor art and sculpture.

And now, three or four times a year, the Reading Room is being transformed into an intimate concert space that seats 120 and has acoustics to rival any purpose-built concert hall.

“It’s a really nice thing for us to do at Waddesdon,” says Simon Wales, the general manager. “We do like to present different art forms in our programme.

“Obviously we’re known for art and exhibitions and collecting, but we’re not known so much for presenting music and this is working very well.

“We’ve just had Steven Devine here doing the wonderful Goldberg Variations, which was absolutely perfect. Steven said it was a unique experience for him to perform the Goldberg in a space like this, so we have plans to bring him back.”

Coming up in July is a recital with Anna Noakes (flute) and Gabriella Dall’Olio (harp), featuring music by Mozart, Spohr and Piazzolla, among others, as well as some South American folk melodies.

“We think flute and harp will be ideal in the Reading Room, and will make a nice accessible summer night concert,” Simon says.

“They are both well-known soloists and tickets are selling well, but we’ve still got availability.”

September will see the return of the Voice Bucks Youth Choir, which made its debut at Windmill Hill last year. “They were fantastic, really great, and we want to support young talent, so we were very happy to bring them back.”

Simon is keen to establish links with other local classical music organisations and is already in touch with Music at Oxford, the Oxford Chamber Music Festival and the nearby Wendover Music Society.

He says: “We want to complement anything that is already being presented so we’ll make sure dates don’t clash and that we offer something quite different.

“It should add to what’s available for classical music lovers in the region.”

Looking at the Reading Room with its row of tables covered in books, papers and other paraphernalia, I can’t help wondering how this can be turned into a concert space. Simon laughs a little ruefully.

“It’s a lot of work,” he admits.

“The tables have to be taken apart and stored in the meeting room, we have to bring chairs in and we have to build the stage.

“I can’t ask the team to do it too often because the tables are quite fiddly.

“They’re beautiful reading room tables and weren’t designed to be taken apart. So these are the kind of constraints we have to work around.”

For Simon, the effort is clearly worthwhile. “I think it’s a nice experience for the audience,” he says.

“And with only 120 it means we can look after those people very well. We want it to feel like a special occasion.”

Flute and Harp Recital – July 18. Choral Celebration with Voice Bucks Youth Choir – September 12
waddesdon.org.uk