It doesn’t seem long since the English Music Festival was being launched, but incredibly it is now in its third season, and this year’s programme looks as exciting, varied and innovative as ever. Familiar composers jostle alongside an array of little-known names, with music ranging from large-scale orchestral works to chamber and choral music and even a little jazz thrown in for good measure.

As always, director Em Marshall is on a crusade to bring neglected works back to the forefront of English music, and one of the highlights this year is the world premiere of Delius’s tone poem Hiawatha, which will form part of the Saturday evening concert by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

“It’s incredibly exciting,” says Em. “It’s a fairly substantial, 40-minute orchestral work that’s never been performed, and it’s a splendid piece.

“Also in that concert we’ve got Vaughan Williams’s Willow Wood, which is absolutely gorgeous, and I think this is the first time it’s been played for 100 years. It’s been recorded on Naxos, but it’s not had a live performance. We’ve got Jeremy Huw Williams singing that, so it’s going to be wonderful. Then there’s the Cliffe Violin Concerto, which again hasn’t had a professional performance for over 100 years and it’s a remarkable piece, quite staggering. We’ve had to reconstruct the score for that, which was quite a task!”

Other rarely-performed works in the same concert include Elgar’s Sanguine Fan and Havergal Brian’s Reverie, as well as the specially-commissioned Festival Overture by Matthew Curtis, which was given its premiere at last year’s festival.

Later in the festival popular counter-tenor James Bowman (pictured below) will be performing the world premiere of White in the Moon by young composer Tom Rose, as well as rarities by Purcell, Quilter, Britten, Maxwell Davies and several little-known composers such as Phibbs, Swayne, Whiteley and Gant.

But there are familiar sounds, too, and another highlight of the festival is a concert at Radley College Chapel by the Cannons Scholars (pictured right) to mark the 350th anniversary of the birth of Purcell. Em is particularly pleased to be welcoming back the Cannons Scholars, as they proved exceptionally popular at the 2008 festival.

“Last year they did some Arne and Linley for us, and the concert went spectacularly well. This year they’re doing Purcell’s Rejoice in the Lord and the Te Deum and Jubilate, and also some Eccles and Boyce. The group are absolutely flawless; they have an incredible energy. John Andrews, the conductor, is fairly young and he’s got a lot of drive and enthusiasm.”

Elsewhere in the festival is vocal ensemble Vox Musica and the Southbank Sinfonia Strings, who open the festival with a programme of short pieces by Finzi, Vaughan Williams, Howells, Holst, Tippett, Berkley and Dyson. The ever-popular David Owen Norris returns to play piano pieces by Vaughan Williams, Elgar, Bax, Quilter and Lambert. The Bridge Quartet, also making a welcome return to the festival, will perform string quartets by Elgar and Rawsthorne, as well as Bridge’s Piano Quintet, for which they will be joined by Michael Dussek.

Oxford Liedertafel bring a selection of little-known English part-songs to Radley College Chapel on Sunday morning, followed by the Musicians of All Saints performing pieces by Parry, Bridge, Holst and Elgar in Radley College’s Silk Hall.

After a seminar discussing the future of the British Choral tradition, the festival will be brought to a rousing close with the City of London Choir, conducted by Hilary Davan Wetton, in a programme that includes Holst’s Hymns from the Rig Veda, Britten’s Choral Dances from Gloriana and Vaughan Williams’s Mass in G Minor.

As always, a feature of the festival will be the late-night concerts that have proved so popular in the past. These include David Owen Norris playing music by Billy Mayerl, and early music ensemble Joglaresa in a programme of medieval and traditional English songs.

“I started doing those because I’ve so much enjoyed going to festivals I’ve been to, when all barriers drop,” explains Em. “The festival has always been very informal – you’ve had audiences able to go up to the artists and mix with them, and the artists are very happy with that. But the late night concerts you find the artists engaging with the audiences even more and talking very informally to them. I think that’s really lovely.”

The informality is, for Em, a very important aspect of the festival. “Part of the reason for holding it in Dorchester is the fact that people can go back to the White Hart afterwards and discuss the music and make new friends. It feels very much as if you’re part of something, rather than just going along to an event and coming home again. And I think that’s part of the appeal.”

l The English Music Festival runs from Friday, May 22, to Monday, May 25. Visit www.englishmusicfestival.org.uk Box office: 0300 030 3003 or book online at www.englishmusicfestival.org.uk/booking.

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