The programme for next year’s music festival has now been finalized and includes a combination of popular faces from previous festivals and new performers – local, national and international.

Familiar to all previous Festival-goers will be the home-grown and much-loved Syncopators, playing this year in the relaxed atmosphere of the Picnic in the Garden (Saturday 5th);  chamber music from the Beresford Ensemble led by the Festival’s artistic director, Bryan Gipps (Monday); the Primary School’s spectacular show (though with a different cast and content on Tuesday and Wednesday); John Hall and the Ashford Youth Jazz Orchestra – including the fabulous Hot 8 – at the Jazz Supper on Saturday 13th; and the very welcome return on Sunday 13th both of the immensely talented pianist, Paloma Kouider, and Kent Chamber Choir for the closing concert of Choral Favourites in St James’ Church.

The new faces in the programme will include Opera Box (described by The Times as ‘a visionary company) and their presentation on the opening night of the Festival of Donizetti’s light-hearted and graceful L’Elisir d’Amore; the Puffin Ensemble (a 9 piece wind ensemble complete with tin bath!) on Sunday evening with a concert for all the family; Michael Jamieson Smith, a distinguished soloist and finalist in the Kathleen Ferrier Competition, accompanied in a song recital by Roger Sayer, Organist and Master of the Choristers at Rochester Cathedral (Tuesday); traditional barbershop combined with the familiar part songs of the King’s Singers and the Swingles from the award-winning Merrell Quartet on Wednesday;  students from the Royal Academy of Music providing a rare opportunity to hear the next generation of top musicians in a Grand Chamber Recital on Thursday; and the Old Barn Orchestra on Saturday, new to Egerton but already celebrating its 80th birthday as the orchestra for Medway and Maidstone.  

Throughout the ten days of the Festival there will be an exhibition of Kent artists in the Sports Hall and a wide range of ‘fringe’ events in The George and The Munday Bois, including rock, blues, folk and music hall.

Some details of each event can be found on the Festival’s web site, www.egertonmusicfestival.co.uk , and more will be added over the next six months.  The programme will be printed and distributed at the end of the year; and if you would like to be on the mailing list to receive it, please contact Jane Carr, Secretary, Egerton Music Festival, The Granary, Newland Green, Egerton, Ashford, Kent TN27 9EP, Tel: 01233 756775, Email: ljanecarr@btinternet.com