Latest Festival News
This information will be updated regularly so please do keep checking to see the latest updates.
First Night
Event number: 12
Wednesday 11 March 2009
The Electric Theatre, 8pm
£10 full, £8 senior citizens, £6 concessions
This event is SOLD OUT, but there is a studio Preview performance at the PATS Studio at the University on Monday 9 March. Please call the Box Office on 01483 686 876 for more details.
A showcase of four exciting new musicals by writers fro m the University of Surrey, performed by student from the Guildford School of Acting.
Chat! by Lee Freeman - A musical set in an internet chatroom.
Hearts of War by Arran Holcombe - Rebellion, kidnap, a General, his son and a broken future society.
Faerytale by Laura Tisdall - A gothic fairy story of love and sacrifice.
a verbis ad verbera by Francis Western - Inhabiting the desolate world between dream and reality, thought and action, self and other.
Film Series at The Electric Theatre - starting this week!
The Electric Theatre
£6 full/senior citizens, £4.50 concessions (No Direction Home: Bob Dylan FREE but ticketed)
Three critically acclaimed music documentaries by legendary film director Martin Scorsese. Click here
- - The Last Waltz, Thursday 12 March
- - No Direction Home: Bob Dylan, Monday 16 March
- - Shine a Light, Thursday 19 March
Carmina Burana and Chichester Psalms
Friday 13 March 2009
Cranleigh School Concert, 7.30pm
Tickets £15 (£10 concessions)
Purchased from Mrs Diana Pettifer, Cranleigh School, Cranleigh, GU6 8QQ
01483 273 666 or dmp@cranleigh.org
- Orff – Carmina Burana
- Bernstein – Chichester Psalms
- Cranleigh Choral Society
- Cranleigh School Chapel Choir
- Cranleigh Preparatory School Choir
- St Edmund's Preparatory School Choir
- Merriman Concert Orchestra
- Conductor – Marcus Pashley
Inebriated Abbots; a swan bemoaning its lot as it roasts on a spit; lusty young lads and lasses; medieval monks extolling the pleasures of Life; Love and Spring – and of course the inescapable Wheel of Fortune: all are contained within the surprisingly secular 12th-Century manuscripts discovered at the Benedictine Monastery of Bauern in Bavaria, and known as Carmina Burana.
This outrageous collection of songs and poems, brilliantly and evocatively set to music by the composer Carl Orff in 1935, contains some of the most dramatic and approachable music for chorus and orchestra of the twentieth century. The opening and closing movements, ‘O Fortuna’ alone have become one of the best-loved musical excerpts of all time: remember the ‘Old Spice’ advert (and, more recently, the X-factor judges entry theme!) This, coupled with the catchy rhythms and haunting melodies of the Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein, composer of West Side Story and the most versatile musical genius of his age, ensures an evening of dramatic musical enjoyment.300 musicians from Cranleigh School, Cranleigh Preparatory School, St Edmunds Preparatory School, Cranleigh Choral Society and the wonderful Merriman Concert Orchestra combine to bring these extraordinary works to life in the most exciting and ambitious musical project in their history.
Come and be part of it!
Make your own Lantern and join the Procession – Family Lantern-making Workshop
Saturday 14 March 2009
Lantern-making workshop
14.00 - 16.30
University of Surrey Hall
Tickets £5
Bookings: University Box Office at Senate House Reception on 01483 686 876
You are invited to join a hands-on workshop to make a personal lantern under the guidance of specialist lighting artists. The workshop is suitable for all ages and places cost £5 each (to cover materials and tuition). Places are limited and can be booked via the University Box Office at Senate House Reception on 01483 686 876.
You need to wear old clothes (as the latex covering doesn't wash out!)
John Williams
Event number: 23
Saturday 14 March 2009
University of Surrey, Management Lecture Theatre, 7.30pm
£25 or £30 joint ticket with talk
This event is SOLD OUT, but you can still come and hear John talk about his life and work and enjoy the rest of the Guitar Day recitals – exquisite Chinese guitarist Xuefei Yang, and rising star from the USA, Michael Partington, for a special discounted price of £20.
Cadenza Records will be selling John Williams' CDs throughout the Guitar Day and after John's evening recital.
Please note: Unfortunately, John Williams is no longer available to stay for the ‘Meet the Artist’ session after the recital.
- Vivaldi – Concerto Op 3 No 9
- Allegro – Larghetto – Allegro
- D Scarlatti – Two Sonatas
- Granados – Valses Poeticos
- Albéniz – Torre Bermeja
- John Williams – Notes in the Margin
INTERVAL
- Agustin Barrios Mangore – La Catedral
- John Williams – Prelude to a Song
- Open End – Song without Words – Hello Francis
- Ennio Morricone – Cinema Paradiso (theme)
- Stanley Myers – The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)
- John T Williams – Schindler's List (theme)
- Peter Sculthorpe – Djilile
- Trad. Irish tunes, arr. Williams – Carolan's Concerto
- The Little and Great Mountain
- The Bottom of the Punchbowl
- Jackson's Morning Brush
"Mr William's is arguably the finest guitarist before the public today."
The New York Times
Following his sell-out concert at the 2007 festival with John Etheridge, John Williams returns to Guildford to give a solo performance which includes baroque and Spanish classics, Williams' own compositions and Irish folk arrangements, alongside some of the best-loved guitar tunes from the movies including themes from The Deer Hunter and Schindler's List.
Angels on High
Event number: 42
Saturday 20 March 2009
Dance and sound installations
Guildford Cathedral, 11am - 4pm
Site-specific contemporary, ballet and Kathak dance and soundscapes permeate the Cathedral encouraging us to walk around and see things from different perspectives.
Vertical dance performance on the west face of the Cathedral tower
4pm and 7.30pm
7pm Lantern dance procession leading to evening performances
Tickets for evening events: £10 full, £8 senior citizens, £5 children/students and other concessions
Tickets are available from the Festival Box Office: 01483 444 334 or from the University Box Office: 01483 686 876.
We look to the gilded angel on the top of Guildford Cathedral to see which way the wind is blowing and the angel is a reassuring welcome for travellers approaching the town. The Cathedral is an impressive building, holding memories, memorials and traces of people and times long past. Experience some of these ghosts and resonances through unique site-specific dance and sound happenings and installations which will take place in spaces around the Cathedral throughout the day until 4pm.
Pauline Johnson, the Artistic Director of the Festival, writes:
"This is a really unusual event, so people are asking "What is actually happening at Angels on High?"
The answer is "Quite a lot!" and for me this is one of the most exciting events in the whole Festival.
We don't have exact details at the moment, as the performers are still devising their works, although you may catch the occasional glimpse of Kate Lawrence, choreographer and vertical dance performer, practising on the outside of the Cathedral Tower!
During the day, from 11 am to 12.30 pm and then again from 2.30 - 4pm there will be dance, theatre 'happenings' in various parts of the Cathedral. For example, you might listen to war-time letters from a loved one in the Regimental Chapel, follow an ex-chorister as he retraces his journey to the choir stalls and witness uncomfortable prayer rites in the Lady Chapel.
In addition, you will be able to hear soundscapes inspired by the Cathedral and its work, in different places and spaces, such as the Baptistery or the Children's' Chapel and these will run from around 10 am until 4.30 pm, with a break at 1 pm to accommodate the Communion Service.
There is no charge for these daytime performances and you are free to wander about, follow a performer, sit and watch and listen as you wish.
At 4 pm, Kate will perform her vertical dance on the Tower, which will last about 15 - 20 minutes.
But, things are a little more dramatic for the evening.
At 7pm a candle-lit lantern procession will leave the University of Surrey Piazza (opposite the main car park) and wend its way up to the Cathedral. So you can either join the procession and walk up, or wait at the Cathedral and watch the procession arrive. On arrival, there will be a short performance outside the Cathedral by the Unique Youth Dance Company, before Kate again descends the Tower and performs her vertical dance. This performance will have special lighting and music.
You are then invited go into the Cathedral for an atmospheric promenade performance lasting approximately 90 minutes. Everyone will have a different experience of the performance and the Cathedral – which will be subtly highlighted and changed by lighting effects - depending upon what you hear and what you see, and in what order you see it. Performers will include Kathak dancer, Amita Nijhawan, and Karen da Silva, both lecturers in the University of Surrey Department of Dance, Film and Theatre. The evening culminates with an inspiring and Cathedral-filling soundscape from composer Matthew Sansom
Don't worry, there will be guidance notes and information about the performers and artists. This is an amazing opportunity to look at the Cathedral from different perspectives and to think about the sounds and images that are associated with memories and memorial. It should be a really special evening."
4pm – using vertical dance on the outside of the Cathedral tower, the angel will descend to come closer to those who watch. Daytime showings are free.
6.45pm – meet and lantern assembly at University Piazza opposite the main car park.
7pm – a lantern dance procession led by Unique Youth Dance Company and local school children will wind its way up the Cathedral Hill, to watch the angel's evening descent. You will then enter the Cathedral to experience sounds and images inspired by the spaces and traces of the building. Special lighting effects will influence and change the environment and atmosphere of the building for this intriguing event.
Make your own Lantern and join the Procession – Family Lantern-making Workshop
Saturday 14 March 2009
Lantern-making workshop
14.00 - 16.30
University of Surrey Hall
Tickets £5
Bookings: University Box Office at Senate House Reception on 01483 686 876
You are invited to join a hands-on workshop to make a personal lantern under the guidance of specialist lighting artists. The workshop is suitable for all ages and places cost £5 each (to cover materials and tuition). Places are limited and can be booked via the University Box Office at Senate House Reception on 01483 686 876.
You need to wear old clothes (as the latex covering doesn't wash out!)
Keep checking the Street Processions website for further details of lantern workshops and ways to participate.
With grateful thanks to GearBox (Sound and Vision) Ltd for providing the sound equipment for this event.
An Intimate Evening of Jazz with Jacqui Dankworth
Event number: 49
Saturday 21 March 2009
The Electric Theatre, 8.30pm
£15 full, £12 senior citizens, £6 concessions
This event is SOLD OUT.
A very rare chance to see the undisputed "Princess Of Jazz" in a close and personal setting. Daughter of Dame Cleo Laine and Sir John Dankworth, Jacqui's musical pedigree is in no doubt, but it was several years before Jacqui was persuaded to take up the microphone. Now with two award winning albums behind her, Jacqui is touring the UK with material from a new record, but is bringing a special intimate show to the Festival with a fine ensemble of piano, bass and drums. Seats are very limited, so book early.
"She's simply wonderful!"
Michael Parkinson