Jazz2 - weather looking more promising

We had a beautiful afternoon with a fair few visiting the garden and enjoying a cream tea in the tearoom. So it's therefore such a shame that it has clouded over. Nevertheless, out of the office window I can see streams of picnic-laden visitors brandishing their tickets, and the clouds seem to be lifting somewhat.

The Met Office's forecast makes for a great improvement on last night's drizzle-dampened promenade, so with sufficient fingers crossed... it might brighten up later - maybe even (dare we to dream?) some sunshine?

Tonight it's Digby Fairweather's Half Dozen (internationally celebrated and feted blues band) and Jim Hart (an extraordinary manipulator of the vibraphone) - should be quite a night!

Hearty jazz combats drizzle

More than a little British resolve was required to sit out the showery drizzle which disturbed the natural order of things in the Iford valley last night in the run up to, and during the first hour of, the first Jazz Promenade of the season.  Tents were erected wherever possible, umbrellas unfurled and the tearoom was turned into something of an impromptu picnic party as jazz aficionados made for shelter in some form or another.

Mind you, it could have been worse.  They had snow in Wales... http://bit.ly/kpC665 

But as the rain moved off around 8pm, damp revelers needn't have worried about the chill in the air.  The warmth of Tina May's voice transported a packed cloister to the cafes of Paris, with beautiful Piaf-esque renditions of songs old and new.  

At the Casita, swing was the order of the day, with The Numbers Racket offering no-excuse to the dance-shy - much energetic toe-tapping was enjoyed by all as the darkening grey of the sky yielded to the more optimistic yellows of electric light reflected off the floodlit trees and the golden cotswold stone.

Judging by the happy smiles on the faces of visitors as they returned to their cars, as usual on changeable evenings such as this, the plucky British concert-goers has indeed resolved to enjoy themselves: and enjoy themselves they did!

Without my tripod, my camera wasn't terribly happy last night, but here are a few images from the event which just about made the cut!  Hopefully Iford Arts will post some more images when these are available.

Iford Recordings: a new venture

I am delighted to announce plans for the very first DVD recorded in association with Iford Arts, in the wonderfully romantic Cloisters at Iford.  This is a project born out of a long-standing desire to bring the atmosphere and intimacy of this extraordinary space to a wider audience, and to do so by working with artists who truly understand the acoustic, ambience and ethos of Iford, both as a community and as an idyllic valley.

Last year, Iford Arts invited Tim Kliphuis and his trio to perform a concert as part of Iford's ongoing series of Jazz promenade evenings.  It became very clear from the start that we had in our midst a rather special creator of inspirational music.

After the concert of gypsy-inspired, improvisatory genius, I approached Tim and asked him speculatively what he thought of the venue for recordings.  We fell to chatting as he loaded the car.  Four months later, he sent me an email, and the project was born.  Tim, it seems, had caught the Iford bug...

Visiting us as a quartet, this time, Tim will be bringing the world-renowned jazz pianist David Newton, who has himself recorded with some of the world's great jazz singers and players.  We'll be able to release more information on the line-up as time goes on (well, you wouldn't want to know it all at once, now, would you?).

The important information, however, is that you can pre-order the DVD at a special price, for delivery in November 2011.  Now, the special offer is 2 for £25 (normally £20 each!) - one for you, and one for a friend at Christmas.

The recording will take place in June, and we are planning a DVD packed full not only of the live concert in the cloisters, but including those little vignettes which make DVDs so intriguing - the bits you don't see when you go to the lovely polished concert.

Order your copies now, at this special price:  www.IfordRecordings.co.uk/kliphuis.html

A highly successful end to the main music season

Last Saturday saw the final Jazz Promenade of the season, and thankfully the weather turned out to be [relatively] kind, although it was threatening.  The morning and afternoon brought consistent showers, which sent worried shivers through the set-up team, contemplating with horror a return to last year's quagmire-car parks, sodden lawns and slippery steps.

The sodden sweet peas may have looked pretty, but picnic brollies were an essential upon arrival:

As usual, though, we confirmed the weather in its better behaviour by putting up more and more tents!

By about 7.30pm, just in time for the music, you wouldn't have known it was the same day from the photographs.

The 'macintosh'-clad audience was treated first to some wonderfully intimate Flamenco in the cloister where Eclipse held a capacity audience entranced by their beguiling Spanish dance.  By the end of their set, there wasn't a cloud in the sky over the Casita, which provided a complete contrast with revved up Cuban rhythms from the masterful Mojito, encouraging much revelry.  A fuller report will no doubt follow with photographs from the team at Iford Arts.

From our perspective, as the venue itself, we were particularly pleased that each of the bands expressed themselves very happy with the space in which they performed; this really is as important as anything to us - happy musicians = happy audiences!

Well done to Iford Arts and their volunteers on organising another great night and a fantastic season of events.

(Performance photos to follow.)

Festival season update

The 2010 Iford Festival has been a great success. Handel's Xerxes went off with a bang (pyrotechnics, and the blowing up of a bridge!), and we are now in the last two weeks of the season, with Iford Festival Productions' Rigoletto ending the season with a flourish.

I thought you'd like to see some photos of the two Iford Festival Productions - Xerxes and Rigoletto. For more photos, have a look at Iford Arts on facebook. If you've been to any of the shows or jazz proms this year, it would be wonderful if you could post up some reviews or comments, either here, or on facebook. Thanks!

Successful Cinders, and £40 special ticket offer

The first opera of the 2010 Iford Festival - Rosinni's La Cenerentola (Cinderella) - was a great success. Here's some photos to excite the taste buds!

There are only 5 tickets remaining for the second opera of the season - Handel's Serse (Xerxes) - and these are now on offer at the special price of £40 a ticket. Number of tickets per night as follows: Friday 9 July - 1 ticket; Wed 14 July - 2 tickets; Friday 16 July - 1 ticket; Saturday 17 July - 1 ticket.

To book, ring our box office at the Theatre Royal, Bath 01225 448844.

For more information about Serse, visit the Iford arts website: www.ifordarts.co.uk

Bye for now,
Jonelle

Terms and conditions: The £40 special ticket offer is subject to ticket availablity and only applies to telephone bookings. Credit card bookings are subject to a transaction fee of £3.00. Tickets booked previously fall outside this offer and cannot be refunded. Iford Arts, The Gatehouse, Iford Manor, BA15 2BA

Iford Arts now blogging

Great to see that William has taken the initiative and set up the Iford blog. We'll be here shortly with all the info and gossip about the 2010 Iford Festival and some wonderful photos.

Bye for now!