Iford Arts Season Round-up

Well, what a season that was - made spectacularly more manageable by the beautiful weather (for the most part) from our point of view.

We kicked off with Verdi's La Traviata, a rich production by Bruno Ravella, the Chroma orchestra conducted by Oliver Gooch.  Critical acclaim in particular for Alinka Kozari's performance as leading lady.

Highlight of a lively weekend of midsummer Jazz was a visit by Claire Martin and Ian Shaw, who engaged the audience with their humourous renditions.

Jeff Clarke's production of Offenbach's La Vie Parisienne brought the comic highlight of the year, as the cast burst onto the cloister scene dressed as steam engines, clouds of white smoke billowing from their funnels.  Review.

Handel's pastoral Acis and Galatea proved itself on the perfect scale for the cloister.  Mary Bevan as Galatea excelled, here pictured with Lukas Jacobski as Polyphemus in Pia Furtado's moving presentation of a well known work.  Christian Curnyn as ever brought the score to life exquisitly.

Reviews: Independent; Telegraph; Guardian

The final fling for the season was a weekend of jazz, including the excellent Minas Project, from Brazil (above).

All in all an excellent season - thank you to the team at Iford Arts who put it all together and we look forward to next year!

Tim Kliphuis DVD in the can

On Thursday 30th June a lucky audience of 75 was treated to a spectacular concert given by Tim Kliphuis, the world-renowned violin improviser, in the cloister at Iford.  Tim brought his quartet of David Newton (Piano), Roy Percy on Double Bass, and Nigel Clark on Guitar.  Here they are in the garden at Iford:

Audience-members came from all over Europe to lend their support to the project, and support from the Iford Arts stewards was kindly provided to help run the Pimm's bar and to ensure that the evening ran as smoothly as it did.

The event (from picnics to the final chord) was recorded for DVD by a team of two cameramen and a sound man (who had come from Scotland the day before - only the best...); even the weather did its best to help, as the clouds of the afternoon we moved on by the evening sun.

The DVDs are already selling well by subscription, and you can pre-order your copies at heavily reduced prices on the Iford Recordings website:

==>>  Order now -- www.IfordRecordings.co.uk  <<==

Many thanks are due to Robert Coles for the photography; to Mickelburgh Pianos of Bath for the loan of a spectacularly good Kawai piano; to Sound Network UK for sponsoring the DPA microphones; to Iford Arts and their stewards for their assistance in running the event; to the audience for joining in so warmly; and to all others for their help.

Photos from the Jazz

Rob Coles, photographer extraordinaire, has sent through these images from last weekend's jazz events.  We particularly liked the image of the umbrellas, above.

Above: Anna, front of house manager, radio in one hand, phone in the other.

Below: Jim Hart mesmerises with his vibraphone

 Above: not to be deterred by the rain, the plucky English take to an old oak tree for shelter

Below: Tina May wows the audience 

 

 Above: Digby Fairweather

Below: Digby Fairweather's Half Dozen

Below: yours truly preparing oil lamps with JH to light to route to the carpark.

All images copyright Robert Coles

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.

Preparations for Jazz1

Tonight sees the first night of the 2011 Iford Arts season.  Preparations are in full swing, and I hope to post photographs of the event later tonight - it is currently a bit drizzly, but the forecast suggests it might well brighten up a bit, which would make the event all the more special.

Fingers crossed...

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.)

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!