“Peasmarsh … is a magical Festival.” Sir David Hare, in The Observer.
The 26th Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival takes place each day from Thursday to Sunday June 27-30. This year’s Festival includes nine performances across the four days, including an orchestral performance in St Mary’s Rye on Friday June 28 featuring the ground-breaking Britten Sinfonia and our artistic directors Anthony Marwood and Richard Lester as soloists in works by Dvořák, Fauré and Haydn.
This year’s outstanding guest artists include pianists Alasdair Beatson and Chaeyoung Park, violist Eivind Ringstad and violinist Pablo Hernán-Benedí as well as the Barbican Quartet who will perform works by Beethoven, Ravel and Schumann. Our concerts take place in the Norman church in Peasmarsh and in St Mary’s in Rye, both beautiful settings in which to listen to stunning classical music. Our programmes include well-known pieces as well as undiscovered gems by Florence Price and Mieczyslaw Weinberg and less familiar masterpieces such as Gabriel Faure’s final work, his string quartet.
The Peasmarsh Chamber Music Festival Trust is also delighted to be bringing five local primary schools together for a large scale celebration of their compositions featuring the brilliant young Barbican Quartet, following workshops in all five schools. This project builds on nearly 20 years of educational partnerships in this special corner of East Sussex. 150 children will participate this year, and each will have the opportunity to work with professional musicians, write their own songs and perform them at St Mary’s Rye (with the Barbican Quartet), which we hope will be a memorable experience. This year’s education project is in memory of the president and founder of our long-time funder, the Rudi Martinus van Dijk Foundation, Jeanne van Dijk-Koning who lived for many years in Peasmarsh and then in Rye, and who sadly passed away earlier this year.
Tickets for each concert can be purchased online by visiting peasmarshfestival.co.uk or by calling 01797 253178. Tickets from £18.
Image Credits: Walter van Dyck , Richard Lester .