Welcome to the website of Stroud Arts Festival, a charity promoting and supporting all types of artistic activities throughout the Stroud District. Founded in 1946, it’s the ‘grandparent’ of all the wonderful festivals this area has to offer.

77th STROUD ARTS FESTIVAL – 22 TO 29 OCTOBER 2023

Stroud Arts Festival returns this autumn under the guidance of Artistic Director Dave Ayre – so expect world class musicians, performers and artists, both classical and modern. To pique your curiosity, we will be celebrating several anniversaries – do you recognise any of them?

– 100 years ago, a well-known and flamboyant English artist wrote his first musical revue specifically for a famous actress and singer. We shall be treated to a show of some of her most iconic performances.

– 50 years ago, an English rock band released an iconic album. We will be bringing you an orchestral version, with an ensemble of classical musicians. It will be a great gig, you’ll want to make the time…

– 50 years ago, an American jazz legend recorded the last in what he considered his most important works. Performed by an English classical composer, a talented ensemble of performers, with a song and dance routine – and a well-known local conductor!

– 20 years ago, a young English composer re-imagined the sacred classical choral mass, creating a new work within a jazz setting. Performed now more than 100 times, his creation is brought to us by the composer himself, in a concert to include local singers.

We’ll be announcing the full programme at the end of June, with these and other joyful, uplifting performances, weaving a path across the best of the arts. Watch this space! You can pick up a brochure at the end of the month and visit us again here for the full programme.

GRANTS SCHEME – Applications Open 5 June 2023

We are happy to receive applications for small sums of money from local organisations needing support for their projects.

Applications will close on 7 July

Applicants will be notified of the Committee’s decision by end July. Grants are for projects beginning after 1 September 2023

For details and an application form https://stroudartsfestival.org/grants/

A SUMMER CONCERT FOR 2023

To whet your appetite ahead of our 77th Arts Festival in October, we are delighted to welcome back to Stroud one of the world’s leading university choirs The Choir of Clare College, Cambridge

With critically acclaimed conductor and composer, Graham Ross, this promises to be a delightful summer concert with pieces by Vaughan Williams, Holst and Purcell. Interwoven amongst the programme the movements of the Mass taken from three different works by Byrd, Palestrina and Dufay for variety, and three contrasting settings of the Magnificat by Herbert Howells, Palestrina and Héloïse Werner.

It has been 8 years since their last visit to Stroud so we are thrilled to welcome them back!

Details of venue, tickets and the full programme are available here

GRANTS SCHEME

WE WELCOME 2023 WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT THAT OUR GRANTS SCHEME IS NOW OPEN. We operate a twice-yearly scheme, with applications open in January and June each year, and grants awarded to local artistic projects in April and September. So if you have a project idea and you need help to make it happen take a look at our Grants page for details and read our Terms and Conditions to see if you qualify for our support.

Applications Open 5 June 2023

Applications Close 7 July 2023

Goodbye 2022 The final concert before we all headed home for Christmas was another triumphant Baroque Night held at Lansdown Hall in Stroud on the 9th December.

The Dave Ayre Baroque Band brought us a very heart-warming programme of (mostly) 400 year old music on a VERY cold night. Sub-zero temperatures didn’t keep the sellout audience away nor did it stop the intrepid performers struggling in with their instruments, including the harpsichord! The programme highlighted the double bass in music which featured ‘some of the best basslines ever written’ to quote Dave.

The audience enjoyed hearing about each composition before the piece was played; the passion for their art evident in the way each performer talked with enthusiasm before playing.

We were also treated to a premiere of a piece written specifically for the featured instrument – Fiona Frank’s Lucchesi Concerto for Double Bass and Orchestra. Fiona was in the audience to hear Dave, on his double bass, and Kate Price on cello, play the third movement of her composition.

As usual, the audience was invited to join in the singing. When the ensemble played ‘Come follow, follow follow’ Dave expertly guided us to sing the round in two part harmony. We finished the night with our spirits uplifted and our hearts thoroughly warmed.

WE SAY GOODBYE TO THE 76TH ARTS FESTIVAL……………..

Our October Festival was brought to a close in a most spellbinding way – with harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry playing live her sound track accompaniment to Academy Award winning classic silent movie, Sunrise: A song of two humans. We’d already spent the afternoon in the company of the Stroud Arts Festival Ensemble and their Relaxed Opera performances, designed especially for people, young and not so young,with additional needs. A moving, uplifting afternoon and a magical evening!

Then it’s goodbye 76 and hello to 77 as we begin the preparations for 2023

Says Artistic Director Dave Ayre ” It’s been a truly memorable Festival, with exciting events, fabulous performances and wonderful feedback from our audiences. Thank you all for coming along and supporting us and we hope to see you again soon”

More to come in 2022 – sponsored events

An exhibition of work by Christine Felce, printmaker, continuing her Alphabet which she started in 2019

A premiere of community film project Days of Hope from John Basset, Spaniel in the Works

Pressure, a gripping piece of theatre from the Cotswold Players

and another great night of baroque music from the Dave Ayre Baroque Band!

LATEST NEWS

Eleven local artists are exhibiting this year in our annual Art Exhibition in Lansdown Gallery, from Wednesday 19 – Sunday 23 October. Gallery Curator Jessy Plant has brought together a vibrant mixture of local artists exploring connections between people and places, music, movement, stories, maps and the landscape.

Commented Jessy, “ When Stroud Arts Festival asked me to curate the exhibition for their 76th Festival with the open brief ‘Connections’ my first feeling was to focus on the connections between people, and especially between local artists. We cannot pass through life without connecting with one another or with the environment around us and as I thought through and broadened my ideas I decided I wanted to bring a ‘biscuit variety box’ of connectivity to the exhibition, but with a keen focus between the Human and the Landscape.”

In this exhibition some of these artists know each other, others are only connected through their artistic themes, but with all those connections in mind these very different artists are presenting their perspective on Connections – a mixture of hopeful, playful, despairing, fragile, reflective and so much more.

Details of the artists and Gallery here

SOLD OUT! Our world premiere headline show, Peter Pan – a new musical – is fully sold out.

Special Offers Announcing some very special offers on some of our shows.

2 shows in one go. At Lansdown Hall, Thursday 20 October. Buy a special ticket and see Jan Carey’s moving play about Ivor Gurney, pop downstairs to see the Annual Art Exhibition during the interval, then grab a drink and head back up for some scintillating jazz/poetry with the Patsy Gamble Trio and Adam Horovitz. All for £16. Discount will automatically apply at the checkout when you book both shows together.

Ensemble special. And if you are in a band or enjoy playing music with others, on stage, in the pub or even in your own home, then bring 3 fellow musicians along and get your 4th ticket free on the Le Page Ensemble concert and on Connections, with the Carducci Quartet and the Dave Ayre Jazz Trio. Enter code MUSICIAN at the checkout when you buy 4 tickets

Announcing our new outreach ticket scheme

For this 76th Stroud Arts Festival we are offering free places at some of our concerts to people who might otherwise not be able to attend. If we are lucky enough to experience the benefits that live music has to offer – to our health and well-being as well as the obvious enjoyment it brings – then it’s hard to imagine not being able to access these events. Sharing this wonderful art form with others can enhance our own appreciation too.

We are linking with local NHS services, community hubs and similar organisations to provide free places to some of our world class concerts. We keep all our under 18’s tickets at £5 to reach as many young people as possible and our Relaxed Performances are all free entry (though booking is required).

So when you can buy a ticket to one of our events you will also be supporting our scheme to share these experiences more widely.

Announcing The 76th Festival Programme

19 to 23 October 2022 at venues in Stroud.

Touchpoints, interactions, serendipitous moments… this 76th Stroud Arts Festival is all about Connections. Today we need connections more than ever, to remake friendships with each other and re-engage with the world beyond our four walls. As we join back in with life and events following what has been a most strange, and for many, highly isolating experience, the arts can help us reconnect. Against this background, we are proud to present this year’s programme which weaves together local history, creativity and our relationships. Our Guest Artistic Director, Dave Ayre, has put together a programme making connections between music and words, people and places, national and local.

Festival Programme sponsored by RBC Brewin Dolphin

Programme highlights below and details of all the events here. Tickets for all shows are on sale now

Saturday 22 October 2022

As the headline show of the Festival we are thrilled to announce the world premiere of Peter Pan – A New Musical, with words written by much-loved poet and national treasure Pam Ayres, and music from award-winning composer Louis Mander. The production will be performed by members of The Hewletts Opera, narrated by Classic FM host and children’s author Zeb Soanes and the chorus provided by the Minpins Children’s Choir. Read more here

SOLD OUT!

A celebration of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 150th anniversary with David Le Page and the Le Page Ensemble on Wednesday 19 October 2022 Includes the nation’s favourite ‘The Lark Ascending’. The programme also pays homage to the composer’s love of English folk music in a set of beautiful arrangements by members of the ensemble.

Sponsored Events for 2022

We continue to sponsor and support other events during the year under our Grant scheme. Read about the scheme and how to apply here.

In April we sponsored a wonderful exhibition of glass art at Stroud’s Museum in the Park. This exciting event took place during the International Year of Glass and celebrated the work of 3 generations of renowned kiln-cast glass artists, some of whom still operate from studios in and around Stroud.

In October we are sponsoring an event in the Harp and Story Festival at Lansdown Hall, plus a Poetry Slam at the Sub Rooms presented by SubVerse

In November we are supporting Wordsongs and Soundlines, an opening night event at this year’s Stroud Book Festival, and the play ‘Pressure’ at the Cotswold Playhouse

And finally in December we sponsor the return of Dave Ayre’s Baroque Night at Lansdown Hall

For regular updates and to find out more about our work you can subscribe to our newsletter

Stroud Arts Festival – 75 Anniversary Season Highlights

To celebrate our 75 Year Anniversary, we held a world-class series of events in various venues around Stroud, stretching from Autumn 2021 through to Spring 2022.

Our thanks go to our Guest Artistic Director, Dave Ayre, for bringing us such a wonderful series of world class concerts and we look forward to seeing his plans for the autumn Festival 2022.

You can see below some highlights from the Anniversary season.

In the meantime we continue to host events, sponsor other festivals and give grants to other projects To see our latest events please see our ‘Events’ section. To receive updates do subscribe to our newsletter.

Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in a Relaxed Performance

In April the relaxed performances of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro were intimate, interactive and somewhat humbling, allowing music that might be seen as inaccessible to be shared with a wide variety of people, from special needs children to adults that simply didn’t think opera was for them. The Hewlett’s Opera Ensemble’s Abigail Sudbury and Alistair Sutherland delivered sterling renditions of some of the cherished piece’s most famous arias, to rousing applause.

Before, after, and in between, performers and audience sang children’s songs, took requests on what love means, and otherwise capered around the Sub Rooms. Not surprisingly, the performers loved it too.

“To be able to include the audience and be so close broke down a lot of barriers, and just made the performance feel more alive and inclusive,” said Abigail.

Agreed Alistair, “It was great fun to perform such beautiful music in this beautiful venue, but without the usual restrictions so that everyone could come and enjoy it.”

Musicians Hugh Blogg, Toby Deller, Manos Charalabopoulos and SAF’s artistic diirector Dave Ayre somehow conjured an entire orchestra between them.

On 27 February 2022, a performance of John Tavener’s The Protecting Veil brought our series of concerts to a close in the beautiful and atmospheric St. Laurence Church. A fitting finale to our 75 year celebrations, it provided a rare opportunity to experience this iconic piece of music played so movingly by the internationally acclaimed duo of Kathryn Price, cellist, and Charles Matthews, organist.

Dave Ayre’s Baroque Night on February 18 2022 was a sell-out performance held on one of the wettest, windiest nights of the winter. These fine musicians battled through the storm on journeys from Wales, Manchester and other parts of the UK, navigating fallen trees and even wheeling the harpsichord through the park, to reach the packed Lansdown Hall. They gave us an evening of wonderful music and thankfully it was The Band who brought the house down and not the storm as this much covid-postponed event finally made it to the stage.

Photo credit: Hannah Williamson

Our final event in the Autumn Season was a scintillating performance of Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, performed by The Hewletts Opera. Set in some indeterminate 1970s period, this funny, witty, insightful production by Maria Jagusz provided a platform for some very talented young singers to take centre stage – and they certainly lived up to the challenge. Accompanied by The Hewlett Opera Players – a string trio and pianist performing their own arrangement of the music, the performance was sung in English under the passionate guidance of their conductor Louis Mander. The performance was a great antidote to our current woes, lifting our spirits and sending the audience home smiling. We hope to see more of this fledgling opera company.

. In November we focused on local talent with the mighty Stroud Symphony Orchestra and soloist John Pearce, in a programme of music firmly rooted in the local landscape. Conductor Jonathan Trim put together a wonderful programme of local composers’ music, including Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance, Holst’s Jupiter, Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending (ft. John Pearce) and the world premiere of Trim’s own Symphonia Pandemica. The orchestra played their hearts out and the sell-out audience was left moved and uplifted, particularly by Trim’s symphony composed for this orchestra during lockdown. A truly memorable evening which celebrated local composers, local music and most definitely local musicians.

A highlight of the Autumn Season was a visit from Sinfonia Viva, featuring violinist Sophie Rosa. This is a world-class orchestra with a passion for bringing music to those who often miss out – the young, the elderly, those with special needs – and a desire to share live music as widely as possible. We showed our support by bringing them to Stroud with a concert of sublime classical music and a rapt, very enthusiastic Stroud audience showed their approval of their choice of music and the high quality of their playing. A wonderful evening and for many, a very special return to live music.

The following day Sinfonia Viva introduced families with babies and small children to their informal, fun, interactive event Flutter & Fly with Jack Ross and Eleanor Meredith. Sell out performances saw children making music along with the professionals, watching a story unfold with live illustration happening on the big screen in front of them and the show magnificently interpreted by BSL’s Donna West. The children all left clutching their free CD and book of the story and songs they had just experienced. A wonderful family occasion.

Our October exhibition was a week long show of contemporary art at the George Room in the Sub Rooms, Stroud, showcasing work by 18 local artists who had all been involved with our charity in some way during the past decade. This free entry exhibition received over 300 visitors. Comments from visitors:

‘wonderful variety of work – some exceptionally lovely pieces’

‘thought-provoking and some powerful themes‘

‘how fortunate we are to have such a collection of talented artists‘

‘great exhibition – best I’ve seen in a while!‘ ‘inspiring!’

Visitors were also given information on the work of Stroud Arts Festival during its 75-year history and were able to read about the legacy bequeathed by founder Netlam Bigg.

In September we sponsored the production of Peace In Our Time, a Noel Coward play set in an alternative WW2, with performances at St. Laurence Church and the Cotswold Playhouse. This was a masterly production by the Cotswold Players, with music from the local Capriol Orchestra and Stroud Choral Society showing the combined talents of performing groups in this area.

Our Autumn line-up started in September with the wonderfully moving and uplifting Gratitude – A Song Cycle for our Times– staged in the Museum in the Park Pavilion. These sell-out performances by the Acapellies Community Choir, led by Eleanor Holliday, were inspired by prize-winning poet Alice Oswald’s poem ‘Gratitude’, written during lockdown.

The musical journey led us through the cycles of Lamentation, Healing and Gratitude which we have all experienced during this Covid pandemic and provided a gentle way for people to come together again and give thanks.

2020 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

Many of our planned events in 2020, including the annual visit from our favourite ballet company, Ballet Cymru, have been put on hold whilst Covid -19 restrictions are in place.

Stroud Arts Festival is delighted to have been able to support the following projects in Autumn 2020, all delivered digitally:

December 2020 until early 2021: Stroud Arts Festival continue to help fund EVERYTHING IS LIGHT at Stroud Subscription Rooms, a fantastic family attraction featuring a maze of illuminated tunnels and hidden rooms bathed in colour – all from the unbridled imagination of Jack Wimperis. See information and updates on the exhibition here.

November 26: Stroud Arts Festival supported Stroud Subscription Rooms for their very special evening of world-class music featuring Stroud’s own Dave Ayre Trio, the award-winning Carducci String Quartet and author, historian and BBC presenter Anthony Burton, live-streamed from inside Jack Wimperis’s incredible exhibition EVERYTHING IS LIGHT. Full details here.

November 5: Stroud Arts Festival continued its long-standing support of Stroud Book Festival in funding the Poetry event, IN NEARBY BUSHES with Kei Miller, introduced by Adam Horovitz.

October 29 and upcoming event 5 February 2021: The Robert Wedderburn Project from Last Legs Theatre has been funded in part by Stroud Arts Festival. You can find out more on our events page here and on their website here: www.robertwedderburnproject.com

2019 FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS

In collaboration with a number of other organisations in Stroud we brought you a diverse range of events in 2019, all with Revolution in mind. Thank you to the wonderful artists,performers,technicians and venue staff who made it all happen and of course to the audiences who made it all worthwhile.

Playground was a great hit with children of all ages. A weekend of fun and creative play for all the family.

R is for Revolution was an inspired and inspiring community project led by Christine Felce and Rachel Oram from the Gloucestershire Printmaker’s Co-operative.

We supported the wonderful Wool and Water Festival which ran throughout the month of September.

Photo: Deborah Roberts

The Selsey Common rally in support of the Chartist Movement was commemorated with a performative walk from Radical Stroud.

Music which caused a riot! But only when first performed in 1913. Stroud was thrilled with a stunning performance of Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring by 2 very talented pianists.

The specially commissioned song recital from Clare McCaldin and friends brought the musical performances to an end.

And Cotswold Players showed us a revolutionary version of the great ‘revolution’ play by William Shakespeare.

Dance: Our favourite dance troupe Ballet Cymru returned to Stroud for their annual performance, this year with their creative (revolutionary?) production of Romeo and Juliet.

Email: info@stroudartsfestival.org for further information on any aspect of Stroud Arts Festival’s work.