Ryedale Festival reveals 2024 programme

Ryedale Festival is set to return to North Yorkshire this summer with a programme of 58 performances running from 12 to 28 July. With events presented in 35 venues, the festival will bring a broad range of talent and repertoire to the district of Ryedale.

The 2024 programme will feature residencies from horn player Felix Klieser, guitarist Xuefei Yang, mezzo soprano Fleur Barron, violinist Stella Chen, Rachel Podger and the Van Baerle Piano Trio. It also continues its partnership with BBC Radio 3 as the station broadcasts five concerts from the festival, including BBC New Generation Artists pianist Giorgi Gigashvili, accordionist Ryan Corbett and the Leonkoro Quartet.

Festival director Christopher Glynn said: ‘Our aim at the Ryedale Festival is simple: to make North Yorkshire one of the best places in Europe to enjoy and encounter classical music, and to do it with a sense of vision and adventure. I look forward to welcoming audiences from near and far to enjoy internationally renowned performers this summer, from Angela Hewitt performing Bach to Sheku Kanneh-Mason playing Bob Marley – and all in beautiful Yorkshire locations. Just as importantly, the festival offers opportunities to hundreds of local young people and a platform for emerging talent, as well as breaking new ground with seven world/UK premieres. Above all, it’s a team effort involving thousands of people who all believe in the important and life-enhancing role that music can play in our communities.’

The 2024 festival will also include seven world and UK premieres. Following the 8 June launch of a community song cycle Across the Whinny Moor, festival audiences will experience the premiere of a further new song cycle by Kian Ravaei performed by Fleur Barron. Barron is also the brains behind a new project combining Schubert’s Winterreise with Japanese Kabuki play Yasuna. She joins forces with dancer Suleiman Suleiman, and shamisen player Hibiki Ichikawa for the premiere on 16 July. Further premieres include a newly commissioned string quartet by Julian Anderson, a choral work by Sarah Frances Jenkins and piano trios by Gabriel Prokofiev and Rob Zuidam.

Ryedale Festival is set to welcome back former associate artist cellist Sheku Kanneh-Mason, who performs a programme ranging from Brahms to Bob Marley in Norton and York alongside his sister violinist Braimah Kanneh-Mason Violin and guitarist Plínio Fernandes under the baton of Tom Featherstonehaugh. The festival’s choral offering will see the Marian Consort perform at both Selby Abbey and Castle Howard and Tenebrae bring a programme centred around A Prayer for Deliverance at Ampleforth Abbey.

Tenebrae will also host the 2024 festival’s Come and Sing event, welcoming members of the local community to St Mary’s Church in Thirsk to sing Fauré’s Requiem. Further festival guests are set to include pianist Angela Hewitt, plus the Royal Northern Sinfonia and the Orchestra of Opera North.