Summer Festival 2012 in words & pictures

As the sounds of our Summer Festival 2012 drift away (and in the case of some of the pink Midsummer Street Party balloons, all the way to a Dutch beach), we wanted to share some of our favourite moments with you, courtesy of our Festival Photographer, James Berry and the host of reviewers who have written about us over the last month.

If you have any images or reviews of your own you’d like to share with us, get in touch, and meanwhile enjoy reminiscing with us below… (You can also find reviews of Summer Festival concerts on our new website!)

Sounds of Spitalfields with Super Critical Mass

Sound of Spitalfields in Old Spitalfields Market

Ton Koopman in concert with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra

The Sixteen in Christ Church Spitalfields

Harry Christophers conducting The Sixteen

Matthew Barley: Amongst Friends

Gabrieli Consort & Players: The Fairy Queen

Soprano Helen-Jane Howells in Gabrieli Consort & Players: The Fairy Queen

Musical Rumpus: A Fairy Queen in the Forest

Musical Rumpus: A Fairy Queen in the Forest

Anne Garner in Talvin Singh: Tabla Rasa

Talvin Singh: Tabla Rasa

Laka D & Women sing East

Performing Cage at Neighbourhood Schools: Chaos & Creation

Chance operations at Neighbourhood Schools: Chaos & Creation

Gamelan Lila City in the Masonic Temple for Undiscovered Spitalfields

Sankorfa Ensemble in Dennis Severs’ House for Undiscovered Spitalfields

Matthew Barley: The Protecting Veil

Performing in Spire at St Botolph without Aldgate

New Esperance Morris Dancers – Midsummer Street Party

Spitalfields City Farm – Midsummer Street Party

On the Main Stage – Midsummer Street Party

Hidden Gems with East London Dance at Christ Church Spitalfields

Storytelling Yurt with Idea Store – Midsummer Street Party

Compère Paul Martin at Midsummer Street Party

Hidden Gems with East London Dance at Bishopsgate Institute

Rhythms of the City – Midsummer Street Party

Street Dance the Maypole with East London Dance

Fire

Fire with The Opera Group

Summer Festival Playlist now available

With June drawing nearer, our Summer Festival 2012 is only round the corner (only 13 weeks, we checked!). As ever, we’ll be bringing you a diverse programme of renowned artists, local music making and a musical repertoire no less eclectic. To get you in the mood for what’s in store, we’ve put together a Summer Festival Spotify Playlist for everyone to explore some of the artists and music coming to Spitalfields later in the year.

Listen out for: Ton Koopman & Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra playing J.S. Bach, Purcell‘s Scene of the Drunken Poet, choral music by Alec Roth, Bolivian Baroque courtesy of Florilegium, the music of our Associate Artists (Gabrieli Consort & Players, Matthew Barley & Talvin Singh) and much more.

We hope you enjoy!

Making music on International Women’s Day

Today is International Women’s Day, and we thought this would be a great opportunity to celebrate the women who will be making music in our Summer Festival this June!

On Thursday 21 June, the Heath Quartet along with Dutch bassoonist Bram van Sambeek will be giving the first performance of Nicola LeFanu‘s new chamber work, Harlequin Memories.  The piece reflects on the life of a Shoreditch resident and wood-turner, and is part-inspired by a striking statue of a harlequin which was once in his possession.

In Melvyn Tan‘s Bach-inspired programme on Monday 18 June, the centrepiece comes in the form of Variations for Judith, a series of variations on J.S. Bach‘s arrangement of G.H. Stölzel’s Bist du bei mir by 11 of British music’s most celebrated composers. Each has a personal relationship with Spitalfields Music’s former Executive Director, Judith Serota and among the collection are works by Diana Burrell, Thea Musgrave and Judith Weir.

Also taking to our stages this Summer are soprano Dorothee Mields with Ton Koopman and the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, vocalists Anne Garner and Emily Barker who will be performing with Associate Artist Talvin Singh and as part of Undiscovered Spitalfields respectively. And who could forget our vivacious 50-strong ladies choir, Women sing East who along with their brilliant conductor Laka D will be revelling in two decades of popular classics and raising the roof of Shoreditch Church – not to be missed!

Happy Women’s Day everyone!