2008

The History of
The Egerton Music Festival

To contact us
01233 756775
Trustees
Peter Stevens
Sarah Bracher MBE
Hugo Fenwick

Committee
Sarah Bracher MBE - Chairman
Bryan Gipps - Artistic Director
Martin Griffiths - General Manager
Ian Mella - Treasurer
Jane Carr - Secretary

‘Musica Laetificat Coro’

In 1997 Egerton held its first Music Festival in order to raise funds for the new Village Hall. Hundreds of musicians and singers took part in a week of concerts and events that caught the imagination of audiences and performers alike.

2008 saw see the fifth Music Festival which opened on the 4th of July with Donizetti’s delightful opera, L’Elisir d’Amore, and closed with a Grand Choral Concert on the 13th. As ever, the aim of the organisers was to provide a varied programme of classical, jazz and other music accessible in terms both of price and content. However, the story of the Egerton Music Festival would be incomplete without acknowledging our debt to those who have contributed over the years.

The Festival would not have got off the ground at all without the support of John and Catita Lumley, whose beautiful barn at Court Lodge was the main venue for the first two festivals.

Also in the early years, Clem Danin was tireless in his search for musicians, and the late Professor Yfrah Neaman sent us some wonderful young players from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

The late Bryan Gipps (sen.) welcomed us into Egerton House and, of course, without his son Bryan we would be rudderless today. John Hall has always turned up trumps with his young jazz players and Roy Gill has never been found wanting when we needed folk musicians.

Visiting choirs have included the Shepway Singers, Cantores Dominicae, the Cranbrook Choral Society, the Sutton Valence Choral Society; and we have welcomed the Kent Chamber Choir, under Alan Vincent, at least three times.

Over the years the chamber concerts and recitals have given us a chance to hear some first class musicians. Highlights must include the Trio Berneray from Munich, the Baugé Trio from the Royal Opera Orchestra and Trio con Spirito. Soloists have included Ben Hancox, Camilla Pay, Elinor Gow, Jane Wiseley, Robin Morrish and Paloma Kouider from Paris.

We will for ever be grateful to everyone who has helped and entertained us over the years.

‘Gaudeamus igitur’

John Fraser

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