The 72nd Cheltenham Music Festival taking place between 1st-17th july 2016 has announced its full programme. This year the festival features more than 20 world premieres as well as performances by Nicola Benedetti, Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg, Vasily Petrenko, the John Wilson Orchestra and Norway’s Barokksolistene.

In what must be one of the most diverse festival programmes anywhere, a vast range of classical music – symphonic, choral, chamber, contemporary and early music – is joined by jazz, folk, electronica, spoken word, film and family events.

In celebration of the 150th anniversary of Erik Satie’s birth, the programme includes an all-night relay performance by dozens of pianists of his famous ‘Vexations’, a theatre piece investigating Satie’s life and music written by Festival Director Meurig Bowen, and a ‘Keyboard Inventions’ series that features avatars, synths, animation, wearable tech, new scores for old films and an inside-out pendulum piano. 

“It’s a privilege, in such a festival programme, to be able to focus on cultural and historic events as diverse as the Somme and Yehudi Menuhin centenaries, the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death and, of course, Satie’s 150th birthday,” says Bowen. “Satie is one of music history’s great pioneers and provocateurs, and I am delighted that the Cheltenham audience will be able to explore in some depth this extraordinary figure.”

Cheltenham Music Festival’s longstanding track record of promoting new and British music continues in 2016 with more than 20 world premieres. These include a new piano work for Melvyn Tan by Jonathan Dove, a concerto for upright piano and electronics by Dave Maric, a new double concerto by Christian Lindberg for himself and Evelyn Glennie, and the first public performance of Herbert Howells’ Cello Concerto, with its newly completed final movement. The work of many established and venerable composers - such as Louis Andriessen, Steve Reich, Thomas Ades, James MacMillan, Sally Beamish, Judith Weir, Mark-Anthony Turnage and Michael Berkeley – is featured alongside the 4th edition of Cheltenham’s weeklong Composer Academy, whose new director for 2016 will be Michael Zev Gordon.

Other performance highlights include Ex Cathedra performing James MacMillan’s 2015 Last Judgement work, Seven Angels, in Tewkesbury Abbey; a four-concert focus on Schubert’s major chamber works with the Carducci Quartet, James Gilchrist and Guy Johnston; and a double-bill featuring Will Gregory’s Moog Ensemble and the Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain;

As part of Cheltenham’s commitment to diverse and eclectic programming, the 2016 festival will see raconteur Oz Clarke take guests on a musical wine tour, jazz chanteuse Claire Martin in Hollywood Rhapsody, Michael Morpurgo in a concert re-telling of his ‘The Mozart Question, while iconic English actor Simon Callow will join Fretwork in a musical re-creation of Francis Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe.

The landmark festival venues are located in Cheltenham itself and in the surrounding area, providing a unique experience of music and architecture. They include Gloucester Cathedral, Cheltenham Town Hall, Pittville Pump Room, Tewkesbury Abbey, Cheltenham Ladies College and Cheltenham College Chapel.