The third Chapel Street Festival of Music returns with an exciting new collaboration with Minack Theatre Acting Academy on April 26 to 28 at Chapel Street Methodist Church in Penzance.
The three-day event brings together a wealth of local talent with a keen focus on giving opportunities to young performers. The programme contains a colourful and diverse range of events in a celebration of music that has something for everyone for West Cornwall audiences.
Kicking off the festival on the evening of Friday, April 26, is a dance/jazz inspired concert Tango, Foxtrots and all that Jazz with the Chapel Street Ensemble at 7pm, followed by a festival reception.
The Big Wind Day on Saturday, April 27, opens up the stage to some of the finest young woodwind players in Cornwall with a free lunchtime performance at 1pm who, alongside Chapel Street Winds, premiere a brand-new commission by Cornish composer Paul Saggers, Jam on First! as part of the Wind Jam evening concert.
The final day sees a new collaboration with the Minack Theatre Acting Academy, presenting Prokofiev’s fairy tale, Peter and the Wolf, a free event, perfect for children and families, on the afternoon of Sunday, April 28, from 3pm.
The festival will end on a gentler, more reflective note with a 7pm concert of music for voice, viola and piano, featuring young Cornish mezzo-soprano Esmee Loughlin-Dickenson and Emma Stansfield (viola).
Tim Dean, chair of Chapel Street Music, said: “The generous support we have received from a variety of funders has enabled us to experiment with a number of new initiatives in this Festival. Our major emphasises for 2024 are youth and community.
“A newly-conceived dramatic presentation of Peter and the Wolf will be our very first collaboration with the talented young actors and performers from the Minack Academy, while the ‘Big Wind Day’ will bring together equally talented young woodwind players from all over Cornwall in a county-wide initiative, culminating in a brand-new piece written just for them.
“In addition to this, our new ‘Pay What You Can’ policy will, we hope, encourage people to come along and try one of our live performance events for the first time.”
No advance booking is necessary for these events, while some events are free, others are pay what you can. For more information and to book tickets, visit www.chapelstreetmusic.co.uk