Ryedale Festival - 16 days of first-class music in some of North and East Yorkshire's most beautiful locations starts this week

One of the UK’s most distinctive and fast-growing festivals, this year’s programme brings together major premieres, bold artistic residencies and leading classical artists.

John Wilson and Sinfonia of London open a new three-year partnership at York Barbican. The Gesualdo Six take audiences on a choral journey from Bridlington Priory to Richmond.

Cellist Laura van der Heijden appears across the county, including Castle Howard and Helmsley Arts Centre.

At the Triple Concert at Castle Howard, festival-goers rotate between three performances in the Long Gallery, Chapel and Great Hall.

Trumpet and flugelhorn soloist Imogen Whitehead is artist-in-residence and gives the world premiere of Gabriel Jackson’s new Flugelhorn Concerto with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra.

Further highlights include siblings Sheku and Isata Kanneh-Mason, Tenebrae, the Dunedin Consort and a Final Gala Concert with Royal Northern Sinfonia.

Yorkshire-rooted storytelling and folk also feature, with Eliza Carthy at Selby Abbey and Matt Ford in Malton.

Families are catered for too, with Concerteenies musical storytelling for children aged from three to seven and a relaxed concert where audiences can move and listen in their own way, especially suitable for those with sensory sensitivities.

Highlights of the Ryedale Festival

Friday July 10

Duncombe Park, Helmsley, 3pm: Junyan Chen piano including Rachmaninov Études-Tableaux op 33 and Rachmaninov Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭ minor (1931 version)

All Saints’ Church, Helmsley at 6pm: Dunedin Consort, Nicholas Mulroy, director, tenor; Jessica Cale, soprano; Samuel Boden, tenor and Chris Webb bass. Includes work by Purcell and John Blow.

Saturday July 11

Ampleforth Abbey, Ampleforth at 3pm: Imogen Whitehead trumpet/flugelhorn and Rachel Mahon organ includes works by Purcell and Bach.

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Hallgarth, Pickering at 8pm: Schubert Winterreise with Mark Padmore, tenor, and Christopher Glynn, piano.

York Barbican, Paragon St, York, at 4pm: John Wilson, conductor, Sinfonia of London and Charlie Lovell-Jones, violin. Includes Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending and Walton’s Spitfire Prelude and Fugue.

Monday July 13

All Saints’ Church, Church Street, Hovingham, at 3pm: What the Heart Remembers: Maryam Wocial, soprano, and Audrey Hyland, piano.

St Peter’s and St Paul’s Church, Hallgarth, Pickering, at 7pm: Van Baerle Trio and Hannes Minnaar, piano. The opening of a four-concert journey exploring how Brahms and Shostakovich drew on the past to find their own voices.

Tuesday July 14

All Saints’ Church, Church Street, Hovingham, at 11am: coffee concert with Van Baerle Trio and Hannes Minnaar piano.

St Peter’s Church, Langton Road, Norton, at 6pm: Isata Kanneh-Mason, piano; Sheku Kanneh-Mason, cellist, in conversation

St Peter’s Church, Langton Road, Norton, at 9.30pm: candelit concert with the Gesualdo Six and Josephine Knight, cello.

Wednesday July 15

St Peter’s Church, Langton Road, Norton, at 11am: coffee concert with Van Baerle Trio and Hannes Minnaar, piano. Shostakovich’s Preludes and Fugues nos 13-17 and Brahms’ Piano Trio no.3 in C minor.

Bridlington Priory, The Bolt, Bridlington, at 3pm: English Motets with the Gesualdo Six.

Thursday July 16

Duncombe Park, Helmsley, at 7pm: Van Baerle Trio and Hannes Minnaar, piano.

Helmsley Arts Centre, Meeting House Court, Helmsley, at 9.30pm: Mercury Songs: Emily Levy, voice, electronics; Matthew Bourne, piano, Moog synthesizer, cello; Aby Vulliamy, voice, viola; Nick Rasle, voice, guitar and Michael Bardon, cello.

Friday July 17

Duncombe Park, Helmsley, at 11am: Madeleine Brown, piano. Includes Chopin: Polonaise-Fantaisie; Thomas Adès; Darknesse Visible and Schubert/Liszt: Auf dem Wasser zu singen.

Sledmere House and Church, Sledmere, at 6pm: House: Kosmos: Harriet Mackenzie, violin; Meg Hamilton, viola and Milos Milivojevic, accordion.

Church: Royal Northern Sinfonia and Maria Wloszczowska, violin/director.

Saturday July 18

The Wesley Centre, Saville Street, Malton, at 3pm: Opera North in Mini Magic Flute

A Prince is in search of a Princess, but will they ever find one other? And what adventures lie in wait for them along the way?

St Peter’s Church, Langton Road, Norton, at 7pm: Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Charlotte Corderoy, conductor, and Imogen Whitehead, flugelhorn.

Includes: Weber Symphony no.2 in C; Gabriel Jackson Flugelhorn Concerto, world premiere, and Beethoven Symphony no.4 in B-flat.

Sunday July 19

Kirkbymoorside Primary School, Westfields, Kirkbymoorside, at 3pm: Musical Curiosities with Meera Maharaj, flute, and Lucy Nolan, harp.

Blending folk music with classical and contemporary pieces for children aged from three to seven.

James Holt Concert Hall, Manor Vale Lane, Kirkbymoorside, at 3pm: Kirkbymoorside Town Brass Band with Sarah Woodward, conductor, and Imogen Whitehead, guest artist.

The Milton Rooms, Market Place, Malton, at 7pm: Sinatra and the Swing Legends. Matt Ford, vocalist, and the Swing Legends Band.

Tuesday July 21

St Martin-on-the-Hill Church, Albion Road, Scarborough, at 11am: Aris Quartet and NOVO Quartet. Schubert String Quartet no.14 in in D minor, D.810 Death and the Maiden; Mendelssohn Octet in E-flat, op 20.

Castle Howard, Castle Howard Estate, at 7pm: Triple concert.

An event unique to the Ryedale Festival, it eatures three contrasting concerts in different areas of Castle Howard. Each concert is presented three times, with the audiences rotating after each performance.

Long Gallery: Aris Quartet with Gary Pomeroy, viola

Chapel: Dowland’s FoundryGreat Hall: Dances and Duos. Laura van der Heijden, cello; Max Baillie, violin; Marcel Comendant, cimbalom, and Misha Mullov-Abbado double bass.

Wednesday July 22

Birdsall House, Birdsall, Malton, at 11am: Laura van der Heijden, cello, and Tom Poster, piano.

Includes Debussy: Cello sonata in D minor; Ravel: Habanera and Saint-Saëns: The Swan.

Thursday July 23

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Hallgarth, Pickering, at 11am: Zee Zee, piano.

Schubert: Piano sonata in A major, D.664; Schubert-Liszt: Der Müller und der Bach & Liebesbotschaft and Schubert: Piano sonata in C minor, D.958

Church of St Peter and St Paul, Hallgarth, Pickering, at 3pm: Erika Baikoff, soprano, and Christopher Glynn, piano.

Schubert Alinde; Die Götter Griechenlands; Schwestergruss; Der Zwerg; Viola; Frühlingsglaube; Im Frühling; Die junge Nonne

Kirk Theatre, Hungate, Pickering, at 7pm: Schubert: The Essential Collection with the Erlkings.

All Saints’ Church, Church Street, Kirkbymoorside, at 9.30pm: candlelit concert: Aris Quartet with Laura van der Heijden, cello.

Schubert String Quintet in C, D.956.

Saturday July 25

All Saints’ Church, Church Street, Kirkbymoorside, at 11am: Versa Winds.

Rivier Grave et Presto; Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue; Bernstein: Dances from West Side Story and Mintzer Quartet no.1.

Helmsley Arts Centre, Meeting House Court, Helmsley, at 11am: relaxed concert with

Versa Winds. A relaxed one-hour concert with a varied programme ranging across classical, jazz and lighter styles.

Duncombe Park, Helmsley, York, at 7pm: Benjamin Grosvenor, piano.

Beethoven: Theme and Variations on Rule Britannia; Beethoven: Variations on God Save the King; Schumann: Fantasie in C; Scriabin: Sonata no.2 in G-sharp minor and Chopin: Sonata no.2 in B-flat minor.

Sunday July 26

Hovingham Hall, Church Street, Hovingham, at 6pm: final gala concert.

Royal Northern Sinfonia with Eva Thorarinsdottir, director, and Laura van der Heijden, cello

Programme: Grieg: Holberg Suite; Haydn: Cello concerto in C major and Mozart Symphony no.40 in G minor

Grieg revisits the dances and manners of an earlier age, Haydn writes a concerto of dazzling brilliance for a star cellist, and Royal Northern Sinfonia and Mozart propel us forward in a symphony that keeps its tension until the final bar.

For full concert details and to book tickets go to: https://ryedalefestival.com/