Cheltenham Music Festival Explained

The Cheltenham Music Festival is a British music festival, held annually in Cheltenham in the summer months (June, July) since 1945. The festival is renowned for premieres of contemporary music, hosting over 250 music premieres as of July 2004.^[1]

John Manduell was the first Programme Director (de facto artistic director) of the festival, for 25 seasons from 1969 to 1994.^[2]

Artistic directors

• John Manduell (1969–1994)
• Michael Berkeley (1995–2004)
• Martyn Brabbins (2005–2007)
• Meurig Bowen (2007–2017)
• Alison Balsom (2018–2019)^[3]
• Camilla King (2019–2021)^[4]
• Michael Duffy (2022–present)^[5]

See also

• Cheltenham Festivals

Further reading

• Richard Witts (2015). Shopping and Fricker: the origins of the Cheltenham Festival of Modern British Music and the 'Cheltenham Symphony'. The Musical Times 156 (1931): 9–21

Notes and References

1. News: Michael Berkeley . Out with the old . The Guardian . 2004-07-03 . 2008-10-15.
2. Sir John Manduell CBE 1928–2017 . Cheltenham Music Festival . 31 October 2017 . 2017-12-17.
3. News: Alison Balsom: 'We have a music crisis in schools. Everyone needs to speak out'. Morrison. Richard. 2018-03-16. The Times. 2019-06-21. en. 0140-0460. registration.
4. Web site: 4 July 2020. Cheltenham Music Festival: Replay. 2020-07-03. SoGlos. en.
5. Web site: 9 December 2021. Duffy joins Cheltenham Music Festival as Head of Programming. 2022-10-18. ArtsProfessional. en.