About the Frinton Festival
The Artistic Director of the Frinton Festival Robert Max writes:
In 2011 Joan Ellis asked me if the Barbican Piano Trio would give a house concert in The Homestead in Frinton and we readily agreed. The capacity audience enjoyed music by Haydn, Paul Schoenfield and Brahms and we immediately agreed to give another concert the following year. This concert was oversubscribed, as was a further concert in 2013 and Joan said as there was such an appetite for our music-making why don’t we organise a festival?
So we did!
The plan was simple – invite fantastic musicians to perform a bold selection of gorgeous music in attractive local venues. I wanted our loyal and enthusiastic audience to feel at home at every event, so we decided that there would be no charge for concert programmes and free refreshments would be enjoyed at most events. Each year Mr.Wheeler Wines have generously provided a selection of delicious wines to be sampled in the intervals.
2014
Chris Perry told us that for several years St. Mary’s Parish Church had been fundraising to buy a grand piano and it would be delivered in spring 2014. We presented the opening concert of the first Frinton Festival there on 29th May that year. I was sure that the tiny Old Church would be a magical space in which to give a concert and the enthusiastic response to our candlelit string trio concert proved that this was the case, matched by the excitement of hearing a fine concert of string quintets in All Saint’s Church across the fields in Great Holland. Another thrill was the discovery by performers and audience alike of chamber music by the largely neglected Russian composer Sergei Taneyev. Our Frinton audiences proved to be curious, supportive and loyal.
2015
The success of the first festival suggested that the festival should continue, and to do so it needed to follow new paths. I was keen to involve local musicians in the festival so the second festival featured the Coastal Singers and the Tendring Male Voice Choir in a joyous performance of Joseph Horovitz’s Captain Noah and his Floating Zoo, lots more Russian chamber music and the first appearance of the Massive Violins at the Tennis Club.
2016
Our third festival included a selection of more and less familiar music by Saint Saens, including the Carnival of the Animals. This formed the centrepiece of a spectacular Family Concert involving a dozen professional musicians including local harpist Ilze Robertson and schoolchildren from three local Primary Schools. Together they gave the first performance of a work we commissioned from Ronald Corp OBE called “Riddle me this”. Preparation for this concert included schools concerts sponsored by the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust. Cavatina has remained a loyal supporter of the festival and also help young people aged 8-25 to come to some of our concerts for free.
2017
The 2017 festival again led us in a new direction. Our final concert was at the Tennis Club and featured a wide selection of entertaining music for string quartet ranging from the year’s featured composer Dvorak to Amy Winehouse. We seized the opportunity to perform for the day-centre audience at Reid House on the Esplanade, at Mid-Meadows care home outside the gates and to give an acoustic pub gig at the Red Lion in Kirby-le-Soken. The first Frinton Festival Choral Evensong was organised by Duncan Archard, St. Mary’s Director of Music, and we have continued this with increasing ambition and achievement each year. Audiences at the Old Church and St. Mary’s Church responded with great enthusiasm to first performances of Noah Max’s Sojourn and Hugo Max’s Venture in Green and I well remember the surprise of being confronted by the clicking camera of a local newspaper journalist in the middle of our UK premiere of Timothy Baxter’s Trio Fantasi in The Homestead.
2018
It is vital that children are continually encouraged to hear live music. We were fortunate that the first performance of a new piece for piano trio and narrator, written by composer Joseph Phibbs and storyteller Kevin Graal, could be given in the 2018 festival, preceded by workshops and concerts in Frinton Primary, Hamford Primary and Rolph CofE Primary Schools. Our programmes included music by Schumann and Schubert and James Kirby generously gave a fundraising piano recital in The Homestead. The return of the Massive Violins to the Tennis Club was a keenly anticipated event.
2019
Last year’s festival included our most ambitious event to date - a Family Concert with the London Chamber Orchestra. We were joined by young musicians from Tendring Music School who had previously taken part in a special workshop session with LCO musicians for a performance of Ollie Howell’s “Between Emotions”. A packed Free Church also enjoyed local celebrity John D. Collins’ narration of Peter and the Wolf and a whirlwind performance of Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony. The 2019 festival opened with an uninterrupted performance of Bach’s Six Cello Suites in All Saints’ Church alongside concerts featuring the Barbican Piano Trio and friends.
2020
This year’s festival was rescheduled from May to October and we presented three extraordinary socially distanced live concerts in Frinton’s Tennis Club. The distinguished tenor Ian Bostridge and acclaimed pianist Julius Drake gave a mesmerising performance of Schubert’s Winterreise, the Barbican Piano Trio performed works by Beethoven and Smetana and an all-star ensemble of the UK’s finest musicians performed Schubert’s Octet.
2021
The relaxing of restrictions on 17th May allowed us to present four socially-distanced concerts in Frinton’s Tennis Club. The Barbican Piano Trio opened the festival and were later joined by violist Joel Hunter and bass-player Stacey Watton to close the festival with Schubert’s “Trout” Quintet. In between, Joely Koos revisited Frinton to play cello duets with Robert Max and Lutyens’ The Farmstead, narrated by John D. Collins and Mathilde Milwidsky returned for the first time since 2016 to play sonatas by Agnes Zimmermann and Elgar with pianist Joseph Havlat.
2022
featured the Frinton Festival Orchestra in Frinton Free Church conducted by Robert Max with a return visit by violinist Mathilde Milwidsky; young musicians from Tendring Community Music Centre; a free performance for Frinton Primary School pupils; Echo Ensemble playing Noah Max’s “Babel” in the iconic Naze Tower; two concerts in St. Mary’s Church by the Barbican Piano Trio with Alinka Rowe; Lucasta Miller discussing Keats with Clive Brill; Frinton Festival Choral Evensong; Ian Bostridge and Julius Drake…
2023
The festival opened with a remarkable performance of Schubert’s Schwanengesang by Ian Bostridge and Joseph Middleton which was preceded by Lucasta Miller discussing her book L.E.L with Clive Brill. The Soutine Quartet performed in All Saint’s, Great Holland alongside a screening of Hugo Max’s short film “Dissonance” and framed by artwork created by students from Tendring Technology College. The Barbican Piano Trio returned to Voysey’s Homestead and an enlarged Echo Ensemble with solo flautist Anna Kondrashina played music by Mozart, Noah Max and Tchaikovsky to an enthusiastic audience in Frinton Free Church.
I have been delighted
to welcome to Frinton many musicians whose fine performances have given such pleasure including Mathilde Milwidsky, Tim Crawford, Maria Włoszczowska, Alasdair Beatson, Tim Ridout and Adam Newman. My friends and colleagues in the Barbican Piano Trio Sophie Lockett and James Kirby have given many beautiful concerts and provided constant support and encouragement. We have earned the support of a merry team of locally based helpers who help in a variety of ways and of course none of this could have been achieved without the financial support of a particularly loyal group of sponsors. As the Festival is a registered charity, Gift-Aid can be added to donations. There are always things to be done and activities that need more support, please do get in touch if you would like to help.