Ripon International Festival
Ripon International Festival
Click Here for This Year’s Events 2024
Outstanding occasions include Miklós Perényi in the Dvorak Cello Concerto with Northern Sinfonia; Beethoven 5/Tchaikovsky 5 with the RPO; Shostakovich 10 with Opera North; Mahler 1 and Shostakovich 5 with the RLPO “it [Shostakovich 5] was given a superb performance … though our lasting memory will be of the sheer power Janusz unleashed”(Yorkshire Post); Bach’s Mass in B minor with the Rodolphus Choir and a thrilling performance of Mozart’s ‘Great’ G minor and Beethoven’s Second Symphony with the London Mozart Players, marking their first-ever visit to Ripon in 2018.
The Festival also extends its reach to the Royal Hall, Harrogate where, among other performances, Piotrowicz conducted a searing Tchaikovsky Pathétique with the Hallé in 2011, Beethoven’s Violin Concerto (Alexandra Soumm) and Brahms 1 in 2013, a monumental Rachmaninov 2nd Symphony with the Hallé in 2014, and, continuing a long and happy association with Royal Northern Sinfonia, a magnificent performance, with a much-enlarged orchestra, of the First Symphony of Sibelius in 2018.
Another major achievement was to secure one of the world’s finest choirs for the 2004 festival. The thirty-eight members of the St. Nikolai Church Choir of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow – “astonishingly young, but their voices are as old as time” (The Times) – gave a breathtaking performance at Ripon Cathedral of the Rachmaninov Vespers in the year which marked the 400th Anniversary of the granting of the City’s Charter by King James I.
Many stage and literary celebrities have appeared: Sir Derek Jacobi, Geraldine McEwan, Michael Pennington (RSC), Richard Pasco (RSC), Barbara Jefford, Rohan McCullough, Barrie Rutter, Liverpool Poet Adrian Henri, Michael Holroyd, Wendy Cope, Alison Weir, Simon Armitage, Ian McMillan, Alexander McCall Smith, Andrew Motion.
Over the years the Festival has built a strong following from throughout the UK with visitors from Europe, Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the USA. The part played by local companies and individuals as sponsors and volunteers continues to be a vital factor in its success and we are grateful to them all.
Ripon International Festival