Newbury Spring Festival

Newbury Spring Festival 

7th-21st May 

Newbury Spring Festival is one of the most popular and successful music festivals in the South of England. Over the last 38 years the Festival has grown hugely in size and quality building up a reputation of international status. With dynamic programming, Festival Director, Mark Eynon attracts the very best from the classical, jazz and world music fields to perform in and around Newbury.

Presenting young artists and developing youthful audiences has always been a key part of the Festival and this year is no exception. Activities include Benjamin Grosvenor and others going into local schools to hold workshops for around 1,300 children, and giving the best emerging young musicians concert experience through the Young Artists lunchtime recital series, to which students are offered free tickets. The Festival’s own Sheepdrove Piano competition also showcases the breadth and wealth of international young musical talent drawn from all the major UK conservatoires.

The Festival prides itself on its reputation for presenting concerts in some glorious venues both in Newbury and the surrounding countryside. Great care is taken to tailor the right performance to the venue, whether it be an intimate recital at magnificent Highclere Castle or in the Long Gallery at Englefield House, top level choral concerts in Douai Abbey and East Woodhay church or a song recital in Ramsbury church. This year a new addition to the festival will be a gala performance of Rigoletto at Combe Manor, set in the rolling Berkshire hills, and staged performances of Bach’s Coffee Cantata in St Nicolas Church Hall. In the centre of Newbury, St Nicolas’s church with its excellent acoustics is the festival’s concert hall welcoming world class orchestras and international soloists. Newbury’s resident theatre, the Corn Exchange continues to present a nightly programme of ballet, cabaret, jazz and world music as well as regular lunchtime concerts.

The Festival is also proud of its involvement with the local community: by encouraging people to come and sing in the Spring Festival Chorus, which will not only perform with the CBSO on the opening night, but also contribute to a special church service the following morning. Local choirs, individuals and families can also join them for a special ‘singalong’ event the following weekend, culminating in a concert for all the family in Newbury Corn Exchange.

FURTHER DETAILS

Programme details
www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk

Tickets
Available from 1st March 2016

Booking
www.newburyspringfestival.org.uk
T: 0845 5218 218

For more information contact
Arabella Christian
Press & PR
Newbury Spring Festival
press@newburyspringfestival.org.uk

Giant Easter Egg Hunt: 3–18 April 2015

The Easter school holidays are on the horizon, and what better way to keep children of all ages (from 1 to 101!) amused than with Newbury’s Giant Easter Egg Hunt 2015? If it’s anything like the one in 2014, it’s going to be cracking good fun!

This year’s Giant Easter Egg Hunt starts on Good Friday (3 April) and runs for over two weeks, ending on Saturday 18 April, and as it incorporates three weekends this gives everyone plenty of time to get involved.

So, how does it work? It’s simple. All you need to do is collect an entry form from Parkway Easter Zone on East Street or the Visitor Information Centre in Market Place (available from 3 April). This will present you with a series of 15 clues about where in Newbury town centre you will find the giant Easter eggs, planted by Newbury’s very own Easter bunny. Follow the trail around town – it is all within easy walking distance – as you work out the crafty clues. When you find each of the 15 giant eggs you will also find a special letter that will go towards cracking a secret code. Once you’ve completed the trail and cracked the code, all entry forms need to be returned to the Easter Zone in Parkway – then keep your fingers crossed!

Everyone who works out the code correctly will be in with a chance of winning a fabulous prize, including a fantastic first prize of a £250 voucher from John Lewis at Home. It is expected that competition winners will be announced on 18 April, but no later than 20 April.

Which shops and businesses are involved? Well, that would be telling! But what we can do is thank Newbury BID, Newbury Building Society, Parkway Shopping Newbury, Pageant Party shop in Cheap Street and Rainbows in Inches Yard who are sponsoring the event and giving everyone this exciting opportunity.

Even if you don’t have time to complete the trail, while you are in Newbury over the Easter period you are sure to enjoy admiring the magnificent giant Easter Eggs – they really are enormous and hugely colourful. Many of them have been designed by local junior schools, giving the children a great time demonstrating their artistic talents. Others have been decorated by local craft shop Rainbows.

Many people who participated in the Giant Easter Egg Hunt 2014 voted it an out and out success, and this year it is anticipated that even more locals and visitors to the town will take part. We hope to see you there!