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The Norfolk and Norwich Festival is back with its
renowned mix of music, theatre and comedy, along with some new features
to attract an even wider audience.
"I’m very excited about the 2003 programme,"
said the festival's artistic director Peter Bolton.
"What I think we’ve managed to do is bring
together a whole load of things that wouldn’t otherwise come to
Norfolk if we didn’t do them."
Highlights include an opening concert from the
Michael Nyman Band, the promise of laughter with comedian Phil Kay
and an internationally acclaimed selection of classical and contemporary
performers.
"Our jazz programme has an international level
of performance that you wouldn’t otherwise get in this part of the
world and that’s very exciting," enthused Bolton.
Taking to the streets in 2003
The festival sees a new development
this year with the introduction of a street festival on Saturday
3 May. From midday, Norwich city centre will be transformed by a
mesmerising array of some of the UK's best street performers.
"It’s been a long standing desire that we
get the festival to lots of other people who perhaps aren’t engaging
with it already," said Bolton.
Street performers |
"They’ll be a real blitz on Norwich’s streets
with lots of free events. You won’t be able to move for street performers."
Festival for all
As artist director of the festival, Peter Bolton
still faces some criticism that the event remains an arena for the
cultural elite, but argues this is more an issue for society than
for him: "I think there is always that
thing of 'classical music is only for the knobs' but I don’t think
that’s our problem.
"I think that’s a society thing and people
have labelled certain things in certain ways. I
don’t think the festival is elitist.
"My job is to put on really good events of
a variety of sorts. I don’t think anything
we’re doing requires a particular sort of person to enjoy it - I
think anybody can," he added.
Drama and dance
In addition to the wide range of music performed
throughout the festival, audiences also have the opportunity to
enjoy a number of theatrical works.
The Northern Ballet Theatre presents Mozart's Requiem
choreographed by Birgit Scherzer, a performance featuring a chorus
of 50 singers from the Keswick Hall Choir.
Jonathan Ollivier, a principal dancer with the
NBT, said Requiem is very much a personal experience for every member
of the audience: "The story is quite
hard to explain as it’s pretty much down to individual interpretation.
"The ballet doesn’t really have much to do
with Mozart at all and it doesn’t have a definite story.
"It’s quite hard to explain. It’s about whatever
the audience wants to make of the ballet, there is no right or wrong
story," he said.
The festival also sees a rare
performance of Everyman, starring and directed by Simon
Callow with a cast from Norwich's Maddermarket Theatre and the London
Mozart Players.
Pop goes the festival
On the issue of including more pop concerts under
the festival's umbrella, Bolton argues that Norfolk already has
enough of these events.
"I think we have to balance what other people
are doing," he said.
| HAVE YOUR SAY |
What do you think of the festival
line up? Is there enough variety, what acts would you like to
see as part of the festival?
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"We have a lot of other promoters in Norfolk
that are bringing pop acts to the county.
"What we’re trying to do is position ourselves
so we’re not repeating what else is going on during the rest of
the year, but it doesn’t rule anything in or out in the future.
"It’s always a difficult one, but my criteria
is to broaden the programme as widely as I can that it is distinctive
and at an international level of performance.
"In the future we do have ideas for developing
events that would have a very broad appeal involving major artists
that would reach a very wide public. These things are very much
in our minds so watch this space."
The Norfolk and Norwich Festival 2003 runs from
30 April - 10 May. Full event listings available at .
Throughout the festival, ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½
Radio Norfolk will be broadcasting news and reviews from 6pm
weekdays on 95.1 & 104.4FM in Norfolk, UK.
The ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ is not responsible for the content of external
websites
Michael Nyman image courtesy of David Gamble
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We’re doing a broad range of stuff. It includes comedy,
jazz, new music, classical music, street events, contemporary
dance and it doesn’t get much broader than that. I don’t
think we’re doing anything that would exclude anybody
from coming for any reason.
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