The 2023 Summer School & Festival has now finished – we’ll be back with our updated website and details of the 2024 season soon.
Our 2023 Festival saw us celebrate our 75th year of Summer School!
If you’re new to the Festival, or need a refresher on how it all works, we recommend you read through this page before you get started.
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Latest from @dartingtonarts
Have you had a chance to check out the Music, Migration & Mobility exhibition in the East Wing Lounge yet?
This fascinating exhibition, researched and curated by @rcmlondon team Alison Garnham, Norbert Meyn and Sam Weinstein, explores the role of migration and mobility in the early history of the Dartington Summer School - the most exciting and imaginative music education institution to emerge in post war Britain… if we do say so ourselves!
We’re delighted that the team are also joining us for a special event tomorrow evening at 5pm to talk about their work.
🎟️ £5
Book now:
www.dartington.org/event/summerfestival-migration-mobility-and-the-history-of-the-dartington-summer-school
#dartingtonmusic #dartingtonsummerschool #musichistory
During this year's Summer School & Festival, we've offered our biggest ever family programme: a range of courses, workshops and concerts for children and their adults to discover their love of music together!
It's been glorious to see multi-generational families enjoying, listening to and making music, and we're thrilled to have two more fun and immersive family concerts and a brass workshop taking place this week:
Come and Play! Family Brass Workshop
Tue 15 Aug, 5pm
Summer School brass tutors Brett Baker (trombone) and Paul Archibald (trumpet) lead a fun, open session for brass band players of all ages.
Magnard Ensemble: Family Concert A Trip to the Countryside
Wed 16 Aug, 10.30am
Join Magnard Ensemble on a musical trip around the wonderful countryside! Where will the wind (quintet) take you…? This family friendly, interactive chamber music concert will feature music from the UK, Germany, Denmark and America. Children of all ages welcome, from age 0 to 100!
Leonore Piano Trio: Family Concert Why Beethoven Threw the Stew!
Thu 17 Aug, 10.30am
Join the Leonore Piano Trio and presenter Rachel Leach for an entertaining family concert for age 5+, packed with well-known tunes, surprising facts and witty stories that bring Beethoven’s music to life.
Explore the programme & book tickets:
dartington.org/summerfestival
#totnes #familyevents #devon #livemusic #musicclasses #dartingtonsummerschool #dartingtonmusic
For the final week of our Summer School & Festival we're celebrating the music of the legendary composer Thea Musgrave, pictured here in the courtyard in 1956.
@magnardensemble: Mozart and Musgrave
Tue 15 Aug, 7.30pm
Join the brilliant young Magnard Ensemble for an evening of wind quintets, from Mozart to composer in residence Thea Musgrave. The programme also features Barber’s heady Summer Music, a quintet by Wagner’s contemporary August Klughardt, and new works by Tonia Ko and Euchar Gravina.
@annalapwoodorgan: Fauré Requiem
Fri 18 Aug, 7.30pm
Celebrated organist and choral director Anna Lapwood conducts the Dartington Festival Choir & Players in the final concert of our Festival, pairing Fauré’s much-loved Requiem and the miniature Cantique de Jean Racine with the ravishingly beautiful Missa Brevis by Thea Musgrave.
We're also delighted to be hosting a special presentation by members of the @rcmlondon team behind the current exhibition Music, Migration and Mobility. Alison Garnham, Norbert Meyn and Sam Weinstein will discuss the role of migration and mobility in the early history of the Dartington Summer School — the most exciting and imaginative music education institution to emerge in post-war Britain.
We’ve also been celebrating 75 years of Summer School by looking to the future, with our biggest ever family offer, courses for young people in every week, a generous bursary scheme that nurtures new talent, and several new courses reflecting current practice in music.
Explore our final week programme & book:
dartington.org/summerfestival
#dartingtonmusic #dartingtonsummerschool #musichistory #postwarbritain #20thcenturyhistory #20thcenturymusic
Calling all singers and instrumentalists! We have three incredible one-off music-making workshops taking place this week as part of our Summer School & Festival, which are perfect for those who'd love to find out more about what our courses are like, as well as anyone who loves making music with others:
Come and Sing! With @blackvoicesuk
Sat 12 Aug, 2pm
Carol Pemberton and CeCelia Wickham-Anderson lead a one-off Come and Sing workshop exploring songs from the Black Oral Tradition. This is a wonderful opportunity for anyone unable to join for the full week of their Summer School course to sing with these incredible musicians.
Come and Play! Beethoven’s 5th Symphony with Dartington Festival Orchestra
Sun 13 Aug, 2pm
Acclaimed conductor offers amateur musicians a rare opportunity to sit side-by-side with the accomplished players of Dartington Festival Orchestra, and play a run-through of this iconic work under her direction. Suitable for Grade 5+.
Come and play! Family brass workshop with @archibald.paul & @bretttrombone
Tue 15 Aug, 5pm
Summer School brass tutors lead a fun, open session for brass band players of all ages!
Tickets are £10 per session (£5 for under 26s!) and bookable via the link in our bio.
#livemusic #dartingtonmusic #devon #dartingtonsummerschool #totnes ##musicworkshop
To celebrate 75 years of the Summer School, we have been asking people for their memories. Vicky Evans very kindly sent us these of her husband Michael. Michael Evans came to join the Dartington String Quartet in 1959. They were the resident quartet for about 20 years, teaching and performing at Dartington.
In these wonderful photos from the 1960s is the following:
1. William Bennet with Peter Carter, Keith Lovell & Michael Evans - rehearsing Flute Quartets at Dartington
2. Michael Evans, Colin Sauer, Hans Keller, Keith Lovell, Peter Carter - Dartington Quartet illustrated talks on music, often Haydn Quartets, by Hans Keller
3. Dartington String Quartet, Michael Evans, Colin Sauer, Peter Carter, Keith Lovell
4. Bill (well-known cellist) & pianist wife Maggie Pleeth - at Dartington SS
5. Paul Tortellier and his wife Maud at DSS
6. Stravinsky at DSS
Thanks again to Vicky for kindly sharing these with us and giving us permission to share them with you.
Thanks to everyone who comes to Dartington to play and teach and learn and live and breathe music with us for a few weeks every summer.
Did you hear Thursday's 'How to play: Fauré’s Requiem' on BBC Radio 4, featuring the incredible @_bbcnow?
It made us very excited for Week 4 of our Summer School (12 - 19 Aug) where celebrated choral conductor & organist @AnnaLapwoodOrgan (fresh from her dazzling @BBC_Proms organ recital earlier this week) will be leading our Big Choir towards a performance of two complementary works: Gabriel Fauré’s much-loved Requiem and Cantique de Jean Racine, and the ravishingly beautiful Missa Brevis by Thea Musgrave.
There are still spaces to join Anna's course in Week 4, with some very limited availability to stay with us and enjoy the full Summer School experience! Non-residential Course & Concerts, or Single Course Passes also available.
Find out more via the link in our bio.