We are delighted to announce the line-up for 2022! The Festival, which will run from 28 May to 11 June, will consist of 50 music, arts and walking events to mark the Festival’s 50th anniversary.
“It will combine the crème de la crème of Festival performers over the last decade with plenty of new faces, plus as many artists as possible who were scheduled to perform in 2020 and 2021 but couldn’t due to the pandemic”, says Artistic Director Malcolm Creese.
Tickets go on sale on Monday 14 March, but subscribers to the Festival Friends scheme benefit from early access in a two-week priority booking period starting on Monday 28 February. Under 25s can get tickets to every single event for just £3.
In another nod to its 50 years, the Festival has a new look, with a unique anniversary logo and a fresh colour palette across its website.
The 2022 programme will commence with a 50th anniversary Gala performance of Handel’s Messiah in the splendour of Ripon Cathedral. The concert will feature two local choirs, a professional orchestra and world-renowned soloists.
Festivities continue with the legendary flamenco guitarist Paco Peña in the delightful setting of St. Andrew's Church in Grinton, and the talented Brazilian classical guitarist Laura Mazon Franqui who will be making her first Festival appearance as part of the Young Artists Platform.
From the extraordinary Kanneh-Mason family, piano sensation Jeneba will perform a recital in St. Andrew’s Church in Aysgarth, and in Reeth (where else!) her mother Kadiatu will give the annual Reeth Lecture in which she will share the trials and tribulations of raising seven ultra-gifted musicians.
The Festival is renowned for attracting classical stars to the Yorkshire Dales, and the stellar line-up this year includes violin virtuoso Alexander Markov, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, Hallé Cellos, the Sacconi and Brodsky Quartets, pianists Peter Donohoe and Noriko Ogawa, harpsichordist David Gordon and top vocal group VOCES8.
Outside of the classical genre, Will Pound and Jenn Butterworth will perform upbeat folk on harmonica and guitar, the Antonio Forcione Quartet will return with its infectious brand of world music, blues legends Dave Kelly and Bob Hall will play in Grinton and Northumbrian pipes star Kathryn Tickell will appear with her band The Darkening. Double bassist Creese’s jazz trio Acoustic Triangle, featuring saxophonist Tim Garland and pianist Gwilym Simcock, will make its first Festival appearance in a decade.
All this, plus a free Family Fun Day in Reeth, brass bands, workshops, guided walks, talks, poetry, film, five free exhibitions... and much more!
Creese says: “After two very difficult years we are so pleased to have the Festival return to its traditional two-week structure in May / June. It’s always exciting to welcome world-class performers to the beautiful churches, chapels and halls here in the Dales, but this year it feels especially so. We look forward to welcoming one and all to the 50th anniversary Swaledale Festival”.