Pianist, composer and polymath Michael Brough appears at this year’s Festival on 31 May when he gives a solo piano recital in St Oswald's Church, Askrigg as 19:30 (Event 32).
As well as works by Schumann and Rachmaninoff (both noted pianists in their day) Michael Brough also gives the world premiere performance of his own work ’24 + 1 Picture Preludes’ This significant Swaledale Festival commission is a set of 25 preludes, one in each of the major and minor keys and one in no particular key. The work will be introduced by the composer and conductor Michael Baron.
The Preludes were part of a body of work submitted by Brough to the National College of Music and Arts, an organisation that exists to provide syllabi, examiners and accreditation rather than as a training institution itself. On the basis of this work he was immediately offered a fellowship of the College and given fulsome praise for his work.
The Preludes are also being rehearsed by pianist Peter Jacobs, a performer who has largely built his career on performing works by lesser known British and French composers of the twentieth century and to the present day.
Michael Bough says of Swaledale Festival and his relationship with it:
Many thanks for all you have been doing - I find it easier to write music if someone of real attainment is supportive. I've consulted the new website and like it. The Festival combines a sequence of fine concerts with much more - the other events and the setting itself. You should be extremely proud of your own stewardship.
Michael Brough, 18/02/15