The fells are vibrant green, the curlews are calling… and Swaledale Festival is finally here! Two weeks packed with concerts, family events, exhibitions, walks, talks and workshops springing up in ridiculously charming venues across the majestic Upper Dales.
It all kicks off this Saturday 26 May with classical guitar masters Craig Ogden and Gary Ryan performing their exquisite solos and duets in Grinton. Also sharing their gifts in the first Festival week are sublime lutenist Matt Wadsworth, poet Adam Horovitz, youngest ever winner of BBC Young Musician of the Year Jennifer Pike, leading harpsichordist Mahan Esfahani and The Young'uns who are running a relaxed folk-singing workshop - come and sing your heart out with the band who have just won 'Best Album' at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards!
Tickets are still available for many wonderful events... including brass band giants Brighouse & Rastrick Band who perform on Sunday 27 May at The Garden Rooms, Tennants, and the world-famous Hallé Orchestra who are at Tennants on Saturday 9 June.
Our box office is open from 10:00-16:00 every day during the Festival. Why not say hello to our friendly team in Hudson House, Reeth and take a stroll through the beautiful Community Orchard while you’re at it!
Looking for ways to entertain the kids during half term? There are plenty of Festival events that will be fun and inspirational for younger audience members. On Monday 28 May the outstanding puppet troupe PuppetCraft presents ‘The Tin Forest’ with live music. On Wednesday 30 May Janet Seymour's School of Theatre Dance will showcase its talented students at St. Oswald’s in Askrigg. And on Saturday 2 June people of all ages will enjoy Slot Machine Theatre's magical performance of 'The Boy, the Piano & the Beach'.
You may see some Swaledale Festival vans and cars zipping around the Dales over the next fortnight. We couldn’t make the Festival happen without the generous support of Sherwoods (Vauxhall) of Darlington. 2018 is the fifteenth year they have provided these vehicles to us and made the logistics of the Festival possible. A huge, hand-on-heart thanks to them. Sherwoods are kindly sponsoring the Sacconi Quartet & James Gilchrist. This is an amazing opportunity to hear the popular string quartet perform with one of the world's greatest tenors on Sunday 3 June at St. Andrew's Church, Grinton.