Celebrating the theme of friendship in music, Artistic Director Tamsin Waley-Cohen announces the 2022 Two Moors Festival this October, looking at the friendships surrounding Schumann, Schubert, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Brahms. Acclaimed violinist Tamsin Waley-Cohen returns to curate her third Festival in the area, in which she has strong family ties.
The internationally-renowned Festival takes place over two extended weekends in October: Dartmoor is the focus for 5-9 October 2022, while concerts taking place from 13-16 October 2022 centre around Exmoor, with concerts held in close proximity to each other in beautiful venues from rural arts centres to cathedrals around the vast and arresting wilderness of the moors of the South West.
Highlights of the 2022 Festival include performances of two song cycles – Winterreise with Benjamin Appl and James Baillieu, and Frauenliebe und Leben with Anna Dennis and the Consone Quartet – and anniversary celebrations for Ralph Vaughan Williams, and Matthew Locke, in the building where he once carved his name. As part of the opening Dartmoor weekend, the Festival organises a day out to the stately home of Great Fulford for three house concerts “At the Schumanns’”, while celebrated author Michael Morpurgo reads from War Horse in the Exmoor weekend.
Tamsin Waley-Cohen, Artistic Director said:
“This year I have chosen the theme of “Friendship”. The extended lockdowns and isolations that we have all experienced over these last two years have highlighted ever more indelibly how vital a lifeline our friendships are to us all. John Donne said “No man is an island”, and as usual, he knew what he was talking about. We are exploring this theme throughout the Festival, visiting the home of the Schumanns’, looking at Beethoven, Mozart, and Schumann, Dvorak, Janacek, and Haas, as well as celebrating anniversaries of Vaughan-Williams and
Matthew Locke.“
Further visiting artists include I Fagiolini, the Albion Quartet, Fretwork, the Orsino Ensemble, Jess Dandy, Elisabeth Brauss, Alice Zawadski and members of the National Opera Studio, and the concerts are interspersed with talks from Laura Tunbridge and Katy Hamilton.
Further information can be found at www.twomoorsfestival.co.uk