Beaminster Festival gets ready for 2020
Every year, for a week in June & July, Beaminster comes alive in the sunshine with bunting and celebrations as the annual Beaminster Festival kicks off. And this year, the Festival is celebrating an important milestone – their 25th anniversary. Running from 27 June to 5 July 2020, an abundance of activities and productions will be available to all visitors to see, listen to and take part in; some ticketed and others free to attend, for all ages.
We look at the early beginnings of this event, and some of the things to look forward to this year.
Background:
Early beginnings of the Festival are rooted in the Strode Room, as an initiative launched by the Beaminster Chamber of Trade at the time to bring more visitors to the town, encouraging them to stay, eat and shop here. 25 years later, the Festival continues to do just what the AGM at the time set out to do. Some of the early suggestions of what to do included an art exhibition in the Town Hall. As an initial footing into the exhibition world, what started as a small idea with a tiny group of people who simply had an idea to raise Beaminster’s flag and 18 months of planning later, the very first Beaminster Arts Festival was born. Since then, the Festival has grown to include headlining musicians and thespians, artists and creators of all forms.
The 2020 Event
While the team finalises the details of everything that’s on show, the Festival has announced 3 fantastic acts that we can all look forward to.
The Carducci Quartet and Emma Johnson to showcase two of the most beautiful examples of chamber music: If you enjoyed Emma’s performance at last year’s festival, you’ll be pleased to know that she’s returning this year again with the excellent Carducci Quartet. On the list, they plan to perform pieces by Brahms, Mozart and finish the programme with Beethoven.
Isata Kanneh Mason: “The eldest of the phenomenal family of seven siblings and sister of cellist Sheku, Isata will be joining us on Tuesday 30th June to play a fantastic programme of piano music. The family entered the spotlight after Sheku’s performance at Harry and Meghan’s royal wedding in May 2018. Sold out months before her concert in Yeovil, make sure you don’t miss out!”
The Unique Ayoub Sisters: “The Scottish-Egyptian Ayoub sisters will perform at the festival showcasing their multi-instrumental talents. Their programme includes an exciting international flavour drawing upon their Egyptian roots and Scottish influences.”
Bookings
If you’re getting ready to book, so you should. Here are some critical dates of openings for bookings.
Platinum & Gold Sponsors and Donors: from 27th April
Silver Sponsors and Donors: from 4th May
Bronze Donors and Friends of the Festival: from 11th May
General Public Sales: from 18th May
Passcodes will be required for priority online bookings and these will be sent to each prioritised category in due course.
For more information about the Festival, please visit their website here.
