*SARABAND OF TRUE DELIGHTS op.347a (January 2014)

Spring Sounds International
Music Festival 2014

Celebrating Shakespeare in words and music

With featured composer Howard Blake – Composer of The Snowman

Sunday 20 April – 8:10am BBC Radio 4

Wednesday 23 April  – 3:30pm BBC Radio 3

Friday 16 May, Friday 23 May, Friday 30 May and Friday 6 June

7:30pm
Civic Hall, Stratford-upon-Avon

2014 marks the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth and to commemorate the occasion Orchestra of the Swan will be celebrating music inspired by his words.

Howard Blake, composer of ‘The Snowman’, is our featured composer and we will be performing his Shakespeare Songs, Harp variations on a theme composed for Henry V and the premiere of Midsummer Night's Dream, Suite for orchestra - a new work specially created from music composed for the RSC's feature film directed by Adrian Noble.

The Lark Ascending and Fantasia on a theme by Thomas Tallis by Vaughan Williams will also feature in this year’s programme as will new works by Huw Watkins, Roxanna Panufnik, Guto Puw and Roger Steptoe.

Click here to view events.

Spring Sounds History

The inaugural Spring Sounds took place in May 2008 with Tasmin Little at the helm as Artistic Director. The ethos behind the festival is to feature the work of established and developing composers alongside the great classics of the classical canon and to showcase and broaden Stratford-upon-Avon’s musical offering.

Taking place every May composers and artists featured thus far include Roxanna Panufnik, Joe Cutler, Phil Dukes, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Paul Watkins, Martin Roscoe, the Smetana Piano Trio, Param Vir and Viv McLean.