Music: The 2024 St Endellion Summer Festival
At the end of this month, Port Isaac’s parish church of St Endellion will once again host an incredible array of musicians and singers performing opera, choral, orchestral, chamber and recital concerts for the 2024 St Endellion Summer Festival.
Conductor Adam Hickox leading the bows at the end of La Traviata, 2023
Founded in 1958, the St Endellion Music Festival was first brought to life by Roger Gaunt, a priest and music-lover. Whilst renovating the derelict St Endellion rectory, Roger invited a group of his college friends to Cornwall to help. Together, the group put on a small-scale concert and play, which was well received. Due to its success, the classical music festival was brought back year after year, where it grew to include an orchestra and a chorus. Gaining an Artistic Director in the form of young Cambridge graduate and organist Richard Hickox, the festival flourished. Due to the summer’s successes, an Easter festival was launched alongside it.
“There is a spirit in St Endellion Church, on which we all feed. The place is a magnet for many of us as well as a refuge. The festival concerts are unique in blending professional and amateur yet the place seems to raise us to musical heights we find difficult to repeat anywhere else.“
- Richard Hickox CBE (1948-2008), St Endellion Festivals Artistic Director 1973-2008
Now with Joely Koos and Rachel Nicholls as the Artistic Directors, the festival is organised by The St Endellion Festivals Trust in partnerships with North Cornwall Book Festival and Endelienta Arts, an organisation dedicated to bringing high quality arts to North Cornwall alongside providing important access to the arts for young people in the region.
“St. Endellion! St. Endellion! The name is like a ring of bells. I travelled late one summer evening to Cornwall in a motor car. The road was growing familiar, Delabole, with its slate quarry past, then Pendoggett. Gateways in the high fern-stuffed hedges showed sudden glimpses of the sea. Port Isaac Bay with its sweep of shadowy cliffs stretched all along to Tintagel. The wrinkled Atlantic Ocean had the evening light upon it. The stone and granite manor house of Tresungers with its tower and battlements was tucked away out of the wind on the slope of a valley and there, on the top of the hill was the old church of Saint Endellion.”
- Sir John Betjeman
Well attended and affordable, the St Endellion Summer Music Festival draws a crowd every year. Locals, holidaymakers and classical music fans fill the pews of the church perched a mile above Port Isaac, listening to a wide variety of musicians from around the world. Opera, choral, orchestral, chamber and recital concerts echo beautifully around the 15th Century building, with incredible acoustics. The organisers have always aimed to keep ticket prices at a minimum, with all musicians performing for free and any profit made from ticket and art sales going towards the next event.
The Collegiate Church of St Endellion, near Port Isaac
This year’s 10-day summer festival will run from Tuesday 30th July to Friday 9th August. The Summer Festival 2024 Programme is packed with international names from the classical music scene, with shows ranging from lunch time performances to 10pm late night concerts.
“Led by Artistic Directors Joely Koos and Rachel Nicholls, this year’s festival offers its customary enchanting blend of music and culture featuring the St Endellion Festival Chorus and Orchestra, alongside renowned conductors and soloists.
Our family-friendly performance of the Under the Sea concert on 4th August ensures the festival is inclusive for all ages. Late-night concerts and recitals provide opportunities to experience music in an intimate setting, such as the concert with singer-songwriter Tom Hickox on 5th August or Iain Burnside’s insights into the life of Finzi in Still Alive and Frying Bacon on 7th August.”
- Bruce O’Brien, Chairman, St Endellion Summer Festival
Wednesday 31st July
Opening Concert: Arise, Athena! 7.30pm
ALBERGA Arise, Athena!
BRAHMS Double Concerto for Violin and Cello
HOLMÈS La Nuit et l’amour
POULENC Gloria
Friday 2nd August
WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer 5.00pm
Saturday 3rd August
Chamber Concert: Dancing With The Shadow 7.30pm
Late Night Concert: Songs Of The Earth 10.00pm
Sunday 4th August
Wonderland Concert: Under The Sea 4.00pm
Monday 5th August
Concert: Reflections On Life and Death 7.00pm
MAHLER Totenfeier
BRAHMS Ein Deutsches Requiem
Tuesday 6th August
WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer 7.00pm
Wednesday 7th August
Pre-Concert Event: Meet The Composer 6.30pm
Chamber Concert: Longing And Belonging 7.30pm
Late Night Concert: Still Alive And Frying Bacon 10.00pm
Thursday 8th August
Concert: Earth’s Wonders; Heavens Beauty 7.30pm
ALBERGA Rise Up, O Sun!
HOLST, ELGAR, WEELKES, ESENVALDS and HARRIS choral works
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 Pathètique
Friday 9th August
St Kew Lunchtime Concert 12.00pm
WAGNER Der fliegende Holländer 5.00pm
Alongside the music you’ll find an art exhibition showcasing the work of talented artists. This year’s theme is Sea and Sanctuary and can be viewed in the St Endellion Hall between 31st July and 9th August. Expect vast and intricate woodcuts from award-winning printmaker Trevor Price, ‘jewel-like’ photographs of the Cornish coast by Helena Cooke and etchings depicting the detailed interior of St Endellion Church, whose rafters were created by boat builders, from Lois Oliver. Open before and during the concerts, all purchases from the exhibition support the St Endellion Festivals Trust.