Iford Arts Festival

The Cloisters at Iford Manor. In the centre is a well-head from Aquilegia, Italy.[1]
The Great Terrace, between the Cloisters and the Casita.[1]

Iford Arts Festival is an annual summer festival of opera and jazz, which takes place at Iford Manor near Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire, England. Operas are produced by Iford Festival Opera. It also features the Iford Jazz Proms, as well as other concerts and performances.[2]

The festival is set in the manor's Italian gardens, which were designed by Harold Peto.[3] Opera productions are small-scale.[4] The operas take place in the Cloisters,[5] an Italianate garden feature built by Peto in 1914, which is now a grade II* listed building.[5] Open to the sky,[6] its central courtyard is surrounded by a cloister arcade,[1] providing an intimate theatre in the round for an audience of just 90.[5] Other concerts use both the Cloisters and the Casita,[7] a pavilion built by Peto around 1910 using 13th-century marble columns from Verona.[1]

The festival's founder was Judy Eglington,[8] the artistic director of Iford Arts.[5] Annual concerts in the cloister started in the 1980s; the first opera was given in 1993, and the first fully staged opera in 1995.[8] Touring opera companies which have been particularly associated with the festival include Opera della Luna,[9] Opera Project,[5] and Early Opera Company.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Iford Manor". English Heritage. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  2. ↑ White, Hannah (2 January 2013). "Looking forward to festivals in 2013". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  3. ↑ Kimberley, Nick (19 May 2010). "Best garden operas in London". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  4. ↑ Christiansen, Rupert (18 May 2013). "Opera festivals 2013: complete guide". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Country House Opera". Country Life. 9 July 2004. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  6. ↑ Garmey, Jane (1 March 2008). "Architect of a Lovely Garden". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  7. ↑ White, Anna (20 February 2013). "First Night Jazz - Iford Festival Prom". Bath Chronicle. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  8. 1 2 White, Anna (May 2013). "Making Music in Paradise". Bath Magazine. p. 22. Retrieved 15 July 2013.
  9. ↑ "Three operas at Iford are selling quickly". Express & Echo. 16 July 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  10. ↑ Riley, Paul (27 July 2012). "Don't miss Iford Opera: Susanna". Bristol Evening Post. Retrieved 16 July 2013.

External links

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