PREVIEW
SPITALFIELDS FESTIVAL
Various Locations

MUSIC festivals are 10-a-penny during the summer and dominated by the pop music behemoths, but this week saw the opening of the Spitalfields Festival – traditionally a real treat.
The festival, which has been going for 29 years, prides itself on offering a broad range of genres so you can find jazz and early music nestling alongside forays into early 20th-century canon and Irish music.
So on Friday, the Royal Academy’s Music Alumni Jazz Band are at Wilton’s Music Hall, performing a jazz programme including Miles Davis – his Miles Ahead collaboration with Gil Evans – and Gershwin. And on Tuesday the Cardinall’s Musick will perform the world premiere of British composer Judith Weir’s Vertue, alongside Byrd, Howells and Tallis.
There is also traditional Irish music with the Concorde Ensemble (pictured) on Saturday. Weir is not the only one who will enjoy a premiere in the festival. Artistic director Jonathan Dove sees his On Spital Fields performed by a choir of up to 200 singers performed on Wednesday, June 22.
The Spitalfields Festival also makes great use of venues, not only relying upon Christ Church, Spitalfields, the Dutch Church, but also Wilton’s Music Hall.
But one of the most spectacular treats this weekend will be the free concert on Tower Hill, overlooking the Tower of London.
The free concert features a highly unusual juxtaposition of styles, with music from the reign of Henry VIII next to Bangladesh tunes.
There surely cannot be anything comparable this summer.
For more information see www.spitalfieldsfestival.org.uk