Here is a picture of the church on a stormy night.
Surrounding the church is a cemetery where parishioners (recently and not so recently deceased) are buried. Among the notable is a former music director of the music festival, Richard Hickox. I did not have the opportunity to meet him, but his presence is still very much felt amongst festival goers who knew him.
This year the festival orchestra was conducted by a beloved guest of the festival, Martyn Brabbins.
His fame is legendary at the festival as he was able to secure the bass-baritone services of Sir John Tomlinson on short notice for performances of the opera Die Walküre by Wagner about 5 years ago. I was not there to witness those performances, but I heard they were amazing. Everyone at the festival in 2014 was excited to hear that Martyn Brabbins was returning along with Sir John Tomlinson for the opera in 2015. More on the opera later. Martyn Brabbins is an excellent conductor and musician in his own right and deserves much credit for helping the orchestra play at a very high level this year. His attitude was one of "playful seriousness". He certainly demanded a high level of playing. He was enjoying himself at the same time. That is contagious amongst the musicians. On a side note this conductor approached my husband during the break of a rehearsal and asked him who he was and where he was from. My husband was listening to the rehearsal. The conductor was surprised that we came all the way from the U.S. to attend the festival.
The featured works on the festival concerts included performances of Rossini's Petite Messe Solenelle,Haydn's Creation and the opera Boris Godunov by Mussorgsky (all for chorus, orchestra and vocal soloists). The orchestra also performed Beethoven's piano concerto #5 with pianist Charles Owen, Dvorak's Symphony #8 and Elgar's Sea Pictures with baritone Roderick Williams.
The festival chorus did a terrific job this year, especially with tackling the Russian language in the opera. Not many were fluent in Russian. With the help of a native Russian speaker/diction coach they were able to pull it off. Likewise hats off to the children in the opera chorus who sung in Russian as well.
The vocal soloists who come to this festival are amazing. As our artistic director told us where else are you going to find the high quality of singing of so many singers on the same stage? No opera house could afford to pay all these singers on stage at the same time. The incredible thing is that no one in the festival is paid. It is an all volunteer group of musicians who come and sing/play for the love of music.
Here was the list of vocal soloists this year. All are from the U.K.
Pamela Helen Stephen, David Butt Philip, Mark Padmore, Rachel Nicholls, Alison Rose, Matthew Brook, Roderick (Roddy) Williams, Brindley Sherratt, Jeffrey Lloyd Roberts and Sir John Tomlinson.
As you can imagine, the opera Boris Godunov was unbelievable. First class vocal soloists all around. I have never ever seen so realistic acting by Sir John. When the character Boris was going mad or having a panic attack you really thought he was having a real medical emergency. His heart rate increased, he looked pale and looked like he was going to collapse. Even though he would replicate that in rehearsals, we were still all holding our breath at those moments in the opera. You can imagine the shock of the audience too at the realism.
In addition to the orchestra concerts there were chamber music concerts performed by many of the principals in the orchestra, plus pianists and singers. The highlight for me was a piece for 3 percussionists by Nebojša Jovan Živković, a Serbian composer, called Trio per Uno. Each movement of the piece featured different sets of percussion instruments. Sometimes the 3 players played on one instrument. The piece showcased the talents of our percussion section. It contained many different emotions and was a very visual piece. The coordination required amongst the players was well timed.
This performance was particularly moving as it was in memory of our percussion colleague Pete who died tragically last Fall. He was a young fellow in his 20s. We all miss him a lot.
Another highlight amongst the chamber music concerts was a performance by Port Isaac's Fîsherman's Friends. They are known for their singing of sea shanties. This was their second appearance at the festival. I wrote about this group in my blog post on Port Isaac. See that entry for more info on this fantastic group of singers.
One concert of the festival is always performed at the cathedral in Truro, Cornwall. This summer we took Haydn's Creation on the road. Here are some photos from the event.
Right around the corner of the gelato place is a Polish grocery store called "Janosik". It is on New Bridge Street. A great place to buy Polish food.
Above- downtown Truro with cathedral spires peeking up in the sky.
The cathedral from the back.
The rose window in the back of the cathedral.
View towards altar, choir stalls.
If you have the opportunity to catch a concert at the St. Endellion Festival during the summer, I would recommend it. Tickets can be ordered by phone or mail. See the festival website for more info on ordering tickets. www.endellionfestivals.org.uk
There is also a week long festival there before Easter.
Concerts sell out quickly, so be on alert when tickets go on sale to the public (in the Spring for the summer concerts). You will not want to miss the concerts in the intimate setting of the St. Endellion Church, especially the opera.
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