Week-long orchestral music festival returns to Minehead for 63rd season

THE Minehead and Exmoor Music Festival celebrates its 63rd season this year with three full-scale orchestral concerts in the week from July 25 to August 1 in Minehead’s Regal Theatre, and two free concerts in the town’s Avenue Methodist Church, writes Elizabeth Atkinson.

With 63 years under its belt and decades of involvement for many of the orchestra members, the festival holds many memories.

Local musician extraordinaire Keith Jones joined the orchestra in the mid-1960s, as well as becoming a longstanding festival committee member.

Mr Jones is now an enthusiastic audience-member, while his violinist-daughter Ruth Gasperini has followed in his footsteps, joining the orchestra at the age of 17 years and the committee in 2023.

For violinist David Bogle, this is the 50th year since he joined, while violinist Paula Tysall, now co-chairman, and co-reviver, of the festival, joined 43 years ago.

Players return year on year for the camaraderie, the close relationship between the orchestra and the local community, with local residents hosting many of the players for the week, and the excitement of creating something really special in the space of one short week.

But, the most sublime aspect of the festival always was, and still is, the music.

This year, audiences can relish the romance of Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn. and Rachmaninov, the precision of Haydn, the excitement of Copland, and a host of other treats from the familiar to the unfamiliar, with superb soloists adding the final gloss to the mix.

Anybody who has never previously been to the unique festival is invited to go along to one of the concerts and feel the atmosphere.

Orchestral concert tickets are available from Minehead’s Regal Theatre.

No tickets are required for the Methodist Church concerts.

Full details are available by searching online for ‘Minehead Music Festival’.