Oundle International Festival

Last updated

Oundle International Festival (OIF) is an annual community arts festival and organ school (ages 14 to 24) held in Oundle, England. [1]

Contents

The festival was founded in 1985 with the training of young organists as its core component and has a festival programme for the general public.

The summer schools are centred around an organ, built by Frobenius and installed in Oundle School Chapel.

Every July OIF runs workshops from an international team of organists, for up to 60 young organists.

History

The Festival and Summer School at inception were part of, and supported by, Oundle School, but since 1995 OIF has been an independent company limited by guarantee, and a registered charity operating under the name Oundle Music Trust. [2] It has a Management Committee of eight, which meets three times a year.

Festival

The festival committee promotes three activities:

Since 1994, a fundraising jazz & firework concert has been held on Oundle School playing fields, which has become the highlight of the year in the small market town of Oundle, attracting an audience of up to 5,000 from across the Midlands.

In 2007, the Festival undertook a community opera for the first time, with three performances of Tobias and the Angel by Jonathan Dove. [3] It was very successful, with three choruses of local people (one comprising around 40 local primary schoolchildren), celebrated professional opera singers and a small orchestra of professional musicians. The performances took place in St Peter's parish church.

Education for young organists

Since July 2002, the Prospective Organ Scholars course has been separated from the main summer school in Oundle and now takes place in Cambridge and Oxford in alternate years. The students are accommodated in an Oxbridge College, and thus are given a real boost prior to their all-important organ scholarship examinations in September. They are required to direct, sing, and accompany three Evensongs in different college chapels, with Compline on two evenings. Mornings and late evening are taken up with organ tuition and practice, with full access being given to college organs in Cambridge and Oxford

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oundle</span> Market town and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England

Oundle is a market town and civil parish on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 6,254 at the time of the 2021 census. It is 69 miles north of London and 12 mi (19 km) south-west of Peterborough. The town is home to Oundle School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oundle School</span> Public school in England

Oundle School is a public school for pupils 11–18 situated in the market town of Oundle in Northamptonshire, England. The school has been governed by the Worshipful Company of Grocers of the City of London since its foundation by Sir William Laxton in 1556. The school's alumni – known as Old Oundelians – include renowned entrepreneurs, scientists, politicians, military figures and sportspeople.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aberdeen International Youth Festival</span>

Aberdeen International Youth Festival was a festival of performing arts and one of Scotland's major international cultural events, which ran from 1981 to 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal College of Organists</span> United Kingdom non-profit, founded 1864

The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and development, and professional support for organists and choral directors.

Dame Gillian Constance Weir is a New Zealand-British organist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Armstrong (musician)</span> British musician (1898–1994)

Sir Thomas Henry Wait Armstrong was an English organist, conductor, composer and educationalist. He was from a musical family and his early career was as a church and cathedral organist. From the 1920s onwards he was a broadcaster for the BBC giving talks as well as playing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Union Chapel, Islington</span> Church in London Borough of Islington, England

Union Chapel is a working church, live entertainment venue and charity drop-in centre for the homeless in Islington, London, England. Built in the late 19th century in the Gothic revival style, the church is a Grade I-listed building. It is at the north end of Upper Street, near Highbury Fields.

Cheryl Frances-Hoad is a British composer.

Cheltenham Festivals is a registered charity that aims to bring joy, spark curiosity, connect communities, and inspire change year-round with four world-class festivals in Jazz, Science, Music, and Literature, and charitable programmes for education, community, and talent development in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.

Cape Town Opera is the only permanent non-profit opera company in South Africa and Africa. Cape Town Opera was founded in 1999 by the management and staff of the former South Africa Arts Council Opera and the Cape Performing Arts Board (CAPAB), itself a successor to the Cape Province Performing Arts Council and the previous Opera School at the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town, which had been founded in the early 1920s under the Italian tenor Giuseppe Paganelli.

Sarah Baldock is an English organist and choral conductor, formerly the Organist and Master of the Choristers of Chichester Cathedral. She is notable as one of the earliest women to be appointed to the senior music post at a Church of England cathedral. She was married to counter-tenor David Hurley. Baldock has become known as a popular soloist in the UK and abroad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Wibberley</span> Musical artist

Marcus Wibberley is a British organist, conductor and choir trainer.

Gordon Brodie Stewart is a British organist, conductor, and teacher.

Britten Pears Arts is a large music education organisation based in Suffolk, England. It aims to continue the legacy of composer Benjamin Britten and his partner, singer Peter Pears, and to promote the enjoyment and experience of music for all. It is a registered charity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music in Paris</span>

Music in the city of Paris, France, includes a variety of genres, from opera and symphonic music to musical theater, jazz, rock, rap, hip-hop, the traditional Bal-musette and gypsy jazz, and every variety of world music, particularly music from Africa and North Africa. such as the Algerian-born music known as Raï. Leading musical institutions include the Paris Opera, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Paris Conservatory, the first state music conservatory in Europe. The Cité de la Musique at La Villette is home of the new Paris Symphony Hall, the Conservatory, a museum of musical instruments, and Le Zenith, a major venue for popular music. Many of the churches in Paris have magnificent historic organs, and often host concerts. The city is also known for its music halls and clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mark Williams (organist)</span> English organist and choral conductor

Mark Turner Williams is a choral conductor and organist. Since January 2017, he has held the post of Informator Choristarum, Organist and Tutorial Fellow in Music at Magdalen College, Oxford. He was Assistant Organist at St Paul's Cathedral from 2000 to 2006, and between 2009 and 2016 held the position of Director of Music at Jesus College, Cambridge.


Classical music in Birmingham began in the late Middle Ages, mainly devotional music which did not survive the Reformation. Evidence is scant until the years following the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, when Birmingham's economy boomed. This was reflected in the scientific and cultural awakening known as the Midlands Enlightenment. The first sign of this transformation was the opening of the baroque St Philip's Church in 1715, which had a fine organ that attracted gifted musicians to the town.

David Reeves is an Australian composer, conductor and organist. He began his professional career as a concert organist in the early 1960s, turning to conducting and composition some ten years later. He is the composer of original modern music that bridges commercial and classical styles. 'An original Australian Musical Trailblazer' - Tommy Tycho OBE AM - Channel 9 - Star-Sound Recording Studios 1992.

The Carinthian Summer is a music and cultural festival in the Austrian province of Carinthia. It was founded in 1969 in Ossiach and since then has been held annually in the months of July and August. Since 1972, also in the city of Villach and since 2003, also at other venues in Carinthia.

David Titterington is a British organist, educator and artistic director.

References

  1. "Oundle to come alive with culture as festival returns". Northampton Chronicle and Echo.
  2. "1051428 - OUNDLE MUSIC TRUST". UK Charity Commission.
  3. "Tobias And The Angel: A Community Opera At Oundle International Festival". Lottery Community Funding.

52°28′56″N0°28′09″W / 52.4821°N 0.4691°W / 52.4821; -0.4691