One of the many joys of my role at Spitalfields Music has been getting to know others who curate festivals across the UK and further afield. I think it’s fair to say that we all approach this task in different ways, though always from a deep love of, and respect for, music, composers and performers.
From my perspective, I’m fairly allergic to festival themes. I struggle to see how it enhances the music – or indeed sells any more tickets – to know that the inspiration this year has been walls, strangers everywhere, or a love of llamas. In any case, it’s guaranteed that there will always be a piece or programme that doesn’t fit, and one will have have to make the case for its inclusion on the basis of the composer once visiting a city farm.
My starting point when programming is always you, dear reader, because without audiences we are nothing. That’s not to say we’re going to give you an easy ride, because it’s our job to bring you new, exciting and challenging music, as well as existing masterworks, all presented in memorable and historic settings. But there are four audience segments that I always bear in mind when assembling the outline of the festival: older music in historic buildings, the best and brightest talent of today, communities across the East End, and cultural experience seekers. You may fit into several of these boxes, but bearing these in mind helps me to present what we hope is a balanced programme.
I see each event as a jewel that has to be perfect, in and of itself, and spend many hours with musicians and composers, trying to realise their ambitions. Sometimes these are people we’ve been quietly following for a while, and other times it may be an idea which arrived by email and just felt right for us. Even once we have the music sorted, sourcing a venue to fit can be quite a challenge – our fabulous Creative Producers Matt and Rachel are always on the lookout for something that fits the aesthetic, scale and budget.
It can take years for all the ingredients to mature. For example, the recital by Ben Goldscheider this summer took nearly three years of planning. Starting with a fortuitous seating plan in an Aberdeen restaurant in October 2022, we worked with Ben to commission former Artistic Director Jonathan Dove to write The Water Remembers, because I’d long thought that Jonathan would create something really beautiful for that instrument. Separately, Jonathan’s agent had approached us about his Late Night Music, a series of six piano meditations intended to lull and mesmerise. We decided a double bill on a single night would be musically interesting – also saving money on piano hire! – and had originally hoped to present this in 2024, but their performance schedules didn’t allow until this year.
Likewise, I really wanted to programme Harpland – a fabulous evening of music for harps and electronics – having listened to Fitkinwall’s work for over a decade, and it felt like a race against time to ensure that Spitalfields Music Festival secured a London date before anyone else. Even then, it took us a couple of years to get venue, festival dates and their diaries to align, but this summer’s performance in the atmospheric Wilton’s Music Hall will live long in my memory.
This probably sounds as if I programme only to my personal tastes, which really isn’t the case. We’ve certainly presented gigs that I might not have picked out of a line-up, but for me that’s the joy of a festival: you uncover music that moves you in unexpected ways and somehow changes your perspective on life. And again, it comes back to those audiences: is this programme catering to one or more of them, and will Spitalfields Music presenting this event add to the cultural life of East London?
The only frustration in this role is the ones that got away, pieces either picked up by another organisation, or sometimes as yet unrealised. We’re nearly there with the 2026 programme which will be the first of a two-year celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of our first concert and the first festival in 1976 and 1977 respectively. Even 2027 is filling up, but if you have any ideas, do send them my way. I’d love to know about favourite festival moments, and we’ll try to feature some of the music in the schedule that year.
