Thaxted Autumn Festival 2023 event line-up announced

A weekend of autumn events will take place in Thaxted on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19.

General booking for the events is open at https://www.thaxtedfestival.co.uk/.

Rising star viola player Edgar Francis will be joined by pianist Jâms Coleman at 2.30pm on the Saturday at Thaxted Parish Church, for a programme of Schubert, Bridge and Debussy.

Both artists are being welcomed back to the festival. Edgar Francis partnered with violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux and cellist Eliza Millett at an autumn 2022 recital, while Jâms Coleman accompanied celllist Laura van der Heijden in the 2021 summer season.

On Saturday evening from 5.30pm, Thaxted will take centre stage in Bolford Street Hall for the screening of a vintage feature film - Time Gentlemen Please! - which was shot extensively around the town.

A licenced bar and snacks will be available, and the film is accompanied by an archived short about Thaxted.

At 2.30pm on Sunday, November 19, Samuel Jones will perform an organ recital on Thaxted Church's Lincoln Organ.

Samuel Jones, who has just graduated from Clare College Cambridge, is being welcomed back to the festival following his appearance with Clare College Choir in the summer 2023 season.

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After leaving school in 2019, Samuel also spent a gap year as Organ Scholar at Portsmouth Cathedral.

Thanks to support from Essex County Council's Arts and Cultural Fund, Thaxted Festival is also putting on two events in December through their Developing Artists Programme.

Ignas Maknickas (Image: Thaxted Festival)

On Sunday, December 3 and Sunday, December 10 pianist Ignas Maknickas, who is the 2023 Young Classical Artist Trust winner, will perform at two Essex venues, with a programme including Chopin, Schubert and Bortkiewicz.

The first performance, on December 3, will take place at Foakes Hall in Dunmow at 3pm, while the second, on December 10, will be held at the same time at St John's ARC in Old Harlow.

Thaxted Festival 2024 will run next summer from Friday, June 21 to Sunday, July 14, and will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Gustav Holst throughout the season.