The Presteigne Festival has been going for nearly 40 years, with getting on for 30 of them under the direction of George Vass. The festival has a strong international reputation for commissioning new music and we were delighted when George Vass invited us to sing there in 2020. Needless to say, the intervention of a certain virus delayed our first appearance, but two years later we were thrilled to hear that the invitation remained open. Before we knew it, August rolled around and we headed to the Welsh marches with lots of new music under our belts and a brace of Benjamins to conduct us.

Day One

It was up to individual members to determine how they got to Presteigne but some highlights of the journey included the original Severn Bridge, the Wye Valley past Tintern Abbey and the rural delights of Herefordshire. We assembled in Presteigne in time for early afternoon rehearsals – the first with musical director Benjamin Kirk and principal guest conductor Benjamin Goodson and the second with George Vass and the excellent Presteigne Festival Orchestra. After a successful few hours, we headed back over the English border to Bedstone College – a local school of gorgeous red-brick buildings nestled in bucolic surroundings. We enjoyed a barbecue outside, featuring a truly vast quantity of food and much good chatter (plus a couple of games of frisbee!) which lasted late into the evening. It was a great opportunity to enjoy quality socialising – an activity which is harder to achieve in our regular rehearsal format!

Day Two

After an early start and a delicious breakfast kindly supplied by the college’s catering team, we clambered back into our cars and made our way to St Andrew’s Church in Presteigne. We had a short rehearsal with organist Edward Kemp-Luck and then sang the Festival Eucharist. The choral offerings on this occasion were Ralph Vaughan William’s O Taste and See, William Walton’s Missa Brevis and Nicholas Maw’s One Foot in Eden Still, I Stand. It was exhilarating and uplifting music to sing, and the performance was well received by the congregation. The glorious, winding chromatic lines towards the end of the Maw are a particular favourite of mine!

All that singing brought on a healthy appetite, which was duly slaked at the local pizzeria. With some free time in hand, we went our separate ways – naturally, I went with some others to the local pub where we enjoyed watching some football and playing pool (I lost… boo!) We reconvened at St Andrew’s Church and rehearsed with George Vass and the orchestra again ahead of the evening’s concert.

A rapturous hush fell over the audience as the orchestra struck their first chord in Elgar’s Serenade for Strings and continued as the players deftly worked through the programme of British music. We joined the orchestra for two contemporary pieces – The Heavens and the Heart by James Francis-Brown and Countless and Wonderful are the Ways to Praise God by Gabriel Jackson. The pieces were bombastic in parts, soft and reflective in others and went down a storm. The two composers were present in the audience and rightfully received enthusiastic applause for their excellent compositions.

We returned to Bedstone exhausted but buoyed by the occasion of the concert and tucked into the Indian takeaway organised for us before eventually making our way to bed for a well-earned sleep.

Day Three

Our final day saw us travel to the town of Leominster where we rehearsed for our acappella concert in the Priory. The programme was entirely contemporary music by British composers and was supported by the inimitable Amy Dickson on saxophone, who played two solo works in addition to two works alongside the choir – Gabriel Jackson’s Ave Maris Stella and Cheryl Frances-Hoad’s The Wrath of Troilus – the latter of which was a world premiere. Gabriel Jackson and Cheryl Frances-Hoad were in the audience alongside Thomas Hyde, whose Magnificat also featured in the concert programme. Other works included Cheryl Frances Hoad’s Beyond the Night Sky, Owain Park’s Caelos Ascendit Hodie, Tarik O’Regan’s Threshold of Night and a reprisal of Nicholas Maw’s One Foot In Eden Still, I Stand. The excitement of performing new works with the composers watching, the precision and fluidity of Benjamin Goodson’s direction and the virtuosity of Amy Dickson’s thrilling playing combined to create a truly special concert. As David Truslove summarised in Opera Today:

“Such an enterprising programme is admirable… Bath Camerata was on terrific form and goes from strength to strength”.

The concert was a fitting end to an excellent trip, and we all left feeling uplifted by the music and good company we had shared over such a special weekend.

Hugh Alabaster (bass) with contributions from Alastair Steel (tenor)