Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an

arts festival An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lit ...

held annually in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the Episcopal see, See of ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is one of the oldest city festivals in England, having been held since 1824 and tracing its roots back further to 1772. It was initially conceived as a fundraiser for the

Norfolk & Norwich Hospital The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) is a large National Health Service academic teaching hospital in the Norwich Research Park on the western outskirts of Norwich, England. The university hospital replaced the former, Norfolk a ...

. For most of its history was a purely classical musical festival which saw performances by many famous artistes, composers and conductors. In recent years the festival has moved away from this focus, and has diversified to include a variety of circus, performance, contemporary music, dance, visual arts and children's events. Today Norfolk & Norwich Festival is an arts organisation based in

, England which is primarily responsible for the eponymous international

held annually each May, with events also held throughout the wider county of

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nor ...

. The Festival organisation works on creative learning schemes across Norfolk with support from Arts Council England and Norwich and Norfolk councils and has received funding to become a "bridge organisation" for

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three s ...

from 2012.

Origins

The festival was established as a triennial event in 1824 to support the ongoing construction of the

, and grew out of earlier musical fundraisers for the hospital dating back as far as 1772 including the annual performance of an oratorio at Norwich Cathedral.A. D. Bayne, ''A comprehensive history of Norwich'', Jarrold and sons, 1869, chapter XXII In its early days, the festival was mainly held in St. Andrew's Hall and

St Peter Mancroft St Peter Mancroft is a parish church in the Church of England, in the centre of Norwich, Norfolk. After the two cathedrals, it is the largest church in Norwich. It was originally established by the then Earl of East Anglia, Ralph de Gael between ...

. These events consisted primarily of

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is ...

s and other large scale choral works performed by the Norwich Festival Chorus, then 300 strong. Noted premieres from this time included ''The Last Judgement'' by the German Romantic composer and conductor Louis Spohr. (See list of oratorios, 19th Century)

20th century

The triennial festival continued to develop a reputation throughout the Victorian and Edwardian period, but was suspended during the First World War, being revived under the patronage of Norwich's first female Lord Mayor,

Ethel Colman Ethel Mary Colman (12 February 1863 – 23 November 1948) was a philanthropist and a member of the Colman family who was Lord Mayor of Norwich in 1923–24. Colman is notable for having been both the first woman to be Lord Mayor of Norwich, an ...

in 1923. It saw the premieres of significant classical works including

Edward Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's '' Sea Pictures'' in 1899 (sung by Clara Butt), E. J. Moeran's ''Rhapsody No. 2'' for the 1924 centenary concert (based on a Norfolk folksong),

Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a m ...

's ''Enter Spring'' in 1927,

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

's '' Job: A Masque for Dancing'' in 1930, Arthur Bliss's ''

Morning Heroes ''Morning Heroes'' is a choral symphony by the English composer Arthur Bliss. The work received its first performance at the Norwich Festival on 22 October 1930, with Basil Maine as the speaker/orator. Written in the aftermath of World War I, i ...

'' also in 1930 and

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

's ''

Our Hunting Fathers ''Our Hunting Fathers'', Op. 8, is an orchestral song-cycle by Benjamin Britten, first performed in 1936. Its text, assembled and partly written by W. H. Auden, with a pacifist slant, puzzled audiences at the premiere, and the work has never achi ...

'' in 1936. An oft-recounted story from the 1936 festival is of Vaughan Williams's intervention to stop the orchestra mocking the 22-year-old Britten's work. Vaughan Williams told them they were "in the presence of greatness" (referring to the young composer) and that if they did not want to play Britten's work they would not play his (Vaughan Williams was premiering his own ''Five Tudor Portraits'' at the same festival). As a musical festival, it also attracted prestigious musical directors including

Sir Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the The Proms, Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introd ...

, Sir Thomas Beecham,

Sir Malcolm Sargent Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent (29 April 1895 – 3 October 1967) was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works. The musical ensembles with which he was associated include ...

, Norman Del Mar and

Vernon Handley Vernon George "Tod" Handley (11 November 1930 – 10 September 2008) was a British conductor (music), conductor, known in particular for his support of British composers. He was born of a Welsh people, Welsh father and an Irish people, Irish mo ...

. The festival became an annual event in 1989 following an agreement with directors of Festival Norwich (FN). FN was started in 1986 as the first annual festival of arts and music in Norfolk devoted to organising a wide range of activities embracing art, music and industry in Norfolk. The directors of the Triennial were approached with the proposal that FN would run for two consecutive years with the Triennial continuing every third year. However, the Triennial decided that it should be an annual event itself and it was agreed that in this case FN would cease functioning after only three years. Under the direction of Marcus Davey, now director of

The Roundhouse The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhous ...

in London, the scope of the festival was changed from classical music to cater for a larger variety of music, theatre, dance and other visual arts. As part of the widening of the festival's scope, a new art initiative called "First Norfolk and Norwich Festival Visual Arts Week" was begun in 1994, which has now evolved into Norfolk & Norwich Open Studios, an open gallery event.

21st century

A significant change in 2001 was the moving of the festival from October to May. From 2004 to 2010 it was under the direction of Jonathan Holloway, now Artistic Director of the

Melbourne Festival Melbourne International Arts Festival, formerly Spoleto Festival Melbourne – Festival of the Three Worlds, then Melbourne International Festival of the Arts, becoming commonly known as Melbourne Festival, was a major international arts festi ...

in Australia. During the years Jonathan was Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, audiences increased by 1,000%, turnover more than quadrupled and the Festival took over delivery of Creative Partnerships in Norfolk, part of the UK flagship creativity in schools programme. Composers who visited the Festival during this period include

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive ...

Ute Lemper Ute Gertrud Lemper (; born 4 July 1963) is a German singer and actress. Her roles in musicals include playing Sally Bowles in the original Paris production of ''Cabaret'', for which she won the 1987 Molière Award for Best Newcomer, and Velm ...

Michael Nyman Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE (born 23 March 1944) is an English composer, pianist, librettist, musicologist, and filmmaker. He is known for numerous film scores (many written during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Gre ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, singer, songwriter and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various sty ...

and

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

Terry Riley Terrence Mitchell "Terry" Riley (born June 24, 1935) is an American composer and performing musician best known as a pioneer of the minimalist school of composition. Influenced by jazz and Indian classical music, his music became notable for it ...

Ray Davies Sir Raymond Douglas Davies ( ; born 21 June 1944) is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist, and main songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, which he led with his younger brother Dave on lead guitar and backing voca ...

and

David Bedford David Vickerman Bedford (4 August 1937 – 1 October 2011) was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter ...

have also performed at the festival. The 2010 programme featured the Michael Clark Company, 7 doigts de la main, Ontroerend Goed, Nofit State Circus, Circus Ronaldo and

Forced Entertainment Forced Entertainment is an experimental theatre company based in Sheffield, England, founded by Tim Etchells in 1984. Details and history Forced Entertainment originally focused on making and touring theatre performances before expanding to lon ...

(amongst others) and 2011 featured

Artichoke The globe artichoke (''Cynara cardunculus'' var. ''scolymus'' ),Rottenberg, A., and D. Zohary, 1996: "The wild ancestry of the cultivated artichoke." Genet. Res. Crop Evol. 43, 53–58. also known by the names French artichoke and green articho ...

's ''Dining with Alice'', Chouf Ouchouf, Mariano Pensotti,

Mariza Marisa dos Reis Nunes ComIH (born 16 December 1973), known professionally as Mariza (), is a Portuguese fado singer. Mariza was born in Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique, to a Portuguese father, José Brandão Nunes, and a Mozambican mo ...

and

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

among others. Recent musical commissions include Dan Jones's ''Music For Seven Ice Cream Vans''. Holloway was succeeded by William Galinsky, formerly the organiser of the Cork Midsummer Festival in Ireland.New Festival Director & Chief Executive William Galinsky's appointment
BBC News In October 2017, it was announced that Daniel Brine would be taking over as Festival Director. 2020 saw the festival go on hiatus caused by

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and will return in 2021.

Creative partnerships and bridge schemes

The Festival was the main East Anglian participant in the creative learning schools' programme, working with 49 Norfolk schools. The Creative Partnerships scheme has been cut by the government, but from 2012/13 the Festival will receive a total of £1.35 million annually from Arts Council England to enable it to become a bridge organisation for developing arts opportunities for children and young people, acting as a bridge between the arts and education sectors.Arts Council Bridge Organisations Briefing
Arts Council England 2011

Directors

* Sir Henry Wood (1908–1930) * Sir Thomas Beecham (1936 – * Norman Del Mar * Vernon Handley * Richard Philips * Heather Newell * Marcus Davey (1995-1999) * Jonathan Holloway (2004–2010) * William Galinsky (2011 – 2017) * Daniel Brine (2017-present)

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

Norfolk and Norwich Festival
Culture in Norwich Arts festivals in England Festivals in Norfolk Festivals established in 1824