Ludlow to tune in for music celebration
South Shropshire will come alive with song when a very special event makes its return to Ludlow.
Set to take place from April 11-13, Ludlow’s English Song Weekend (LESW) will delight crowds with three days of concerts and events bringing some of the very best classical artists from the UK and around the world to the beautiful market town.
Guided by its artistic director, the pianist and broadcaster Iain Burnside, Ludlow English Song Weekend offers music-lovers a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in high quality music-making while enjoying the picturesque South Shropshire countryside. The 2025 festival will bring an array of top class performers in a fresh and vibrant programme, plus some very special guests.
LESW is set to welcome visionary Australian mezzo Lotte Betts-Dean, known for her irrepressible sense of drama and unmissable, urgent musicality to St. Laurence’s Church, where she will be joined by her father, the internationally acclaimed composer and violist Brett Dean.
Their concert – ‘Buzz!’ – is full of music about living life to the fullest, and includes a song Brett wrote especially for Lotte in 2023.
Elsewhere in the programme there’s plenty of British talent too, with rising stars Andrew Hamilton and Liam Bonthrone returning to the UK after honing their craft in Munich at the Bavarian State Opera.
Baritone Jolyon Loy has a much shorter journey to work. He lives on the market square in Ludlow, but is also appearing at the festival for the first time.
As well as a father and daughter pairing, the festival will also feature a talented married couple baritone Dan D’Souza and mezzo Bethany Horak-Hallett.
They’ll be drawing on their own experiences in ‘A Lovers’ Tiff’ – a varied programme all about “the wonderful complicated mess of human connection”.
“Bethany and I both really love when recitals have a narrative running through them, and when Iain approached us, a married couple, asking for recital ideas we thought what better story to tell than one of a couple falling in and out of love,” said Dan. “Every relationship has its peaks and troughs and we really wanted this story to reflect this.
“The honeymoon period never lasts forever. We’d hasten to add that the story is fictional, although I’m sure we’ll be able to draw on our own personal experiences as the recital progresses!”
There will be more storytelling in ‘One That Kept His Word: A.E.Housman in songs and letters’, with Iain Burnside and three wonderful singers joined by the Olivier Award-winning actor Alex Jennings as the poet behind ‘A Shropshire Lad’.
Ludlow Assembly Rooms will also play host to the legendary Dame Janet Baker, one of Britain’s greatest classical singers of the 20th century. She’ll join documentary-maker John Bridcut onstage to discuss her life and career, after a special screening of his acclaimed film ‘Janet Baker In Her Own Words’.
Burnside said: “I believe that in Ludlow we have found the dream location for a few days of top class music. Some of our audience like total immersion in the festival, while others pick and mix, happy to sit with a coffee between concerts and admire the view. Or you can go for something stronger after a long day’s listening, chatting to the performers in one of Ludlow’s historic pubs. So whatever your tipple, and whatever your musical enthusiasms, please come and join us. The warmest of welcomes is waiting for you.”
Tickets for individual concerts and events are available to buy, or dedicated fans can opt for a Festival Pass. Passes ensure entry to the whole festival programme plus exclusive extra events, including talks and a Young Artist Masterclass led by the great Irish mezzo Dame Ann Murray.
Visit www.ludlowenglishsongweekend.com for more information.
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