Behind the scenes (2)… an intern’s perspective

2 months
1 week ago

Music Festival Intern Hannah Ross writes about her experiences so far…

“20kg of white rice… 6 white cabbages… 2 heads of garlic, was it?” Perhaps these are not quite the thoughts you might expect to be running through the head of an intern working at a music festival. Nor might you have imagined said intern looking for a tape measure and ending up using one of those metallic ones with the clippy bit at the end to get the chest measurements of a variety of t-shirts!

“…looking for a tape measure and ending up using one of those metallic ones with the clippy bit at the end to get the chest measurements of a variety of t-shirts!”

I count myself very lucky to be working as an intern at the Cheltenham Music Festival. It seems to be the case that for anyone trying to get into arts admin, competition is so high that unpaid internships are an essential part of your C.V. I’ve heard many horror stories about interns who are simply left to make tea and do photocopying, but luckily this is not the case for me! While there is indeed tea making and photocopying involved (and dishwasher unloading, and mailing preparation, and many other basic everyday tasks, as you’d expect), everyone takes on their fair share, and it’s a really inclusive and supportive environment to work in.

Continue reading... cake-fuelled days, white rice, 16 days of music...

We’ve tagged this post with behind the scenes, Festival Academy, Festival Chorus, Hannah Ross, intern, internship, jobs, music, painted quartets, Tibetan on Wednesday 23 June 2010.

Painted Quartets on tour!

9 months ago

Following on from the success of the Painted Quartets exhibition at the 2009 Cheltenham Music Festival, our instruments are now off on their travels around the UK.

Salthouse Gallery, St Ives, Cornwall
www.salthousegallery.co.uk
Saturday 12 December 2009 – Saturday 9 January 2010

Trereife Gallery, Newlyn and Penzance, Cornwall
www.trereifepark.co.uk
Monday 8 February 2010 – Sunday 7 March 2010

Royal West of England Academy, Bristol
www.rwa.org.uk
Sunday 28 March 2010 – Thursday 20 May 2010

Bate Collection, Oxford
www.bate.ox.ac.uk
Friday 18 December 2010 – Wednesday 30 June 2010

The University Women’s Club, London
www.universitywomensclub.com
until 28 June 2010

view the instruments — more information about the artists and the exhibition

The first stop on the Painted Quartets tour is the Salthouse Gallery in St Ives, Cornwall. The instruments are being displayed by Bob Devereux, one of the artists involved in this project – see his violin displayed alongside fellow local artist Anthony Frost’s viola, and a whole host of other instruments by artists from across the UK.

The exhibition then lands at the Bate Collection in Oxford, one of the most magnificent collections of musical instruments in the world. Our Painted Quartets, including a violin by designer Cath Kidston and cello by Lincoln Seligman, will sit alongside instruments made by world-renowned makers and from pre-eminent collectors.

The exhibition continues around the country…

We’ve tagged this post with exhibition, music, painted quartets on Thursday 3 December 2009.

Bowen Blog #8 — Painted Quartets

1 year
1 month ago

From Meurig Bowen
Music Festival Director

The Music Festival’s specially-commissioned Painted Quartets exhibition is now up and running at the Summerfield Gallery, Pittville Campus. But not everyone is happy about it…

First, read this! It’s an editorial from the world’s most admired magazine for string players and instrument makers, The Strad:

Painting pretty pictures on instruments simply degrades them, argues Ariane Todes…

…continue reading →

We’ve tagged this post with Meurig Bowen, music, painted quartets on Tuesday 14 July 2009.

Harry Enfield at the Summerfield Gallery — photos

1 year
2 months ago

Harry Enfield opening the Hoffnung and Painted Quartets, two unique exhibitions at the Summerfield Gallery, Pittville Campus, University of Gloucestershire running for the duration of the HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival.

what’s on today | tomorrow | all music events

Harry Enfield opening the Hoffnung and Painted Quartets exhibition

Hoffnung and Painted Quartets exhibition

We’ve tagged this post with exhibition, Harry Enfield, music, painted quartets, photos on Friday 3 July 2009.

Meurig Bowen talks to John Rockley on BBC Radio Gloucestershire

1 year
2 months ago

With the 65th HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival starting today, listen to Festival Director Meurig Bowen as he chatted to BBC Radio Gloucestershire’s John Rockley on Wednesday (available on the BBC iPlayer for seven days). They discuss the festival programme and are joined by P J Crook to talk about our very original Painted Quartets project.

We’ve tagged this post with BBC, BBC Radio Gloucestershire, Meurig Bowen, music, painted quartets on Friday 3 July 2009.

Hoffnung and Painted Quartets exhibition

1 year
2 months ago

Two unique exhibitions running for the duration of the HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival — at the Summerfield Gallery, Pittville Campus, University of Gloucestershire.

Hoffnung

Unique to Cheltenham in the 50th anniversary year of his death, this is a rare chance to see the full range of Hoffnung’s comic and artistic genius — childhood drawings, illustrative water colours, bespoke musical instruments and the originals of all his beloved musical cartoons.

Gerard Hoffnung died tragically young at the age of 34 in 1959. His precocious talents for drawing and charicture led to enormous success throughout the 1950s as an artist, cartoonist, broadcaster and musician.

Painted Quartets

Painted Quartets honours Haydn, the ‘father of the string quartet’ with 20 violins, violas and cellos like you’ve never seen before. Leading artists from Cheltenham and around the UK are joined in this project by figures from the world of politics, design and music.

Hoffnung and Painted Quartets opening times

Summerfield Gallery, Pittville Campus, University of Gloucestershire

Saturday 4 July — 10am–6pm
Sunday 5 July — 10am–6.15pm
Monday 6 July — 10am–4pm
Tuesday 7 July — 10am–7.15 pm
Wednesday 8 July — 10am–4pm
Thursday 9 July — 10am–8.15pm
Friday 10 July — 10am–6.45pm
Saturday 11 July — 10am–5pm
Sunday 12 July — 10am–4.15pm
Monday 13 July — 10am–4pm
Tuesday 14 July — 10am–7.15pm
Wednesday 15 July — 10am–4pm
Thursday 16 July — 10am–7.15pm
Friday 17 July — 10am–5pm
Saturday 18 July — 10am–6pm

We’ve tagged this post with exhibition, Hoffnung, music, painted quartets on Monday 29 June 2009.

Bowen Blog #5 — an unusual photo-shoot

1 year
2 months ago

From Meurig Bowen
Music Festival Director

Update: Visit our Painted Quartets page for more information

Like sheep being herded into a pen, we gathered all the painted instruments together for the first time on Saturday morning, and took them to Bishops Cleeve for a photo-shoot (at least they didn’t need to go into Hair & Make-Up first). It was an unusual cargo — violin and viola cases almost as sorry-looking as the instruments they’d contained crammed into the car boot, a couple of loose ones sheathed in bubble-wrap, two cellos spread out on the back seat and one in between legs (where a cello should be, after all) in the passenger seat.

I say ‘all’ the instruments, but I mean ‘all the instruments we’ve had back so far’. In the last week or so, with the end of June deadline approaching, a good few more have arrived back from the artists. If you commission articles or programme notes — as I have been recently, for our programme book which is just about to head off to the printers — the commissioned work gets delivered in an e-mailed attachment. These instruments have different ways of making themselves known. The first time I caught sight of Gillian Lever’s richly-coloured and layered viola was as an impromptu exhibit in last weekend’s superb Cheltenham Open Studios, sitting with a strange beauty on another artist’s living-room bookshelf.

Ana Bianchi’s beautiful Lilly violin was handed over to me at the entrance to the magnificent Fresh Air 2009 sculpture show in Quenington — which Ana has expertly curated. Paul McKee’s broodingly dark violin arrived in the office in a plastic bag (more bubble wrap of course). And with some trepidation I collected Mila Judge-Furstova’s cello (pictured) from her Cheltenham flat. Mila’s remarkable instrument is unwrappable. Not only has she cut out panels from the cello’s belly; she has adorned the fingerboard with intricate, swirling paper sculpture. No cello case could contain or protect that.

…continue reading →

We’ve tagged this post with exhibition, Meurig Bowen, music, painted quartets on Monday 22 June 2009.

Bowen Blog #4 — the Painted Quartets are coming

1 year
2 months ago

From Meurig Bowen
Music Festival Director

My utility room at home is cluttered with them. The area around our desks in the Cheltenham Festivals offices is too. The 2009 HSBC Cheltenham Music Festival is begetting a new family as the weeks roll by — one of violins, violas and cellos like you’ve never seen before.

It was an idea I had a while back, when I was thinking about how Cheltenham could celebrate the Haydn anniversary in a unique and striking way. How about getting hold of some tired old string instruments, give them to a range of artists and see what they would do with them? How about bringing them back together in Cheltenham during the Festival as Painted Quartets — to honour Papa Haydn, the ‘father of the string quartet’?

A simple idea perhaps, but with some knotty questions along the way. Such as: Where do you get the instruments from? How does a music festival director, with an interest in visual arts but no ‘networks’ to tap into, source the artists? And how do you create a surface on a varnished wooden surface that can be painted on?

…continue reading →

We’ve tagged this post with Meurig Bowen, music, painted quartets on Thursday 4 June 2009.

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