Classical performances, various venues, throughout May

4:40pm Friday 11th April 2008

"There's absolutely everything, from really old to really new music, from really small to really large pieces," says Gill Kay.

"A lot of people think of orchestras in concert halls wearing DJs but classical music is much more than that."

As the festival's classical music programmer, Gill aims to put on music that will appeal to committed classical fans, present new ideas and attract new audiences.

As well as attracting established names like the Tokyo String Quartet - one of the most well-respected chamber ensembles in the world - the Armonico Consort, which again returns to the Festival and the City Of London Sinfonia, Gill is also excited about new commissions in this year's programme, like The Bootmaker's Daughter.

Blending music and drama, Chris Dixon's play tells the tragic tale of 16-year-old Tomasina, the youngest of the 17 Lewes martyrs, who, in the mid-16th Century climate of religious persecution, has reached a crisis of faith. Should she be true to her own conscience and suffer the brutal force of church and state or bend to its will and live an unconscionable lie?

Performed in the evocative, candelit setting of St Bartholomew's Church, actors join forces with the award-winning early music consort The Cardinall's Musick in an atmospheric promenade performance.

Gill says: "For everybody who knows about early music, they will hear the music they know and love but in a historical context and for anyone interested in theatre, the music adds that extra dimension.

"It's only one thing in the festival but it's a completely new and different take."

The Festival also welcomes young Belfast composer Ian Wilson, who, to mark the centenary of Olivier Messiaen's birth, will present The Handsomest Drowned Man In The World, a new companion piece to the Frenchman's Quartet For The End Of Time and a UK premiere.

Based on a story by Colombian author Gabriel Garcia Marquez it will be narrated by Dublin artist, vocalist and composer Gavin Friday, who will be joined by a new ensemble.

The concert further bolsters the Festival's reputation as a platform for new work and, as Gill adds: "It's another way of getting people to try something that they might not have tried before."

The City of London Sinfonia concert will see Richard Hickox, one of the foremost interpreters of Vaughan Williams, lead the orchestra in a tribute to the composer, who died fifty years ago.

It opens with The Wasps overture, followed by Toward The Unknown Region and features world-renowned baritone Gerald Finley singing a rarely performed orchestral arrangement of Songs Of Travel, eight poems by RL Stevenson.

The second half includes a concert performance of Williams' "music drama" based on JM Synge's one-act play about an Irish fishing community.

The Tokyo String Quartet will perform the Festival's Glyndebourne recital - always a highlight.

The concert begins with Haydn's Prussian quartet and concludes with Beethoven's late quartet Op.50 No 6.

The ever-popular Philharmonia Orchestra also returns to Brighton. After last year's sell-out Elgar concert, they bring an epic meditation on birth, death, love and redemption in Jonathan Harvey's Tranquil Abiding and the Mahler Symphony No. 2 Resurrection.

Gill says: "Hopefully there is something to tempt everyone on the programme this year."

• Tokyo String Quartet, Glyndebourne, Sun May 4. Starts: 3pm, Tickets: Returns only
• The Bootmaker's Daughter, St Bartholomew's Church, Weds May 7 - Sat May 10. Starts: 8.30pm, Tickets: Returns only
• City of London Sinfonia, Vaughan Williams Anniversary Concert, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Sun May 11. Supported by Brighton Festival Friends. Starts: 7.30pm, Tickets: £10 - £30
• Armonico Consort, Marriage of Figaro, Theatre Royal Brighton, Weds May 14 and Thurs May 15. Starts: 7.30pm, Tickets: £7.50 - £26 Sponsored by The Royal Bank of Scotland Group
• Messiaen Anniversary Concert, Brighton Dome Corn Exchange, Mon May 19. Starts: 7.30pm, Tickets: £18. Sponsored by SME Network
• John Tavener Concert, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Tues May 20. Starts: 7.30pm, Tickets: £7.50 - £30. Sponsored by Baker Tilly
• Philharmonia Orchestra, Brighton Dome Concert Hall, Sun May 25. Starts: 7.30pm, Tickets: £10 - £30. Sponsored by First Capital Connect

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