Yesterday marked the start of Pinner’s annual music festival, a long-standing celebration of classical music and community spirit.
Now in its 59th year, the Pinner Music Festival, which runs from June 9 to 14, is hosting various concerts in the beautiful Pinner Parish Church at the top of the High Street.
The festival opened today with a seminar exploring the festival and some of its excellent musicians. Hosted by BBC Radio 3’s Ian Skelly, the panel discussed what to expect from their concerts, and the importance of music for both performer and audience alike.
Festival Director Professor Anthony Pinching, who has been organising the festival for the past nine years, said: “It is a very special occasion because it brings together local musicians and also international musicians. The audience is largely local, but again, people come from further afield to share music and to enjoy a range of things.
“What began as very much a community event around the choir here, has now become a significant festival for the community and the wider world.”
Among the festival highlights are performances by the Pinner Parish Church Choir, Raphael Wallfisch, and Sounds Historical, an early music group.
Heidi Fardell, of Sounds Historical said: “We have come together as a group because we like investigating lots of different types of early music. We are performing our concert called 600 Years Hildegard to Haydn, which takes everybody on a bit of a time travel from the 1200s right through to the 1700s.
“We’ve got about 38 instruments with us so we’ll talk about each of the instruments, we’ll talk about the composers, and we welcome questions from our audiences.”
Performances are being held during the day and in the evening, ensuring all classical music lovers have the opportunity to watch some wonderful performances.
Returning to the festival for a lunchtime performance are Emma Abbate and Julian Perkins, a married piano duo. They said: “For us, music is a way of life. We are both full time musicians. I sort of think of it not so much as a profession, as an obsession.
“What we love about the Pinner Festival is it makes live music part of the community.”
Proceeds for this year’s festival will go towards St Luke’s Hospice.
For the full programme and ticket information, visit https://www.pinnermusicfestival.co.uk/
Amelia is a London-based freelance multimedia journalist currently writing for Harrow Online. She covers everything from local news to cultural features and brings a fresh, multimedia approach to storytelling. Her experience includes contributing to Time Out London and DirectHer Magazine, as well as working on the social media desk at The Telegraph, where she helped produce real-time news updates and creative short-form content for a national audience. Amelia has reported from Westminster, covering Prime Minister’s Questions from the press gallery, and has a strong interest in stories that centre around people, places, and community voices. At Harrow Online, she focuses on community stories, local events, and historical features.
