Top line-up at Trust festival (From Wiltshire Times)

Top line-up at Trust festival

12:09pm Wednesday 16th August 2006 in Music

National Trust Music Festival, August 20-24, Bath Assembly Rooms and Tyntesfield, north Somerset

International opera singer Dame Josephine Barstow will lead the list of top class musicians performing in a five-day series of chamber concerts planned specially for Bath from August 20-24.

The National Trust Festival includes five evening performances in Bath's Assembly Rooms, all starting at 7.30pm. There is also a morning concert in the sumptuously decorated private chapel of Tyntesfield, the Victorian house and estate at Wraxall, north Somerset, recently rescued by the National Trust. Tickets for this concert include a private tour of Tyntesfield.

The concert series has been arranged by Kirker Travel as part of the National Trust Holiday Collection programme and the Trust benefits from the ticket sales.

On Sunday, August 20, when Dame Josephine appears at the Assembly Rooms, the evening's programme will include A Turn Outside, a work specially composed for her by Simon Rowland-Jones. This dramatic and moving piece is based on a play by the poet Steve Smith.

There will then be two evenings (August 21 and 22) of quartets in the Assembly Rooms, when the Sorrel String Quartet will perform works by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Haydn, Schubert and Brahms.

The following evening, August 23, the Prince Consort Ensemble will give a concert of Elgar, Mendelssohn, Bartok and Shostakovich. Then on August 24 virtuoso percussionists O Duo -Owen Gunnell and Oliver Cox - will perform popular classics arranged for two marimbas, virbraphone and other percussion instruments. Both concerts take place in the Assembly Rooms.

Earlier in the day, the young Mexican classical guitarist Morgan Szymanski will perform works by Spanish and Latin American composers in Tyntesfield's chapel. His recital will be preceded by a private tour of the house, starting at 10am. The audience is invited to bring picnics to enjoy in the lovely gardens after the concert. Please note, this concert must be booked in advance, tickets will not be available on the day.

Tickets from The National Trust Music Festival box office, (01225) 463362.