Review

Youth concert 1Youth concert 2 It is always a great pleasure to witness the wealth of talented performers from the local schools who come together to entertain us as part of the Festival. In 2025 once again over 300 singers and instrumentalists performed to a high standard in front of capacity audiences. The first section … Read more

Merry Opera: Die Fledermaus, 21 March The Merry Opera Company made a fizzing return to the Festival Hall this year, following their successful debut in 2022. This time they chose to perform Johann Strauss’ most celebrated operetta, die Fledermaus. Die Fledermaus, written in 1874, and full of Strauss’s most memorable music, is in three Acts … Read more

This year’s Family Concert, given by the local professional string orchestra SouthDowns Camerata, directed by Sara Deborah Timossi, was titled ‘Dancing through the Movies’ and lived up to its name in an hour of delightful music and dance equally appealing to all ages in the capacity audience – no doubt including, for many of the … Read more

The 118th Petersfield Musical Festival was splendidly launched on Friday 14 March, with an enthusiastic capacity audience entertained by two long-standing groups based in the area: Liss Band, conducted by Mike Pennicotte-Henrie, in its 50th anniversary season, and the Hampshire Police Male Voice Choir, conducted by Geoffrey Porter, which has origins (as its compere, David … Read more

A capacity audience was treated to a blockbuster programme of orchestral music last Thursday (20 March 2025) which encompassed Beethoven’s heroic ‘Emperor’ Concerto and the mighty Symphony No.10 by Shostakovich. A full-scale symphony orchestra, including at various points triple woodwind, bass clarinet and contrabassoon, snare drum, tam-tam and xylophone, gave every ounce of energy to … Read more

Vox Cantab, a chamber choir drawn mainly from former choral scholars at Cambridge University, presented a concert of music and readings featuring composers, writers and poets with strong connections to Petersfield and the surrounding area on Wednesday 19th March. The concert formed part of the Petersfield Musical Festival at St. Peter’s Church. By asking for … Read more

Two young recipients of bursaries given by the Festival’s Michael Hurd Fund delighted the audience at St. Peter’s Church on Tuesday. Elliott Cundy gave a truly virtuosic performance on double bass, while Ukrainian violinist Mariia Lliaskovets both entranced and engaged with her contrasting programme of pieces. ‘It is a privilege to be involved with and … Read more

PMF hosted another sold-out choral workshop on 28th September when over 100 singers of all ages and abilities came together to rehearse and perform Vaughan Williams’ moving plea for peace, Dona Nobis Pacem.  Under the expert guidance of Paul Spicer, accompanied by Mark Dancer, the group of singers, drawn from Guildford and Chichester as well … Read more

Richard Pearce, the renowned organist and choral conductor, treated a packed audience to a varied programme of organ music on Wednesday 17th March in St. Peter’s Church. He book-ended the concert with two works by JS Bach whom he considers the greatest composer of all time, but the rest of the music was by mainly … Read more

The music played by Arthur ‘Art’ Blakey (1919 – 1990) and his Jazz Messengers was the focus of a fine performance from six virtuosic players who enthralled the Petersfield audience with their own interpretations of a splendid selection of numbers from this legendary band leader. Blakey was for years the seed bed for so many … Read more