Director's Welcome - Maria Bota

‘I am thrilled to present my second Salisbury International Arts Festival.  We are honoured to be working in such a glorious landscape, from the ancient circlesof Stonehenge, the romance of Old Wardour Castle, our beautiful chalk downs through to the inspiring Salisbury Cathedral.  These locations offer incrediblesettings for artists to respond to and be inspired by. Our themes of Russia, Stories, Chalk and Stone will weave their way through the programme.

We open on 21 May with a very special evening event in the Market Place, free for all - do hold the date in your diaries.

A highlight of our Russia theme is a rare appearance by the Russian Patriarchate Choir, by candlelight, in Salisbury Cathedral, bringing us an evening of Russian Orthodox music from the sixteenth century to today, including some of Rachmaninov’s Vespers. 

The Cathedral is also the setting for an evening with the remarkable violinist Pinchas Zukerman, long time collaborator with Itzhak Perlman. He performs Beethoven’s Violin Concerto and conducts Tchaikovsky’s wonderfully Russian-infused Fourth Symphony, with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.  And we celebrate the Festival with a magnificent Finale on our closing night in the Cathedral Close.

Inspired by the theme of ‘stone’ and the question ‘If the stones could talk, what would they say?’, we present the UK début of Israeli theatre company Orto-Da with a UK première of ‘Stones’, in which six mime artists create a musical, surrealistic, comic living statue and tell us a powerful story.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre Company returns to the Festival in the breath-taking location of Old Wardour Castle, against the stunning backdrop of the ruins, with A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

We present the world première of a new quartet by Alec Roth, performed by the world-class Allegri Quartet. 

And, as part of a residency by The Imagined Village Project focusing on the stories and songs of our land, we feature the multi-award winning folk fiddler and singer Eliza Carthy.

As so successfully received in 2009, activities will be scattered throughout the city and surrounding areas, enabling audiences to trip over the festival in unexpected and unanticipated ways – we look forward to seeing you there!’

Thank you.
Maria Bota
Festival Director