Tickets starting to sell out for festival

Tickets are selling well for the 2016 Hebden Bridge Piano Festival which starts in a fortnight at Hebden Bridge Town Hall.

One concert, given by the Russian star Anna Tsybuleva, has already sold out, with others, including the solo concert by jazz pianist Jason Rebello and the Friday afternoon children’s show, set to follow very soon.

However there are still a dozen or so other concerts for which a good number of tickets are still available from the Box Office at the Town Hall and via the Festival website.

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These include the opening night concert on April 22 given by the acclaimed and highly experienced pianist Benjamin Frith, an all-Polish recital performed by the outstanding virtuoso Alicja Fiderkiewicz on April 23 and the Festival’s closing concert on Sunday April 24 when the exceptional young pianist Mishka Rushdie Momen, the niece of author Salman Rushdie, takes to the stage with a performance of music by Beethoven, Schubert, Janacek and Ligeti. Alongside these concerts can be found other events intended to be interesting, entertaining or just plain fun!

One such is Coffee Contemporary: a light-hearted presentation of pieces by contemporary composers, introduced and compered by festival director Dave Nelson and performed by members of the Piano Club including Dave himself. Free coffee and croissants will be served at the interval.

Perhaps more zany but equally interesting, entertaining and definitely great fun is Alchemy of the Piano in which virtuoso maverick pianist and raconteur Will Pickvance (see cover picture) performs a great collection of tunes and delivers witty insights into the nature of his beloved instrument.

Embracing theatre and comedy as well as music, this brand new show, which was a sell-out success at the 2015 Edinburgh Fringe, takes the audience deep into the magic to be found in a piano and shares the spells that it casts via some superb playing and charmingly intelligent humour.

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As in previous years there are free concerts featuring non-classical piano music each evening and, in the expectation of a fine sunny weekend, there’ll be a piano out on the riverside terrace for anyone to play.

More information at www.hebdenbridgepianofestival.com

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lIf you love opera and art you’ll love this.

A chance to win a pair of tickets to see Tosca at Bradford Alhambra Theatre and a Ralph Steadman limited edition, signed print worth around £500.

Go online at www.todmordennews.co.uk or www.hebdenbridgetimes.co.uk for details this weekend.

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