Orchestra in a Field

 'The energy of Glastonbury and the production values of Glyndebourne.’ – The Telegraph.

Orchestra in a Field is a festival like no other. A kaleidoscopic tour of the world’s best music, from Tchaikovsky to Tubular Bells, by way of trip-hop, opera and rap – all in a stunning, natural setting in the ancient heart of Somerset.

Held over the weekend of 30th June–1st July in the sweeping parklands of Glastonbury Abbey, with its romantic ruins, wild flower drifts and ancient orchards, the event is the inspiration of Somerset based Charles Hazlewood, who works with great orchestras around the world and is 'BBCTV's pin-up conductor'.

This year’s main concerts will be Mussorgsky’s magical ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ on June 30th, and Bizet’s hot-blooded ‘Carmen’ on July 1st.

A distinctive feature of the Mussorgsky piece will be the improvised replies to the orchestra supplied by Charles Hazlewood’s All Stars Collective, a musical ‘supergroup’ featuring Will Gregory from Goldfrapp, and Adrian Utley from Portishead.

Aside from this, each day of the festival will feature a range of exciting one-off musical experiences, including a performance of Mike Oldfield’s seminal 70s classic Tubular Bells on Saturday 30th June, Adrian Utley’s “gargantuan” Guitar Orchestra, and the first ever large-scale performance by the newly formed British Paraorchestra on Sunday 1st July. There will also be a performance of Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture by the Scrapheap Orchestra, made entirely out of recycled material, as seen on BBC TV.

Plus we’ve got delicious food from a host of quality local producers, a Talk Tent, huge kids area, amazing lighting and projection art, you name it! It’s perfect family entertainment, a great way to introduce your kids to classical music and compared to other music festivals it’s incredibly good value.