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The Covent Garden Festival is here again! The now
world-famous event is a unique celebration of the singing voice
in all its amazing diversity. Offering young singers the opportunity
to develop their careers, it also present some of the world's leading
performers as they extend their repertoire in new and exciting directions.
Audiences can thus experience a wide range of work which would otherwise
not be available. The Festival also enables
access to many interesting and unusual venues which open their doors
to the public for a limited period during the Festival.
1990 saw the first Covent Garden Festival. The impetus
for its creation came from local businessman, Laurence Isaacson,
who wished to enhance the community in which his growing restaurant
business was located. Following the first festival - an eclectic
mix of theatre, music and street performance, there was a two year
hiatus while it was decided how best to proceed.
Having attracted significant head sponsorship from
The BOC Group, the festival was re-invented in 1993 by Isaacson
and his business partner Neville Abraham, as the BOC Covent Garden
Festival. It was decided to concentrate on opera and music theatre
as the art forms most closely associated with the Covent Garden
area, but to focus activity at a level ignored by the larger players
in the scene, namely medium and small scale performances.
The Covent Garden Festival has expanded from small
beginnings to take place now over three weeks at the end of May
and beginning of June each year and has become famous for discovering
exciting and unexpected venues in the area in which to present its
performances. The Festival rightly takes pride in offering a significant
platform for young professional creators, performers and companies
to appear in the cultural heart of the capital.
For more information and calendar, visit the
Covent Garden Festival homepage.
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