Welcome to the Mary Wakefield Westmorland Music Festival

The Festival's New Chairman

The Festival Committee is delighted to announce that Jolyon Dodgson has agreed to take over as Chairman from Mary Powney, who has been acting Chairman since just after the 2011 Festival.

Jolyon brings with him a lifetime’s experience as a singer and choral director and as chairman of many voluntary organisations. His singing career started with service as a chorister at both Hereford and Chester Cathedrals, and then as a Lay Clerk at York Minster. After that he trained at the then Royal Manchester College of Music under Graham Clifford and Heddle Nash and went on to musical appointments at Lancaster and Stirling Universities. As well as pursuing his own career as a baritone soloist, he has worked with the BBC Northern Singers and the BBC Scottish Singers and has performed all over the world. He has worked with many of the legendary names in the conducting and composing world, including Adrian Boult, John Barbirolli, Charles Groves, Richard Hickox, Simon Rattle, David Willcocks, John Tavener, Claudio Abbado and many others. He is no stranger to the business of running festivals either, as he is currently Chairman of Carlisle Festival and Artistic Director of the Brathay Festival of Music.

With just over a year to go until the next Festival in March 2013, Jolyon has a busy time ahead of him. Plans are well under way for a challenging programme featuring work by Benjamin Britten to mark the 100th anniversary of Britten’s birth, notably his Cantata Misericordium in the Festival Choral Concert, and he will also conduct a performance of Noye’s Fludde with performers from both primary and secondary schools as well as from the wider community.