The 11th Annual Prescot Festival opened in dramatic fashion last Friday, with Bentley Operatic Society performing songs and scenes from the works of Gilbert and Sullivan.
Compered with wit and executed with energy and style, the Liverpool-based musical company provided much laughter and entertainment with excerpts from such shows as Princess Ida and The Yeomen of the Guard.
The festival continued on Saturday with a moving performance of The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, by the recently knighted Sir Karl Jenkins. Over 100 singers from across the region turned out for an inspiring event that also featured soprano Ruth Anderson and former RLPO cellist Cathie Bunting, under the baton of conductor James Luxton, of Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral.
The excellent Parbold Chamber Choir provided an uplifting second half, with music by Brahms, Gershwin and Johann Strauss II.
Dave Nicholas, cinema organist at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall, joined us on Sunday for an hour of light music, ranging from songs from the shows to melodies of the war years.
A keen fan brought along a signed Dave Nicholas record from 1972 and asked the local legend to autograph it again, over four decades later (pictured).
The rest of the festival promises one of the world’s leading brass bands, a chilled evening of jazz, a rousing, Proms-style finale and much more.
(Top photo: Alan Humphreys)
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