Press Release: July 2008
Locals
turn out for best Prescot Festival yet
Last month’s Prescot
Festival was an unprecedented success, its organisers
said this week.
The fledgling arts and
music festival was created in 2005 as a way for the
historic Lancashire town to contribute to Liverpool’s
’08 Capital of Culture celebrations. Beginning as a
weekend-long series of concerts, by this year it ran to
10 days and featured more top quality artists than ever
before.
The final weekend saw a
professional chamber orchestra, the St. Helens
Sinfonietta, in the expansive Catholic Church of Our
Lady and St Joseph’s. On the Saturday, Korean pianist
Young-Choon Park presented audiences with a programme
running the gamut from Scarlatti to Beethoven.
A late-night concert the
same day brought folk singer-songwriter John Smith to
the town for the first time. Ambient lighting
transformed the gothic setting of Prescot’s 17th-century
parish church into an intimate space perfectly suited to
Smith’s mellow, hushed tones.
The same venue was packed
out with an audience of 200 on the Sunday night for the
traditional Proms-style, flag-waving finale, hosted by
the ever-popular Fairey Brass Band.
“It has been our best year
yet,” said Founding Artistic Director Dr Robert Howard,
“not just in terms of numbers, but in terms of the whole
atmosphere. Audiences were on air as they left the
concerts.”
A Prescot’s Got Talent
night attracted a myriad of local performers, including
folk singer and guitarist Rachael Dunn.
“We’ve been amazed to see
all these local artists emerge,” said Dr Howard. “That’s
a big part of what the Festival is all about. We’ve got
culture and talent in this town. It’s something to be
proud of, and it’s time we celebrated it.”
