E11. Cello: Kate Kennedy, Cara Berridge, Tanja Orning

Friends' Booking from 10 Aug 2026. General Booking from 24 Aug 2026.3. Through Silence to SoundEvent 11(a): Saturday 10th October, 7:30pm one ticket covers entry to both Events 11(a) and 11(b)Johann Sebastian Bach Suite no2 in D minor BWV1008
Cheryl Frances-Hoad Solo Suite for CelloKate Kennedy, Cara Berridge celloThrough Silence to Sound weaves together words by author and broadcaster Kate Kennedy, Bach's Second Cello Suite, and specially composed music by Cheryl Frances-Hoad. Based on Kate's internationally acclaimed book Cello - A Journey Through Silence to Sound (2024), the performance is a love song to the cello. It celebrates and investigates a player's intense and personal relationship to their instrument in ways which are moving, whimsical and beautiful, as it tells us four stories from the book.4. The Nordic CelloEvent 11b: Saturday 10th October, 8:45pm one ticket covers entry to both Events 11(a) and 11(b)Johann Sebastian Bach Suite no1 in G major BWV1007 Suite no3 in C major BWV1009Tanja Orning Hardanger celloTanja Orning is one of Norway's leading contemporary cellists, teaching cello and performance at the Norwegian Academy of Music. She'll perform Bach's First and Third Suites on a rare Hardanger cello, only invented as such recently but closely related to the Hardanger fiddle that was first heard around Bach's own time. Tanja's cello adds five lower strings that pick up the sympathetic resonance of the four bowed strings - just as Bach's music resonates sympathetically in our own time.For those buying tickets for all three events 9, 11(a) and 11(b), discounted bundle prices of 55, 39 and 19 will apply. The Red Lion is also offering a 2-course meal for audience members for 17.50 at 6pm. Please book directly with the pub (01494 862876) and say that you are Festival-goers.Bach Suites for Solo Cello (Events 9, 10, 11(a) and 11(b)) It's thought that Bach's six Cello Suites were written when he was employed at the court in Kothen in the 1720s, around the same time as the Brandenberg Concertos and the Violin Sonatas and Partitas. But there's no single definitive manuscript of the Suites and one theory to account for the discrepancies in the very few manuscript scores that are extant is that Bach continued to work on them, and that there may never in fact have been a 'final' version. There are therefore uncertainties about dates but also - more importantly - about interpretation. Other questions include the player for whom he might have written them (perhaps himself - although there's only limited evidence he played cello - or for another at the Kothen court) and even the actual instrument he wrote for. But perhaps the most striking thing of all is that they were largely forgotten and unplayed until about a century after Bach's death, when the first published edition emerged. And they only really entered the public domain with Casals' 1930s recordings, by which time detailed knowledge of early 18th-century performance practice in Germany (and indeed elsewhere) had largely dissipated. So assumptions made today about this music have to remain just that - assumptions - and presenting the Suites in three versions therefore seemed to us a useful way of relating to the strange history of these timeless masterpieces - not timeless in an abstract sense but rather that they've carried a number of both practical and historical possibilities with them ever since they entered the repertoire.More information and events on our website