Each autumn, the two moors of Dartmoor and Exmoor come alive with music performances, talks, events and workshops. The Two Moors Festival was established in 2001 to bring world-class classical music to the region, and has now developed into one of the UK’s most unique and successful arts festivals.
Two Moors Festival – quick links
It’s a romantic region to visit. Together, the moors cover 1,200 square miles of regional and remote countryside full of picturesque thatched cottages, winding country roads, some wild and woolly weather and more than a little gothic charm.
The Two Moors Festival was originally intended to uplift these rural communities after the devastation and heartbreak wrought by foot-and-mouth disease. The festival is now very well supported with this year’s ticket sales set to be the best ever.
Two Moors Festival: what to expect
The Two Moors Festival takes place in the beautiful villages of the moors with many of the magnificent historic churches moonlighting as warm and welcoming performance spaces. Spread across the two moors, this year’s Festival began in Exmoor (1–5 October) and concludes this week (8–12 October) at venues on Dartmoor.
While Penny Adie MBE was the Festival’s artistic director for 19 years, she was succeeded by the current artistic director violinist – and West Country local – Tamsin Waley-Cohen in 2020. This year’s program includes renowned classical and chamber music performers, jazz events, and the notable Young Musicians’ Competition that nurtures emerging classical talent.
The four winners were selected from a field of 40 entrants, and gave a wonderful performance at The Priory Church of St George in Dunster. Belinda Gifford-Guy (voice, age 14), Ted Lunt (recorder, age 12), River Peryer (piano, age 11) and Victoria Stolte (viola, age 16) are all names to watch! There is a good tradition here. Waley-Cohen was the competition’s inaugural winner.
The Two Moors program, which spans some six centuries of music, also includes a world premiere performance of a new work by Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür. Commissioned for the festival’s 25th anniversary, Memoirs for Violin, Percussion and String Orchestra has its debut with Waley-Cohen, the United Strings of Europe and percussionist Colin Currie on 10 October at St Andrew’s Church in Ashburton.
Remarkable performers visit Two Moors
Two Moors also scored a remarkable musical coup this year with the virtuoso pianist Tianxu An coming to the UK especially for his performance at All Saints’ Church, which took place 4 October. It was a spectacular performance with a passionate Liszt, a fiery Chopin and a thundering Rachmaninov. It was no wonder he needed to mop his brow between movements. Winner of the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 2019, and still just 26, he is a captivating player to watch, especially in the intimate setting of this beautiful church, the gleaming Steinway on a raised platform in front of the ornate rood screen.
Festival highlights also include community singing workshops, a poetry reading by Devonian Carol Hughes (wife of Ted Hughes), a night at the opera with five singers from the National Opera Studio, and a showing in Lydford of the 1929 silent film A Cottage on Dartmoor accompanied by acclaimed harpist Elizabeth-Jane Baldry.
There’s even an all ages concert with the Colin Currie Quartet at the Ashburton Arts Centre that includes Anna Meredith’s Bumps per Minute, described as a full throttle reinvention of traditional fairground dodgems.
The festival comes to a close on 12 October with the internationally acclaimed Chiaroscuro Quartet giving historically informed performances of two late period Beethoven quartets, the C Sharp Minor and E Flat Major.
Waley-Cohen has put together a rich and diverse program of 21 events featuring local and international artists across 15 venues. It’s pleasing to see that almost all tickets for those 16 and under are free thanks to The Big Give’s Arts for Impact scheme.
The Two Moors Festival is rightly treasured by its local community and shines as a brilliant example of everything a regional arts festival can achieve. Standing outside Dulverton’s All Saints’ Church and watching the moon rise over the village after Tianxu An’s astonishing performance was a truly magical moment.
