Benjamin Grosvenor, Raja Halder and Hyeyoon Park are proud to launch Bromley and Beckenham International Music Festival, a new festival bringing world-class classical music to the heart of Bromley.
Benjamin Grosvenor [pictured] comments: “The Covid-19 crisis has been a daunting time for everyone. Those working in the performing arts have been hit by widespread cancellations and months of seclusion and uncertainty. As three musicians based in Bromley, we were united in our desire to create something positive out of this difficult experience and build something long-lasting for the local community. Through this, the festival was born.
We hope that this will become an annual festival that will bring world-class music to Bromley and Beckenham, which in themselves are vibrant centres and not merely off-shoots of a larger city. We hope that you will join us on this journey, and celebrate the return of live-music making.”
Festival Programme
The first Bromley and Beckenham International Music Festival will take place from 17th-20th September 2020. All concerts will be held at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, a beautiful parish church in the heart of Bromley whose central tower dates back to the 14th century.
The programme includes four socially-distanced chamber concerts with guest artists including Tomo Keller, Timothy Ridout, Leon Bosch, David Cohen, and festival Co-Founders Raja Halder, Benjamin Grosvenor and Hyeyoon Park.
For full programme information, please visit: https://www.bbimf.com/programme-2020
Coronavirus Precautions
The festival will observe government social-distancing guidelines at the time of the performances to ensure the health and safety of the festival team, performers and audience members.
Concerts will be no more than one hour in length, with an audience of up to 120 (the church has a full capacity of 400) and no intermission.
There will be a one way system in place around the church, all public surfaces will be disinfected between performances, and there is ample space in the church grounds for socially distanced outdoor queuing. Audience members will be asked to wear masks when inside the church and use the hand sanitiser provided upon entering the building.
If regulations dictate that a live audience is no longer possible, the concerts will go ahead with no live audience and the festival will offer full refunds on all tickets. Alternatively, audience members can choose to donate the value of their tickets to receive exclusive access to video streams of each concert.
To read the festival’s full Covid-19 policy, visit https://www.bbimf.com/covid-19-policy
Tickets
Tickets are available at https://www.bbimf.com/
St Christopher’s Hospice
50% of profits from the 2020 festival will go to St Christopher’s Hospice, a local hospice offering palliative and end of life care whose fundraising streams were devastated by the pandemic. The remaining 50% of profits will be invested in the 2021 festival.
https://www.stchristophers.org.uk/Sponsors
The festival would like to thank Yamaha Pianos for providing the festival piano, as well as Florian Leonhard Fine Violins, Hildegard Fritz-Denneville, Mrs Anne Mcleod-Carey, Florian Simm, Tom & Pamela Sheffield, Dr Colin Davis and the Hornby Family for their generous support.