Perth Festival of the Arts

12 days and nights, 28 concerts, 1 art exhibition, 5 venues, over 11,500 attendees and counting, and one single purpose……. To inspire people of all ages and backgrounds to enjoy a wide range of top quality arts.

The question is, did Perth Festival of the Arts achieve their goal? You bet they did!

Having Nicola Benedetti perform on the opening night has to be a great start to any festival. Her recital of Brahms’ 3 violin sonatas was outstanding. A born educator she communicated especially to the young people in the audience and will have inspired many in their pursuit of music.

Bringing music to young people is at the heart of the festival. Dundee rock outfit “The View” played to a packed (and lively) pit and brought in a very different audience. Also, seven lunchtime concerts in St. John’s Kirk showcased the best young musical talent from schools across Perth & Kinross. It was great to see the virtuosity and depth of young talent, right on our doorstep!

For the classical fans, there was also Nigel Kennedy - the best selling classical violinist in the world, playing his Dedications, plus some Bach with a bit of Jimi Hendrix for good measure. Tenebrae, one of the top acapella choirs in the world performed their Russian Treasures immaculately. The opera lovers also had their night with English Touring Opera’s excellent performance of Tosca.

For Jazz buffs, Martin Taylor and Alison Burns played their Ella Fitzgerald tribute to a sell out crowd, and The Cotton Club were great fun recreating the music and dance of the famous 1920’s New York club.

Yet, there's more to come in the final days! Justin Currie (the voice of Del Amitri); Tartan Tales (by Children’s Classic Concerts); plus our grandstand finale with the Moscow Philharmonic & Freddie Kempf are all to come this weekend.

The Chairman of Perth Festival, Peter Rutterford, summed it up perfectly:

“We have had a tremendous Festival. We have achieved what we set out to do, which was to make the Festival available for all tastes and ages.  We have had a wonderful 2 weeks and we hope that our audience has too.”

We're already excited about next year's festival!