Councillor Linda Johnson and I are patrons of the New Paths Festival which is a festival of mostly classical and jazz music held in Beverley and nearby venues. We were glad to be able to attend the Spring 2024 festival.

My first event was a free morning concert ‘Breakfast with Bach’ at the venerable St Mary’s Church in Beverley. Violinist Fenella Humphreys played a wonderful rendition of ‘Toccata and Fugue in D minor’ and ‘Partita in E major’.

Next I attended a talk by Dame Gillian Weir the celebrated organist. She talked of how she became established as an organist and how the performance of classical music has changed over the many years she has been a performer.

Dame Gillian was very critical of pop music. Evidently a lot of the audience agreed.

Well I love pop, rock, dance, disco electronic and ambient music and I am sticking with that. I also like jazz and classical when the mood takes me.

Next was an organ contest at Beverley Minster, judged by Dame Gillian herself. All the contestants were excellent and we agreed it must have been difficult to choose a winner.

Friday evening saw us in St Mary’s again for a performance of Ian Venables’ ‘Portraits of a Mind’, Bartok’s 3rd string quartet and several other pieces. The musicianship was fine and the performances set very well in the fine surroundings of the church.

After a break the final performance of the night was by Christian Forshaw and Grace Davidson, performing ‘Sanctuary’, which is seen as a contemporary masterpiece.

My day at the festival was marvellous and a I could see that a lot of preparation had gone into it.