Brinkburn Music
Paul McCreesh founded Brinkburn Music Festival in rural Northumberland in 1994 but his first experience of Brinkburn Priory was as the venue for the Gabrieli Consort’s very first and highly praised recording, Venetian Coronation 1595. Paul was captivated by the 12th-century priory and its magical setting and has been the artistic director for all of the subsequent 16 annual festivals.
Paul’s aspiration for the festival is unchanging - to attract as many people as possible, whatever their circumstances, to enjoy the best music in the world. Additionally, the festival celebrates one of the North of England’s finest ecclesiastical buildings and a natural, peaceful setting. It is this marriage of history, nature, architecture and music which encapsulates the Brinkburn experience.
The festival was described by Arts Council England, North East as a "beacon of excellence and adventure". At the 2009 festival, Gabrieli unveiled a new a cappella programme, I Heard A Voice from Heaven, featuring Howells' haunting Requiem and other works of mourning and consolation from the English tradition. The following weekend, the Chetham's Chamber Chorus from the Chetham's School of Music in Manchester joined the Gabrieli Players for an intimate and exciting performance of Haydn's Creation. Previous festivals have included Handel's Dixit Dominus with the Gabrieli Consort augmented by the superb Tees Valley Youth Choir, Scarlatti's Stabat Mater, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and The Road to Paradise, the Deutsche Grammophon recording dedicated to Brinkburn's founding chairman, Richard Harbottle, released in June 2007.