Bath Festival Orchestra

The Bath Festival Orchestra was the resident symphonic ensemble at an international music festival held every spring in the historical setting of Bath Abbey, as well as in the nearby cities of Wells and Bristol. The festival was founded as a children's music festival in 1948 by impresario Ian Hunter with performances by the National Youth Orchestra. Orchestra programs at the festival in the 1950s concentrated on Classical repertoire, with considerable contributions made by Thomas Beecham. After a dozen years of financial struggles (with no performances at all between 1956-1957...