Violin Thomas Bowes; Actor Kim Begley

Paganini ‘Caprices’ no.s 1-12, Op.1

From the Times; on Paganini’s London concert, 3rd June 1831:

‘Nothing can be more difficult than to describe Paganini’s performance on the violin, so as to make the effect of it intelligible to those who have never heard him… all the anticipations formed of him, however highly coloured, have fallen short of reality…’

In the comfortable surroundings of Old Downton Lodge, Thomas Bowes, joint Artistic Director of the arts and music festival Arcadia, will reawaken the astonishment of those 19th century audiences with an evocation of this legend. He will play the first twelve of the ferociously difficult Caprices whilst Kim Begley, famed singer and actor, will read from contemporary accounts and impressions.

A world authority on the maestro, Andrew McGee, has written and collated impressions of the great man and we are delighted that he will be present along with, from his collection, some mementos of Paganini.

It is to be hoped that a special violin of the sort used by Paganini himself will be loaned for the occasion.

Places are available in advance by BACS only and you can guarantee your place(s) of £50 each by donating the appropriate sum to the Arcadia bank account (Name: Arcadia Music Festival; Sort code: 08-92-99; Account number: 65667048) using your surname as the reference. Please write to: arcadiamusicfest55@gmail.com