Debating the future of music education at the Villages Music Festival

Richard says "In my four decades covering music and the arts for The Times I have increasingly come to value the local organisations that keep music alive at the grass roots and bring established and up-and-coming performers into their area. The Villages Music Festival is a wonderful example of that".

Also on the panel is Georgina Born, Professor of Anthropology and Music at University College, London. In the seventies, she was a cellist and vocalist with avant-garde bands Henry Cow, The Arts Bears; and The Raincoats. Since then she's been a professor at both Oxford and Cambridge; and in 2016 she was awarded the OBE for for services to musicology, anthropology, and higher education.

The discussion, and question and answer session, will be at Laughton Village Hall, at 6pm on Wednesday 2nd July, and tickets, at £15, include refreshments as well as entertainment by a vocal quartet. More details at villagesmusicfestival.org.