New Petworth Festival co-artistic directors combine for concert

They will set the ball rolling with a special Welcome Concert at this year’s Petworth Festival on Tuesday, July 28 at 7.30pm at St Mary’s Church, with tickets available on https://petworthfestival.org.uk/charles-owen-lizzie-ball.

Current Petworth Festival artistic director Stewart Collins will step down from the summer festival at the end of this year's edition but will continue to programme the autumn literary festival.

For his and Lizzie’s Welcome Concert, Charles will offer Chopin – Ballade no 1 in G minor, op. 23; Janáček – In the Mists; and Schubert – Wanderer Fantasie, D 760. After the interval Lizzie Ball’s Classical Kicks Ensemble will offer a programme to include: Piazzolla’s Libertango, Kreisler’s Praeludium and Allegro, music by Ravel, de Falla and Monti, Bartok’s Six Roumanian Folk Dances and a medley of traditional bluegrass.

Charles said: “I grew up in Hampshire. My dad was a vicar there, and my mum used to take me to Petworth whenever she wanted to escape! That was the initial childhood connection and then one of my friends Nick Herbert was an MP in the area, and I used to meet him. He took me to Petworth House and the town. That would have been around 2017 or 2018 and I just thought that it was stunning.

“But then in 2020 I was invited to be part of the festival. I did a duo recital in one of those windows between lockdowns. We had a distanced audience and they filmed it absolutely beautifully. Somewhere that film still exists. I only saw it once. And then I came back in 2022. Apart from my solo piano work, I collaborate with many wonderful instrumentalists and we gave a recital at Champs Hill. Those were my first two concerts at Petworth.

“And then last year the chairman of the Petworth Festival was approaching various musicians who would be good curators as well as performers at the festival (to replace Stewart).

Charles is delighted to be teaming up with Lizzie Ball to fill the role.

“I have played in festivals all over the world and I have a huge web of contacts and colleagues, people that I have collaborated with over the years in various performances, a great pool of artists that are personal friends.”

As for the shared role with Lizzie: “Lizzie and I have known each other for a long time, more socially really because we are very different branches of musicians. I don't really cross over into her world at all but she comes into my world as a violinist, and it will be really exciting to work with her. They were wanting to have active performers to replace Stewart, and we are already thinking about the programme for next year. We're thinking about how we make this jigsaw together, and it is already coming together. We have lots of ideas.

“Petworth is a festival that I love. You have got the location, the geography, the history and the different venues and also the range of sizes of the venues. And I love the fact that it is not far from London and other major cities. We want people to come down and see things and perhaps be able to get back that night. That's a crucial element for people that don't live close by.

“And I particularly love the programme that you get in Petworth which is just so varied. It's a unique shape to the festival, and I think we've also got a lovely audience.”

As Charles, says there is a lovely cosy and comfortable element to the festival, and he certainly wouldn't want to lose it: “But at the same time we want to continue to develop the festival as a place for very high-profile international artists. We want to have much more visibility with the nationals. I mention Petworth to artists and so often their faces just light up. Those artists that have performed in Petworth just have such a passion for Petworth, and I really want to extend that.”