67th Chichester Festival of Music, Dance and Speech gets under way
and live on Freeview channel 276
Spokesman Christopher Johnston said: “Our committee have been working hard to ensure that the Festival is ready to kick off on Saturday, February 5. From then on, 12 sections will be running every weekend until Saturday, March 12.
“With the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, we have had to undertake a thorough risk-assessment of each venue and event that we are running. While we are grateful to still be able to hold a live festival, we shall need to manage each section very carefully to ensure that we do not put our entrants and their audience at risk. Details of the measures we shall be introducing will be sent to entrants in advance of their section.
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Hide Ad“Our return to a live format is not the only addition to our Festival this year. 2022 will be the first time that we are a nominated All England Dance festival, where candidates may qualify for the AED area finals through our classes. We were delighted to hear that Jacquie Storey, our dance adjudicator, has recently been appointed as Chair of AED and we wish her well in her new role.
“We are also pleased to announce that Kate Mosse, the internationally renowned author, has agreed to become a Patron of the Festival. Kate’s books have sold more than 5 million copies and have been translated into 38 languages in 40 countries. She is also the founder of #WomenInHistory, launched in January 2021 to honour, celebrate and promote women’s achievements throughout history and from every corner of the globe. Kate lives in Chichester and actually entered some of our classes when still at school. She is keen to support our Festival and we look forward to seeing her at some of our classes and concert.
“Once each section has run, we will be holding a Showcase Concert to celebrate outstanding performers from across the Festival. This is the first Festival Concert that we have held since 2019, so we are very much looking forward to the chance for our performers to showcase their talents to our Patrons and supporters. We are particularly delighted to host the concert at the Minerva Theatre; the event will take place on Saturday, March 19 at 3pm, so do make sure to book your tickets.”