Harborough music festival is set to return this summer

A renowned Market Harborough feast of music is set to entertain local people again this summer.

Great Bowden Music Fest will be back in a slightly different, Covid-safe format following the year-long pandemic.

The event will take place at St Peter and St Paul’s Church from Thursday July 8 to Sunday July 11.

The popular festival will pack in a string of shorter concerts with reduced audience capacity.

Music Fest organising committee chairman Tim Blades said: “Having organised a successful online festival in 2020, we were determined to do everything we could to run a live event this year.

“We are excited to be able to announce that we will be live again this year.

“Planning it has not been easy and the safety of our audience and performers has always been our first priority.”

He added: “As a result, we are going to have our normal range of concerts starting on the evening of Thursday 8th July and running through to our finale concert on Sunday 11th July.

“However, all concerts will run straight through without an interval and will be no more than 70 minutes.

“We will maintain social distancing - and this will mean the number of tickets we can sell will be around half normal capacity.”

The musical extravaganza will kick off with a classical concert on Thursday evening, including the Brahms Piano Quintet.

That will be followed by the musicals evening on Friday and a jazz trio on Saturday.

The finale concert on Sunday evening will star Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence.

Fans and aficionados can also look forward to a plum lunchtime concert on Saturday, with the possibility of an extra one on Friday.

Tickets are poised to go on sale from early June.

An announcement will be made as soon as details are finalised.