Fifty Festivals: The history of the Bath Festival (Paperback)

Sir Thomas Beecham conducting opera, Yehudi Menuhin playing solo Bach in Bath Abbey, Dame Margot Fonteyn and Rudolf Nureyev on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Sir Michael Tippett's Blues Festival, recitals by Jessye Norman and Elisabeth Schwarzkopf - the catalogue of great performances by world-class artists seems endless. And still the Bath Festival rolls on, bringing new talent and famous names to the city each year.

While the Bath Festival’s artistic reputation is world renowned, behind the scenes the true story is one of organisers struggling to make ends meet, artistic egos growing too big for a small provincial city, and, from time to time, local people objecting to their taxes being used to fund events they sometimes perceived as elitist.

The dramas, the crises and the overdrafts - all are recalled with engaging humour and frankness in Tim Bullamore’s new book.

But in spite of - or perhaps because of - its difficulties, the Bath International Festival of Music and the Arts has survived and, more recently, flourished.

As the Bath International Music Festival celebrated its fiftieth festival in 1999, Fifty Festivals looks back at the artistic triumphs as well as the financial disasters, and examines what the future holds for this world famous event.

About the Author
For five years Tim Bullamore was the music critic of The Bath Chronicle. His time at the newspaper coincided with the first five years of Bath Festivals Trust, the organisation established to rescue the ailing Bath International Music Festival in 1993. It was during this time that he gained the experience and knowledge to write Fifty Festivals: the history of the Bath Festival.

Tim is now a local councillor, and is working on a book about the famous people who have lived and worked in Bath.

Tim first visited Bath while working at Ibbs and Tillett Ltd as a manager of classical musicians. He accompanied artists such as the Takács Quartet, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra and pianist Mikhail Pletnev to the city and settled there in 1993.

In the musical world he is best known for bringing the Russian pianist and Shostakovich interpreter Tatiana Nikolayeva from the obscurity of Moscow to her acclaimed series of Wigmore Hall concerts in 1991 and her remarkable concerto debut at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms the following year.

Born in 1966 and brought up in the Yorkshire city of Leeds, Tim’s colourful career has included spells working for Barclays Bank, the Youth Hostels Association and Really Useful Group. He has written for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian, BBC Music Magazine and Classic CD.

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