Spitalfields Festival

Warmest congratulations to everyone at Spitalfields Music Festival for producing the 50th edition this week. In the past, particularly in the 90s and 00s, I've been intensely involved in the festival in the past as an artistic director and later as a trustee. My first visit to a Spitalfields concert, in its original and immortal venue of Christ Church Spitalfields, was probably forty years ago.

Summarising my memories of this long period would be an impossible task. Suffice it to say that I feel cheered and reassured whenever a new Spitalfields Festival "brochure" appears; it's a vital part of my musical London life. The present and recent era have been such a difficult time for festivals, with many of the venerable ones we used to know disappearing .  All who have grappled with this particular series deserve admiration for their invention and perseverence.

I feel honoured that music of mine will feature amongst this year's events: a performance of The Song Sung True given by the Carice Singers, in St Giles Cripplegate on Friday 3rd July.

Pictured - a major pleasure of the Festival is the opportunity to visit buildings and corners of east London which many of us don't get to during the year. Here's the beautiful St John the Baptist, Hoxton, scene of a daring and memorable Festival recital by Mimi Doulton a few years ago.