Hello – and welcome to Tree of Strings.
We’re excited to finally be getting started and to be sharing what we’re building in Dorset. It feels like we’ve planted the first seed and now things are starting to grow!
Tree of Strings is a new music project rooted in a simple idea: that music should be something for everyone to enjoy. We’re launching with a festival of fabulous music-making which mixes up the genres and invites global stars to play alongside our young artists. Whether it’s classical, jazz, folk, improvisation and more – Tree of Strings is about throwing open the doors, trying new things and creating joy.
Our work is divided into three intertwined branches: music education in schools, performance opportunities for young musicians, and concerts and festivals that bring people together.
This summer marks the point where all those branches start to meet. Over the next couple of months we’ll be sharing more about our thinking, our people, our places – and, of course, the music. All of it is building towards our festival weekend in Abbotsbury, from 3–5 July.
As our Artistic Director Adrian Brendel explains: “This festival comes out of a long-held belief of mine: that music is at its most powerful when it brings people together through both the familiar and the unexpected. Classical music has an extraordinary depth and history, but I’ve always felt it thrives when it’s in dialogue — with contemporary voices, with improvisation, and with other musical traditions. When the old and the new are allowed to enhance one another, something genuinely exciting can happen.”
We can’t wait. We hope you’ll come on the journey with us.