As well as marking its 35th anniversary, Bath Mozartfest 2025 was also the final festival for Amelia Freedman. After more than 30 years as its much-praised artistic director, she had announced her intention to retire at the end of this festival but, very sadly, died at the end of July. In typical Amelia fashion, though, the festival had been programmed long before and it was to be her musical swansong, with many tributes paid to her over the nine days.
Musical highlights abounded. The Hallé concert, with Conductor Emeritus Sir Mark Elder and pianist Dame Imogen Cooper, was the crowd-pleaser of the opening weekend.
The dynamic young Consone Quartet made their Bath debut; The Nash Ensemble, found by Amelia more than 60 years ago, and described by The Telegraph as ‘Britain’s most revered chamber group’ got a standing ovation for Mendelssohn’s String Octet; and violinist Jennifer Pike, accompanied by her pianist father, Jeremy, presented a joyful lunchtime concert beneath the chandeliers of Bath’s Georgian Guildhall.
Tenebrae’s tribute to the English Glories of the Sixteenth Century was a sell-out in the perfect setting of St Mary’s Church. Whilst BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists the Kleio Quartet, plus soloists, captivated their audience.
An impromptu performance of Max Bruch’s Kol Nidrei, performed by cellist Adrian Brendel in Bath Abbey before La Nuova Musica’s performance of Mozart’s Mass in C minor brought this remarkable festival, described by a critic as ‘presented with loving care and great musical talent’ to a moving close.
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