Max Baillie, violinist, musicologist and entrepreneur, has been touring with his outstanding and unusual Lodestar Trio, who many of you will have heard when they played for the first time at Christchurch St Leonards in 2024. Folk Odyssey (with works by Bartok and Grieg) was recently recorded live for German national radio and broadcast at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, where the trio has appeared several times. The project was also recorded live for Belgian national radio last year, and there are plans for an album in November.

Other of Baillie’s concerts have included playing with celebrated cellist Laura van der Heijden at the Ryedale Festival, another programme seen first in St Leonards. He also played his first concert at the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie with star saxophonist Jess Gillam, in front of 2,600 people.

Upcoming concerts in St Leonards are on 20 October 24 November: two great programmes with fabulous guests. October will see piano quintets by Vaughan Williams along with Schubert’s Trout, featuring Simon Crawford Phillips and other special guests. The November concert at St John’s Church will be the majestic and complex Goldberg Variations, with acclaimed cellist Laura van der Heijden and internationally-recognized violist Hélène Clément. Not to be missed.

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA AND CHOIR

Meanwhile Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra previewed their new season with a performance of Mozart’s Magic Flute on 22 August. Coming up they have a trio performing works by three notable female composers – Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, and Lily Boulanger. They have a program of John Williams’ film theme music at the White Rock in October, and in early November the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and Orchestra perform fabulous works by Saint-Saёns, Schubert, and Debussy, plus Aaron Copland’s glorious clarinet concerto. Full details on their website. 

Tickets and details: St Leonards Concerts: stlconcerts.co.uk/events, Hastings Philharmonic hastingsphilharmonic.com/2026-2027-season

Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, under the redoubtable leadership of Marcio Da Silva, have deservedly secured funds to enable them to perform no less than seven free concerts during the month of July. Called HPO Open Doors, these concerts offer unmissable opportunities to hear live classical music performed by some of the finest musicians on the South Coast.

At Christ Church St Leonards the HPO ensemble – a subset of the orchestra – will perform the much-loved favourite, Prokoviev’s Peter and the Wolf – accompanied by a puppet show explaining the action. For the older generation, they will also play a selection of tunes from The Sound of Music.

After that there is a ‘Choral Immersion’ at St Clements Church in the Old Town – a selection of elegant choral work by composers spanning four hundred years. They are: William Byrd, one of the greatest Renaissance choral writers; Brazilian 19th century composer José Nunes Garcia, born to impoverished parents, grandson of two slaves; and the extraordinary American composer Eric Whitacre, born in 1970, who turned from a techno-pop synth whizz to a fully-fledged composer during an instant of choral epiphany – and learnt to read music only after he entered music college. His choral music is completely, viscerally, beautiful.

Then there’s an open-air afternoon concert in Alexandra Park on the bandstand, with the HPO wind quintet playing favourites by Mozart, Puccini, Bizet, and Rossini. After that comes a full orchestral concert at the White Rock Theatre with selections from Carmen, Saint-Saёns’ Danse Macabre (you may know it as the theme from Jonathan Creek!), Ravel’s Mother Goose suite and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. This promises to be a highlight of the series – familiar music played excellently in familiar surroundings – and free.

The last two concerts are Holst’s Planets in the grounds of Battle Abbey at twilight, and a final Wine and Song recital at Christ Church. These concerts are sure to be exceptional and more especially, a unique opportunity for those to whom classical music is unfamiliar or who fear it may be inaccessible, expensive, or too serious. Go along, and experience the joy of creative humanity at its finest.

Tickets and details: hastingsphilorchest ra.co.uk/hpo-open-doors-2026. Full season details: hastingsphilorchest ra.co.uk/2025-26-season 

Choir and Orchestra, together with soloists Helen May (soprano), Sarah Denbee (mezzo-soprano), Leonel Pinheiro (tenor) and Robert Winslade Anderson (bass), under the baton of Marcio da Silva, will join forces at The White Rock Theatre, on 20 November, to repeat that inaugural programme.

It seems astonishing now, but in 1824, Beethoven extended musical boundaries when, for the first time ever, he integrated vocal soloists and a full chorus into a final movement – Ode to Joy – of a symphony. The work remains one of the most performed and revered works in the classical repertoire.

O’Meara’s No Man leads the listener on a musical and literary journey, from the ‘No Man’s Land’ of war to the ‘No Man is an Island’ message of peace and unity of John Donne’s famous sonnet. Drawing on texts in English, French and Latin by W B Yeats, Victor Hugo, Donne, the Psalms of the Bible and Friedrich Schiller, weaving together the melodies of ancient Gregorian plainsong and a reforming of the famous theme from Beethoven’s choral finale, No Man presents an Ode to Joy for the modern age.

Thursday 20 November 2025, 7pm, White Rock Theatre. Tickets £10–£29.50, at hastingsphilchoir.org.uk/autumnconcert2025, or in person from the White Rock Theatre Box Office. 

The Barefoot Opera Production of La Cenerentola (Cinderella) is on tour this year. The initial date is 27 July at St John The Evangelist Church, Pevensey Road, St Leonards. This is an improved and expanded version of last year’s successful and original performance, and proves in rehearsals to be enormously entertaining. It can also be seen at Rye Creative Centre on 19 August. In between it will be in London for five days at the Arcola Theatre from 1-5 August. 

AGATA READ 

Last chance to see this totally original artist’s PhD show Frames on the Distaff Side, which runs at Project 78 Gallery, Norman Road, until 5 August. Incorporating the relationship between photography, feminism, and textile craft. Read creates unique, hand quilted and embroidered pieces using photographs and yarn, incorporating strong historical connections to women.

DAVID QUANTICK’S SUMMER MUSIC SEASON

The Summer Music Season is still ongoing at the Electric Palace, presented by music journalist, author, and Emmy Award winner, David Quantick. Bands featured in the film selection have included King Crimson, The Police, The Black Angels, Spacemen 3 and Tina Turner. The Slits, The Raincoats, Noel Coward and Delia Derbyshire (Dr Who Theme – electronic pioneer) still to come in August. 

SHOW OF HANDS

The legendary folk trio, thirty years on the road, perform their final tour with Miranda Sykes. Tickets are on sale now for their concert at De La Warr Pavilion on Thursday 16 November.  Don’t miss this – it promises to be an extraordinary event.

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC

Another one not to miss at De La Warr is Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir, and guest choirs from Freiburg Germany, sing Mendelssohn’s dramatic and inspiring oratorio Elijah on 30 July. This glorious music confirmed Mendelssohn’s position as one of the greatest composers of sacred music of all time.  

THE MONSHORE

The Moonshore Festival relates to the theme of The Sea in a photography festival running from 4-6 August, taking place at 40 Marina, St Leonards. The Moonshore is part of the local shoreline that hides an ancient submarine forest, revealing itself only scarcely and under the right conditions. The festival will include workshops, talks, exhibitions, a photo-book fair and a social event to celebrate the exhibitions and promote discussion. 

SEAFOOD AND WINE

Forward to September, and the Seafood and Wine Festival will feature delicious seafood and luscious wines (with the emphasis on locally sourced and sustainable food and wine), and the best in live local music, including Liane Carroll, The New Blue Shoes, Kinsella and The Sam Calver Band. Starts Saturday 16 September, and both days will be covered by wristband entry. Wristbands can be purchased in advance from Hastings Museum and Art Gallery.

SARAH MILNE

Henry Ward Hall, formerly Opus, reopens with a community concert and the launch of a Hastings music archive. 

On 1 July of this year, His Place Community Centre will reopen to the public as the first phase of Heritage Lottery Restoration repairs come to an end. Robertson Street Congregational Church, now His Place, was once at the heart of music performance and education in Hastings. It hosted performances from choirs, such as the Hastings Girls’ Choir, in the 1950s and provided affordable music lessons for children across the town. Alongside extensive building work, the grant funded the Make a Joyful Noise project, with music workshops and research into the history of music across Hastings between 1800 and 1960.

His Place is celebrating the culmination of this project with two concerts in the newly named Henry Ward Hall, formally Opus Theatre. The evening will include performances from partner organisations in the project, Hastings Philharmonic Choir, Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra, Hastings International Piano Concerto, alongside talented singers, and musicians on behalf of the Hastings Musical festival.

In the afternoon, the stage will be given to the children who have taken part in workshops including song writing, and a group of Ukrainian children who have been receiving free guitar and recorder lessons. They will be joined by local bands, singers, and rappers and the Let’s Ballet Ensemble, Silver Swans.

A brand new Hastings Music Heritage Hub will be launched on the day: a digital, community archive preserving the musical heritage of Hastings. The hub has been loaded with fascinating stories, including oral histories of military band performances at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, sell-out concerts given by the German prisoner of war orchestra following WW2, and the Hastings Girls’ Choir performing at the Royal Variety Show. Programs and posters of many performances have also been added to the hub by project partners. From 1 July, everyone will be able to view and add their own photos, programs, and memories of our town’s rich music heritage to the archive. 

The Make a Joyful Noise concerts will be held at Henry Ward Hall, Roberson Street with a community show at 14.00 and the evening show at 19.00. There will also be a bar and an opportunity to see and try the new, online Heritage music Hub. Entry is free, with donations welcome.

The Hastings Music Heritage Hub will be live from 1 July at hastingsmusicheritage.org.uk

Watching Cate Blanchett in the film Tár recently and subsequently reading a work which is said to inspire it, The Maestro Myth: Great Conductors in Pursuit of Power, one would be forgiven for thinking that these rare, gifted leaders are unapproachable, arrogant, answerable only to themselves, inhuman in their quest for musical greatness. It was therefore with some hesitancy that I contacted our local Maestro, Marcio da Silva.

ACCESS TO CLASSICAL MUSIC

Perhaps because this is Hastings and St Leonards, a friendly, interesting, interested, tolerant, encouraging society, which values the Arts, we have in our midst a Maestro who is the absolute antithesis of the power-hungry myth; someone who is surprised if anyone addresses him as Maestro. But his achievements with both the Hastings Philharmonic Choir and the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra (see previous articles in this newspaper) cannot be underestimated. He and his wife, Helen May da Silva, are between them a blaze of musical activity. This goes way beyond their own career aspirations; together they aim to bring classical music to a much wider local audience, to schools, to people who would not normally attend this kind of performance: to make it accessible.

A YOUNG PRODIGY

Apart from da Silva’s excellence at what he does, some of this missionary zeal could be a result of his upbringing. ‘Give me the child till he is seven years old, and I will show you the man’ was the well-known motto of Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuit founder, acknowledging Aristotle. Growing up in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, da Silva feels fortunate to have attended a Jesuit school, and in his case the philosophy has clearly been effective. 

At a young age he was already well-known, performing regularly on Brazilian television. His family were perhaps musical, but there are no professional musicians in his background. His grandmother, however (perhaps his prime mentor) actually created a choir to sing with him when he was twelve. 

I asked him how it felt to be a prodigy. “It was fun,” he muses. “It meant I could get out of school all the time because of choir rehearsals.” 

He travelled as a young teenager to Phoenix Arizona, where he auditioned for the Phoenix Choir and after six months was inspired by his own previous musical experience and the brilliant a capella male choir Chanticleer to form his own choir when he was just fourteen years old. 

MOVING TO HASTINGS

His career and achievements are already publicly well-documented, so I can refer you to his detailed biography at marciodasilva.com/biography. He had four years in France, three in Germany, and eventually took a Masters in conducting here at the Royal College of Music at the age of just 30. Randomly applying through an advertisement and obtaining the job of choir master for the Hastings Philharmonic Choir, he travelled down from London for three years until his grandmother (again) suggested that he move down here permanently, as it was such a conducive atmosphere; and also for the more prosaic reasons that he and his former wife, Ayşen Ulucan, could then afford a family house and a quieter atmosphere for the children. 

HASTINGS PHILHARMONIC, BOSSA NOVA, FRANK SINATRA

Once in the job, conducting choral concerts, he was inspired to take over the directorship and re-formation of the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra in 2016. He began at the same time to book his own players: to begin with a number of people that he knew from the Royal College and other places where he had studied and worked. He calls this smaller group the Orquesta – a name he had used for an ensemble in Germany – and they did a series of concerts in a London church. At the same time, he took over the directorship of the Woodhouse Opera Festival in Surrey from Monika Saunders, who died in 2018 but who he acknowledges was an inspiration to him. He loves conducting and directing romantic opera. 

The Orquesta has become the go-to company for Baroque music and is now internationally well known. By contrast, he has staged a number of Bossa Nova concerts locally, and a full night of Tango. He also grew up loving Frank Sinatra. He has even composed his own Te Deum, which he will perform in June along with Poulenc’s unbearably beautiful, haunting Gloria.

UNSTOPPABLE

He lives in St Leonards with Helen May and his two children by his former marriage. Together they seem unstoppable. Their joint mission includes making high-quality performances appealing and accessible, offering, unusually, free tickets to under-18s, students, jobseekers, and recipients of universal credit. 

They engage children, young people, and adults in interactive workshops and try to offer performance opportunities. They endeavour to share their work across as many and as diverse groups as possible and offer multi-art form opera projects, which also include movement, dance, physical theatre, and puppetry. 

He and May have launched opera workshops at two primary schools in Hastings and St Leonards and have built strong links with Awards for Young Musicians and Create Music, thus supporting and mentoring local musical children and those from low-income families.

THE HUMAN TOUCH

Watching his performances in St Leonards, in Christ Church, I am struck by his readiness to address the audience personally, and furthermore his taking part in the performance while conducting – though this, he admits, was partly a financial decision. The cost of staging an orchestral concert is enormous (even filling the church with ticketholders does not really cover the cost) so because there was only one section of the C Minor Mass that required a baritone, he decided he could fill the part himself. The effect of this was in fact to strengthen the bond between the performers and the audience, but probably also to strengthen the bond of trust between him and the orchestra and choir.

This directness is important to him. He loves living here, and he loves being able to fill the church with an audience of people who know him, and many whom he can call friends. He readily and gratefully acknowledges all the help he has had from diverse sources. He thanks Christ Church, who opened their doors and allowed him to stage concerts for nothing, and John Read, a lifelong member of the Choir and Church Warden at Christ Church, whose help and encouragement he is particularly grateful for. His friends and family do a large share of the administrative work and organisation that enable an orchestral concert to happen, including fundraising. 

Though he says he is quite strict about what he wants musically from the orchestra and choir, the way he obtains excellent results is by being the antithesis of the furious demanding Maestro. He is in his 40th year; we are extremely fortunate that this area and its residents are able to nurture his musical gifts, enjoy some brilliant orchestral and choral baroque performances, and appreciate his articulate, approachable humanity.

Music for Lunch

The regular summer season of lunchtime concerts at Holy Trinity returns on Wednesday 7 June at 1.10 p.m. It runs every Wednesday from June to August. An excellent start is promised with new performers Hannah Shilvock on bass clarinet and Viola Lenzi on piano, beginning with an elegy by Dirk Brossé. It will be the first time that the bass clarinet takes centre stage at Holy Trinity, giving a fresh feel for the new season. Included is a concert by the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra providing a quintet including a young winner of the Hastings Music Festival. hthchurch.org or email lunchtimeconcerts@hthchurch.org.

Young and Old Curiosity

A Curious Town promises a 5 day immersive combined arts festival beginning on 31 May.  What lies Beyond the Duvet? Be transported into the world of your subconscious on the festival opening night with Storytelling, Live Dream Drawing, Walkabout Performers and Immersive Art.  One workshop will explore Dream Cartography – creating a map of our own dreamworld, Gotham Alley and surrounding areas.  For younger people there’s Daydreaming through Drama (aged 7-10) and Drama of Dreams (11-14). For those slightly older there’s an evening of glitzy balls, raucous laughter, cheeky bingo calls, dancing, music and drag performance. Bingo but not as you know it? ‘Bigger, Shiner Draggier. Bring your pals, bring your Nan to a Bingo experience like no other ‘– says the blurb.

The Observer Building and The Printworks 31 May-4 June
acurioustown.co.uk/Curious curiousagenda@gmail.com

Gorgeous

Summer Season has come to Hastings and with it the Gorgeous Show Summer Special on Friday 2 June at the Crown House. Produced by local Burlesque ‘powerhouse’ Pupin DeVert, The Gorgeous Show is bursting at the seams with the freshest burlesque,

cabaret and drag talent from local Hastings favourites to some amazing guests from all over the UK. Tickets available on Eventbrite or email judithjaan@gmail.com.

Superheroes 

Canadian artist Ian Kirkpatrick’s exhibition Mythomania, featuring 2D art and sculptures, will be unveiled at Hastings Museum & Art Gallery on Saturday 24 June.

Mythomania showcases Kirkpatrick’s intricate and large-scale art that explores humanity’s ongoing fascination with mythical narratives – from ancient Greek legends to modern superheroes and ‘fake news’. 

Mythomania is a 20-21 Visual Arts Centre Touring Exhibition, funded by a grant from Arts Council England. hmag.org.uk/see-and-do/exhibitions/mythomania.

Hastings’ blues supremo Roger Hubbard will be in concert once again at the Kino-Teatr, Norman Road, St. Leonards, Friday March 3 at 7.30pm. He’ll be playing his own songs and performing  either solo or with accompaniment from Richard Studholme on bass guitar and Bruce Allen on drums. The support act is Yoshika Colwell.  Modestly, Roger says it’s an event “not to be missed” so book early.

Tickets from Kino-Teatr, 01424 457830 or ticketsource.co.uk/kinoteatr/t-ealjjey

Brethren Fritz

An evening of music with an all-star line-up is on offer from St Leonard’s Concerts. Led by violinist Max Baillie and clarinet player Ewan Bleach, the Fritz Brothers (named after Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler) will feature virtuoso guitarists Frank Moon and John Kelly, and bass player extraordinaire Misha Mullov-Abbado. 

Sunday 12 February ,7:30pm Crown House, 57 Marina, St Leonards.

Two Equals Three

We are reliably informed that if you visit Hastings Arts Forum on the St Leonards seafront from mid-February to mid-March, you’ll find an exhibition in two parts by South Coast Artists (SoCo) which is “vibrant and thought provoking”. The theme of the shows is THREE and, somewhat confusingly, it’s divided into two parts “because of the theme’s popularity amongst the membership”. THREE Part I runs from 14-26 February. THREE Part II runs from 28 February – 12 March, Tuesday – Sunday, 11.00am-5.00pm.

All at the Gallery, 20 Marine Court, St Leonards . www.hastingsartsforum.co.uk.

57 Varieties

Beans On Toast, aka British folk singer Jay McAllister, will play Hastings as part of his Back on The Road tour. Wikipedia tells us that McAllister hails from Braintree, Essex, and “rose to prominence out of the UK folk scene in 2005. His songs often centre around the topics of politics, drugs and love”. 

15 March, The Brass, 18 Havelock Road, www.beansontoastmusic.com.

Carroll Concert

Join Liane Carroll and friends for a night of jazz and good company. She will be joined by Naomi Pohl, the General Secretary of the Musician’s Union, for this fundraiser in aid of Hastings and Rye Labour Party’s candidate Helena Dollimore. It’s sponsored by The Musicians’ Union and they promise a fantastic night. All welcome.

Thursday 23 February 2023 7.00pm-10.30pm Sussex Rooms, White Rock Theatre.

Plagued

The Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra invite you to Join them for an exciting performance of Cavalli: Musiche Sacre (Music from a time of plague). It is brought to life with physical theatre elements by the children’s choir, HPO Songbirds, and HPO Singers, accompanied by the specialist early musicians of Ensemble OrQuesta Baroque. Written in the mid-17th century, Cavalli’s Musiche Sacre is full of variety, imagination, and experimentation.

Saturday 25 February 7.30pm Christ Church, St Leonards Silchester Road

It’s so important – especially in Lockdown – to experience live performances. Because, with music, we’re (hopefully) partaking of someone else’s peak performance. And this HPO concert was outstanding. One felt privileged to be there. (Yup, as a Woodstock vet: there’s no substitute for ‘being there’!) A year ago, I couldn’t have conceived of a concert in Christ Church like this one. A small masked audience sat in a semi-circle in the centre of the nave – facing north. And all neatly seated, singly, in twos and threes some ten yards from the performers. I can’t remember the church so well-lit and welcoming. Everything was superbly arranged. And the programme was most informative and thoughtfully written.

The concert trio – a fine ensemble consisting of piano (Lysianne Chen), clarinet (Boyan Ivanov) and soprano (Helen May) – gave us nine well-chosen pieces. There was something to please everybody: from Schubert, Verdi, Massenet, Gounod, Bizet, Dvorak to Gershwin and Fazil Say’s surprising Black Earth. Remarkably, in Black Earth, Lysianne Chen made the piano talk and sing. Some achievement indeed.

Yet, all the pieces gave rise to virtuoso performances. I greatly enjoyed Helen May’s Caro Nome (Verdi) – beautifully rendered. And Dvorak’s Song to the Moon, which Renee Fleming and Frederica von Stade have made their own, was simply entrancing.

Boyan Ivanov plays the clarinet with exceptional skill, heart and verve. As if newly-minted, his powerful Rhapsody in Blue will stay long in my memory. As will his wonderful encore piece. Interestingly, Gershwin got his inspiration for Rhapsody in Blue on a train journey to Boston: “…with its steely rhythms, its rattly-ty bang, that is so often stimulating to a composer… And there I suddenly heard, and even saw on paper – the complete construction of the rhapsody, from beginning to end… I heard it as a sort of musical kaleidoscope of America.” (Programme Notes). It’s good to know that Ivanov and Chen are about to release their debut album. 

Unscheduled, HPO’s Conductor, Marcio da Silva took to the floor and joined the trio to joyfully sing in Carmen Fantaisie. Then, suddenly, he despatched his blue mask and used it as his toreador’s cape. Naturally, this spontaneous performance delighted the audience. It’s the unexpected and humorous that can make a concert. And the finale had a charming surprise: the Maestro’s small son and daughter dutifully came up to give three red roses to the brilliant performers. (Beats being a fairy in the school play!) Enchanting. Delight all round. A lovely touch to end a perfect evening. 

SALLY LAMPITT REPORTS:

Do you love great music? The music scene across Hastings and Rother gets hotter every year and we want to celebrate that.

Music Month shines a light on the huge range on offer from major venues to intimate pub gigs, bringing all the information you need together in one place – music month.   

Now in its regular annual slot, from Pancake Day to St Patrick’s Day, Music Month kicks off with Hastings Fat Tuesday Music Festival (9-13 February) and ends with the Hastings Philharmonic Orchestra at St Mary in the Castle on the closing day, 17 March.

In between will be live performances of every style and genre of music you can think of and our challenge to you is to try something new.  Go to a venue you’ve never been to before – not just in Hastings but seek out a gem in Bexhill, Battle and Rye – or see a band you’ve not heard of as well as supporting your favourites. Upload your best gig photos or videos to Twitter or Instagram and tag with #musicmonth1066.

Music Month is part of an ongoing effort to develop and promote the music scene and music economy in Hastings and Rother. A wide partnership brings together musicians and venues, promoters, producers and music teachers, supported by Hastings and Rother councils, to see what we can achieve by working collaboratively.

Nationally these are good times for music. The UK music industry grew by 6% in 2016 to contribute £4.4 billion to the economy, according to a major new report from UK Music (Measuring Music 2017) that highlights the true scale of the industry’s role in the UK economy.

Millions of fans who poured into concerts ranging from giant festivals like Glastonbury to small bars and clubs pushed the contribution of live music to the UK’s economy up by 14% in 2016 to £1 billion.

It is local scenes like ours that are the lifeblood of the industry and Music Month gives us the opportunity to showcase the diverse range of music on offer in the region.  None of it will work without great local audiences, so we would encourage people to go out and support the hottest music scene in the South!

Sally Lampitt is Chair of the Music Steering Group and works with Battle Festival and Hastings Fat Tuesday

Full Music Month listings can be found at music month.

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