Feature: HAMPSTEAD AND HIGHGATE FESTIVAL - Russian theme for this year's event

Published: 23 September 2010
by DAN CARRIER

IT was 100 years ago – or 101, depending on then historical sources – that the famous Russian Serge Diaghilev established the Ballets Russes Company.

And to celebrate this centenary, this year’s Hampstead and Highgate Festival has opted to have a heavy Russian slant to it’s programme.

Festival director Gwenneth Bransby-Zachary has helped promote classical music and has overseen the programme at St Martins-in-the-Fields. 

Ms Bransby-Zachary took over from artistic directors George Vass and Helen Lawrence this year – and says despite the hard work that goes into organising the festival, she has enjoyed the experience. “We have added a lot of things, as well as keeping the popular aspects,” she says. “There has always been a strong classical music focus, which we have kept. We have added films based on dance and more literary events.”

She added that the area covered by the festival lent itself to such a cultural event.

“I often got to the Wigmore Hall in W1, and it is full of people from Hampstead and Highgate,” she says. “Yet they often say they do not know about these types on events on their doorsteps. We hope to change that.”

• Tickets for events can be booked by phone on 020 7722 9301; online at  www.hamandhighfest.co.uk; in person at Hampstead Theatre Box Office, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, or at the door on the day. Keats House is in Keats Grove, NW3, and the Embassy Theatre is part of the Central School of Speech and Drama at 64 Eton Avenue, NW3.

• Click here for a preview of music at the festival