Four events in the 2018 Festival will feature J. S. Bach's iconic Goldberg Variations.

The piece will be played in two evening concerts on two different instruments. The first will be given by the world’s leading harpsichord soloist Mahan Esfahani on May 30th at St Andrew’s Church in Grinton. The second will be given by Angela Hewitt, the finest interpreter of Bach’s music on the piano, on June 7th at the Influence Church in Richmond. Both of these stellar artists have recently released recordings of Goldberg Variations, and both have attracted five-star reviews and considerable attention in the music press.

To complement these two headline performances, and to give audience members some insight into the construction of Bach’s final keyboard masterpiece, Swaledale Festival’s tenth Reeth Lecture will be given by the well-known television mathematician and science presenter Marcus du Sautoy, who will explore the fascinating hidden codes and the compelling symmetry in Bach’s music. The Reeth Lecture will be at 11:00 on 7 June in Reeth’s Congregational Church.

There will also be two screenings of 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould (U cert, 98 mins) - a fascinating series of vignettes about the great Canadian pianist whose ground-breaking recordings of Goldberg Variations brought the piece into mass popularity. The film screenings will be at 10:00 and 13:00 on 29 May at the Leyburn Arts and Community Centre (formerly the Old School House).