About
Sounds Folkestone is a portal for classical music initiatives in the Folkestone area.
Internationally renowned musicians will join local professionals, amateurs and young people to regularly perform music both brand new and ages old to audiences in a wide range of amazing and vibrant performance spaces across the town. Our aim is for Folkestone to become a classical music destination.
We’re encouraging and supporting creative collaborations with local artists and cultural projects, and establishing an year-round coherent classical music offering, spearheaded and curated by an experienced team of musicians, administrators and other local creatives.
Music Education will be a central part of the offering, building on the work of Sacconi Quartet, now officially Quartet in Residence for the town, in engaging with young string players and taking creative projects into all areas of the town. Sounds Folkestone will support and promote the wonderful new Folkestone Early Music and Folkestone New Music initiatives that have become established cultural events in the town.
We have invested in technology to ensure that Bayle Music’s concerts that take place in the 13th-Century St Mary and St Eanswythe’s Church in The Bayle, can develop both online and offline.
Meet The Team
Grenville Hancox
Grenville has championed music performance and music education in Folkestone and Canterbury for over 40 years, and set up Bayle Music at St Mary and St Eanswythe’s, a wonderful 13th Century church in Folkestone, some years ago. He was instrumental in persuading the Sacconi Quartet to run its annual Chamber Music Festival at the church, and the Festival has been running since 2008, and has hosted collaborations with many outstanding musicians from around the world. A fine clarinettist, Grenville is also both Emeritus Professor of Music at Canterbury Christ Church University and Honorary Professor at Kent University, and was awarded the MBE for services to Music in 2005.
Rhian Hancox – Administrator
Rhian Hancox has been a classical music event manager for almost fifteen years. She has worked in administrative and managerial roles in many established music organisations including the Cavatina Chamber Music Trust and The Royal Society of Musicians. She ran the Wye Valley Chamber Music Festival for 4 years and has been administrator of The Tillett Trust, a charity who supports young musicians in their first years as professional musicians, since 2021. Rhian has been Manager of the Sacconi Festival in Folkestone since 2010 and also runs the prestigious Pierre Fournier Award, an international competition for world-class cellists.
Matt Shipton – Project Manager
Matt is an accomplished pianist and musician, who has taught piano and music performance in higher education for a number of years. He has been actively involved with the Sacconi Quartet as Chair of Trustees for Sacconi Chamber Music Festival, successfully fundraised for major new chamber music commissions, was instrumental in establishing Sacconis as ‘quartet in residence for the town of Folkestone’ and now manages a number of projects relating to the development of music in Folkestone.