Folkestone New Music

Folkestone New Music promotes contemporary music in Folkestone and beyond.

Folkestone New Music was launched in May 2019 by composer and artistic director John Woolrich. Our aim is to platform new music, artists, composers, ideas, and spaces in our interesting seaside town and the surrounding areas.

People

Musicians, artists & composers who’ve come to Folkestone and shared their work include Thomas Adès, Tansy Davies, Eleesha Drennan, Michel Faber, Nicholas Kenyon, Noriko Okaku, Mark Simpson, Howard Skempton, Rolf  Wallin, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Huw Watkins, Freya Waley-Cohen, Colin  Matthews, and many more.

We are keen on supporting emerging performers and composers and have supported: Ensemble Renard, Junyan Chen, the Kirkman, Echea, and Salome String Quartets, the Mazzolini Trio, and musicians from the London Sinfonietta Academy, Royal Academy of Music, and the University of Kent. 

Spaces

We’ve held events in interesting places such as The Customs House, Folkestone Harbour Arm, The Green Room at The Grand, Folkestone, St Eanswythe’s Church, Strange Cargo Gallery, Cheriton, and outdoors in Payers Park, Folkestone. We’re currently developing a programme in collaboration with little-known heritage buildings in East Kent.

Ideas and Collaborations

We like to bring people together and have facilitated a number of collaborations – bringing together theatre directors, actors, musicians, composers, film producers, choreographers and more, to explore music and creativity.

Artistic Director:   John Woolrich

Advisory Group:    Philip Cashian, Tansy Davies, Grenville Hancox, Mark Simpson, Terry Smith, Andrew Ward