Comments

• Gosh, Ronnie Scotts band ... But £31 a ticket, plus novel age-related pricing for the kids, ouch!

  Ed on 2008-05-23 17:55:51 +0000

• Very poor programme compared to previous years...guess even at the significant prices asked, the economics don't stack up.

  Am I right in remembering that 15+ years ago there were 3 or 4 weekends of concerts, including rather more "serious" classical pieces than the dumbed down 1-night programme we have here - and that not every night had the obligatory fireworks?

  David bertram on 2008-05-26 07:01:01 +0000

• Perhaps all the planning requirements placed on the concerts in recent years scared IMG away?

  Peter @ stmgrts.org.uk on 2008-05-27 12:08:22 +0000

• I am a director of MA Concerts, the company producing this year's concerts at Marble Hill. I thought it would be worth addressing the comments above to clarify our intentions this year.

  Firstly we are delighted to be producing two concerts at Marble Hill. We have an excellent reputation of producing summer concerts at venues throughout the UK, including Castle Howard, Warwick Castle and many more and we are pleased to be adding this beautiful venue in 2008. I cannot comment on the range of concerts previously offered, or the reasons for IMG deciding not to be involved this year. What I can promise is that we will be delivering two excellent shows with Classic FM's Proms (Sat 23rd August) and Ronnie Scott's In The Park (Sunday, 24th August).

  To address the comments above: The adult tickets for each concert are only priced at £31 if you choose to purchase them on the day of the concert. They are cheaper if purchased in advance and the current price (until the end of June) is £27. When compared to other prices (West End theatre, indoor concerts) we believe that our ticket prices offer real value for money.

  In regard to your comment David about this year's programme - while I cannot comment on previous years I think it is unfair to say that the classical programme this year is "dumbed down" when we haven't yet published the running order for this show! We have one of the finest orchestras in the UK and - in association with Classic FM - the programme selected will feature an eclectic mix of classical favourites, wonderful film themes and traditional "proms" music, including Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture and Elgar's Pomp & Circumstance March No.1.

  I am not sure what you would term as "serious" classical pieces, but what I can tell you is that - having produced over 400 classical concerts over the last 10 years - we are not in the business of trying to educate our audiences about classical music; our prime aim is to entertain our audiences and I believe that we do a very good job at that. Marble Hill is a wonderful venue and we want to ensure that the concerts produced are of the highest standard. At MA we truly value the input and feedback of the local community so I am happy to address and respond to any questions/concerns that you may have regarding the concerts.

  With best wishes, Andrew Wyke

  Andrew Wyke on 2008-06-03 11:06:50 +0000

• My wife and I attended last night's concert at Marble Hill. Until two days ago we had decided not to attend this year because the published theme of the concert appeared to be "dumbed down" (neither mainstream classical nor popular easy listening show time music) and compared to previous years expensive, and even more so when commission and handling charges are added. Because some friends wanted to go we booked on the night. The first obvious impression was that there were considerably fewer there than in previous years, although it was a fine warm evening - was this because of the price or the programme (many tickets for the Albert Hall proms cost much less for far superior acoustics)? The conductor was a great entertainer and overall we enjoyed the evening. But this pricing and, in our opinion, ill-advised programming we will not be going again.

  Richard Howe

  Richard Howe on 2008-08-24 12:19:07 +0000