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Deal Festival 2025
20
July
2025
Earlier this month, Fantasia Orchestra made its debut at Deal Music & Arts Festival, performing a birdsong-inspired programme with renowned soprano Lucy Crowe OBE. Our programme explored the natural world through music, from the joyful calls of birdsong to the sweeping tides of the sea.
A Special Collaboration with Lucy Crowe
We were thrilled to perform with Lucy Crowe, one of the UK's leading sopranos. With music ranging from Handel and Mozart to Messiaen and Gershwin, Lucy’s artistry defied stylistic and genre boundaries.
A New Work by Blasio Kavuma
At the heart of the programme was the world premiere of I am the sea by Blasio Kavuma, the festival’s 2025 Composer-in-Residence. Written especially for Fantasia, Kavuma's work takes inspiration from the sea’s ever-changing rhythms and moods.
The work features solos by four Fantasia musicians — Emily Earl (violin), Jeff Wu (violin), Georgia Russell (viola) and Maisie Ireland (oboe) — each of whom contributed musical material to the piece.
Celebrating Fantasia Voices
Also featured in the programme were six new arrangements by composer and arranger Harry Baker, a long-time collaborator of Fantasia and the arranger for our BBC Proms debut in 2024.
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It was a real joy to make our debut at Deal Festival and to share music with such a warm and welcoming audience. We look forward to bringing the programme to Smith Square Hall, London, on Sunday 23 November 2025 (19:00).
Photography: Peter Cook