Simon Callow to appear in Exeter Cathedral concert

Stage and screen star Simon Callow is to appear at the Two Moors Festival which starts in just under three weeks’ time.

The Four Weddings and a Funeral star (pictured above) will be the narrator in Prokofiev’s classic Peter and the Wolf being performed at Exeter Cathedral on Friday October 23.

The actor’s name had been kept under wraps due to possible filming commitments but it was revealed today that he’s able to fulfil the role, to the great delight of Festival artistic director, Penny Adie.

‘We are thrilled that Simon is able to come,’ she said. It’s the most brilliant piece, written for orchestra and narrator, and provides a fabulous introduction to classical music. We’re in for an amazing evening.’

He will be accompanied by the superb Orchestra of the Swan, under the baton of its director, David Curtis. The orchestra has just returned from a recent tour of China and a sell out concert at the Royal Albert Hall. The programme includes two more classics, Beethoven’s Pastoral Symphony and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.

The concert will benefit the Addington Fund as well as the Two Moors Festival. The Festival began in the aftermath of the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak in 2001, which hit the West Country particularly hard. The Addington Fund supported more than 3000 farming families across Devon and Somerset during the crisis. Now its work concentrates on providing housing for farming families who need to leave or retire from their farms.

Facts about the Two Moors Festival:

• This year’s festival takes place in 16 different venues from Holne on Dartmoor to Dunster on Exmoor.
• 5,000 tickets are expected to be sold for the 29 concerts
• Visitors come from North America and most European countries
• The Festival generates at least £300,000 in tourism business
• By the end of the festival there will be have been nearly 50 hours of music