Play the Field / Orchestra in a Field

In 2009 Charles teamed up with ‘tv Dragon’ Deborah Meaden , a near Somerset neighbour of his, to stage a weekend festival on his farm. The premise was to bring the orchestra to people, in an event with the energy of a rock festival, but with a symphony orchestra as the engine at its heart. Called Play The Field, we had rampant performances of Holst The Planets (complete with psychedelic responses to each planet from Charles’ All Star Collective - Ade Utley, Will Gregory et al - from another stage across the parkland), as well as Haydn, Mozart and Vivaldi, to an audience of 5000 under the stars. The model was made even more ambitious, renamed it Orchestra in a Field, and in 2012 played the park at Glastonbury Abbey with Mussorgsky Pictures at an Exhibition, Bizet’s Carmen, Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, and guest artists singing with full orchestra including Professor Green and Labrinth.