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Elgar Festival Event - This Fragile Beauty Recital

This Fragile Beauty traces how WWI shaped creative voices. Music, letters and poetry by Gurney, Butterworth, Bliss, Vaughan Williams, Ireland and Elgar reveal a moving portrait of longing, loss and the resilience of art.

  • Booking essential

How does war affect creatives? What keeps them going, then and after? This Fragile Beauty, for soprano, piano, violin and narrator, explores the WWI wartime experience of composers Ivor Gurney, George Butterworth, Arthur Bliss, and Ralph Vaughan Williams, with settings of war-poets by Ireland and Elgar’s evocative A Voice in the Desert from the Belgian perspective.

A rich tapestry of longing and loss, it also features poems and letters by Gurney and others that emerged from their time in the trenches and the collective grief, processing and change that followed it.

Performers: April Fredrick, soprano Eric McElroy, piano Grace Shepherd, violin Joseph Campbell Powell, narrator

Please note there is no admission charge if you are attending this event and using the café however, National Trust admission applies if you would like to visit the gardens and Elgar's Birthplace.

Times

Prices

Event prices

Ticket typeTicket category
Per Ticket£12.00

The basics

Booking details

Call Please visit the Elgar Festival website. This event is run by the Elgar Festival and can only be booked via their website.

Suitability

This event is suitable for children

Meeting point

This event will take place in the Carice Room

What to bring and wear

This is an indoor event

Accessibility

The Visitor Centre and Carice Room are fully accessible.

Other

This event is run by the Elgar Festival and can only be booked via their website. https://elgarfestival.org/events_2026/this-fragile-beauty/ Please note there is no admission charge if you are attending this event and using the café however, National Trust admission applies if you would like to visit the gardens and Elgar's Birthplace.

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