The acclaimed Ealing Music & Film Festival (EMFF) is set for its return in 2020 with a packed to the rafters schedule of entertainment. Now in its eighth consecutive year, this celebration of Ealing’s cultural heritage has firmly established itself as the must visit event of the winter

The festival will run from 12th – 16th February with an enriching and eclectic programme, from classical concerts, to opera by way of blues, jazz and soul, classic films, a play and workshops for budding musicians, future video stars and much more. There is something for everyone.

Working in partnership with the University of West London (UWL), where many of the events will take place, along with many seminal locations across the borough, the festival continues to support the wealth of creative talent on its doorstep (full details below).

Commencing on Wednesday 12th February Ealing Music & Film Festival opens with an aural delight, as we welcome the highly lauded woodwind ensemble The Thorne Trio to perform a lunchtime concert at St Mary’s Church, South Ealing.

The afternoon brings something a little different, in an EMFF first we offer attendees the chance to experience the hugely successful Headspace Project. Produced by UWL’s London College of Music (LCM) students, this immersive performance gives the audience headphones to listen to a range of musical work, from experimental soundscapes to commercial dance tracks.

The evening of 12th February brings a screening of Nino Oxilia’s Faustian classic Rapsodia Satanica, (1915), a heady supernatural romance, starring era favourite actor Lydia Borelli. This seminal Italian silent movie is accompanied by Pietro Mascagni’s only film score and the evening offers the rare opportunity to hear his masterwork alongside alternative soundtracks composed by LCM students.

On Thursday 13th February at 7:30pm at UWL, EMFF is once again thrilled to host award-winning choir, Tenebrae, under the direction of Nigel Short. One of the world's finest vocal ensembles, renowned for their passion and precision, they will present an evening of British music ranging from exquisite miniatures to complex masterpieces, marrying text and song. Shakespeare, Shelley, Byron, Tennyson and Milton are the inspiration for works from renowned composers such as Vaughan Williams, Elgar and Holst. The evening will feature a performance of Parry’s evocative Songs of Farewell.

The festival is excited to announce the inclusion of a play for the very first time. UWL acting students present Enron, a thrilling show that charts the notorious rise and fall of the company and its founding partners Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. Mixing classical tragedy with savage comedy and surreal metaphor, Enron follows a group of flawed men and women in a narrative of greed and loss set around the financial chaos of the 1990s. There will be three evening performances and a matinee at Lawrence Hall, UWL. Director Paul Harvard will also present a talk on the production and its creative use of film and an original score by LCM Composition students.

On Valentine’s Day evening at 7:30pm at St Barnabas’ Church, the Ealing Youth Orchestra make a welcome return to the festival, delighting us with a programme of Sibelius’ Finlandia, Rachmaninov’s Symphony no. 2 and Creston’s Saxophone Concerto, featuring BBC Young Musician of the Year 2018 finalist, Rob Burton. They will once again perform alongside the London Mozart Players, who they work with as part of the vital outreach work undertaken by the festival to help develop the next generation of performers from the region.

This years’ film roster includes two cinematic classics on 14th February, in conjunction with Ealing Classic Cinema Club at Weston Hall, UWL, St Mary’s Road.

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with one of the greatest romantic films, the 1945 gem Brief Encounter, David Lean’s heart-breaking tale of forbidden love, adapted for the screen by Noël Coward. Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard star as an English housewife and a married doctor who fall in love after meeting on a train platform. Robert Krasker’s atmospheric black and white cinematography and Rachmaninov’s captivating 2nd Piano Concerto remain powerfully affecting.

Following the success of last year’s Quadrophenia screening, lovers of ‘local band’ The Who, are again in for a treat with a screening of Ken Russell’s Tommy (1975). Pete Townshend’s songs tell the tale of a boy brainwashed by his mother into thinking he is deaf, blind and mute. He discovers he can feel vibrations well enough to become a pinball wizard. Tommy represents the universal struggle of the young, disaffected and lost, a generation fighting for its own identity. There will also be the chance to experience the work of local directors with a careening and discussion of their short films on the last day of the festival.

Once again our much-loved Ealing Symphony Orchestra return on Saturday 15th February and continue the festival’s romantic Valentine’s nod to Rachmaninov, performing his operetta Francesca da Rimini, based on an excerpt from Dante’s Inferno, and his symphonic poem Isle of the Dead, inspired by a black and white reproduction of Arnold Böcklin's painting of the same name.

This year the audience can participate too, as we present a slew of wonderful workshops:

Percussion Workshop on 15th February at Weston Hall, UWL, offers attendees the chance to create their own musical masterwork. A collaboration between Ealing Percussion Academy and London College of Music Percussion gives families the opportunity to spend the morning getting hands-on with the instruments, followed by a performance from local percussion groups.

Vlogging Workshop also on Saturday offers participants the chance to learn the basics of how to start Vlogging from scratch, plus developing and improving their on-screen presenting skills

LCM College Music Technology Workshop on Sunday offers 15 – 19-year-olds the chance to create sounds and effects for films and video games and is led by renowned DJ, producer, lecturer Jay Daniel (aka J.Daniel).

Our final day, Sunday 16th February, brings Opera Holland Park Un Ballo in Maschera to the big screen at William Barry Theatre, University of West London, St Mary’s Road. The renowned opera company believes that everyone should have access to the finest live musical and theatrical performances, regardless of age, income or education. We are therefore thrilled to be bringing their 2019 production of Verdi’s opera to the screen in our 2020 festival.

Based on the story of Gustav III, the Swedish king who was murdered during a masked ball, it sets a tense love triangle against the background of a murderous conspiracy. The production is directed by Rodula Gaitanou and conducted by acclaimed local resident Matthew Kofi Waldren .

Other events to look out for, with more information soon include:

The Ealing Club - Live Music Events

LCM Junior College Music Technology Workshop

Industry talk with Opera Holland Park’s Director of Opera, James Clutton

Love2Sing Choir

Lunchtime Concert by LCM Classical Students

Affinity String Quartet with Mezzo-Soprano Lotte Betts-Dean

Patrick Chapman, Chair of the Festival Trust said: “We are delighted to be working more closely with The University of West London and in particular to welcome Professor Nicholas McKay, Director of London College of Music as a new Trustee and our Festival Director. We are now able to broaden the scope of the Festival and increase our impact in Ealing.”

Professor Nicholas McKay, Director of LCM and Artistic Director of the festival, said: “The University of West London, with its constituent London College of Music and London School of Film, Media and Design, is delighted to be working in this closer strategic partnership with the Ealing Music and Film Festival. This is an exciting opportunity to showcase the breadth and depth of music and film talent here in Ealing, as we continue to help develop the next generation of talent through the Festival Trust’s and university’s charitable, outreach and widening participation activities in the local community.”

For more information, the full programme and tickets for all events please visit www.ealingmusicandfilmfestival.org.