Music, theatre and all that jazz

Bristol University’s Botanic Garden will have a feast of sounds this week with evenings of classical music, Shakespeare and jazz.
Bristol University’s Botanic Garden will have a feast of sounds this week with evenings of classical music, Shakespeare and jazz.

For the first time at the garden, the Bristol Millennium Orchestra will perform many popular classics during a special programme arranged by this well-known 50 strong orchestra.  The concert will take place on Wednesday 22 July from 7 pm.  Tickets are priced at adults £9, children free.

On Friday 24 July, Chapterhouse Theatre Company will celebrate its 10th year of touring open-air theatre with a production of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.  Tickets, for an evening of flitting fairies, forest bound lovers and raucous tradesmen, cost adults £12, students and children £8, families [2 adults and 2 children] £35.  The production starts at 7 pm.

Finally, on Saturday 25 July the Blue Note Jazz Band, fronted by Hannah Wedlock, will play during the evening and there will be a plant auction, bar and raffle.  The music starts at 7 pm with a tour of the garden highlighting the latest plantings, the Giant Amazon Water Lily and Sacred Lotus collection at 4.30 pm.  Tickets are priced at adults £9, children free.

Proceeds from this event will go towards the Friends of the Botanic Garden, a registered charity set up to support the Botanic Garden and its work.

Nick Wray, Botanic Garden Curator, said: “We look forward to welcoming everyone to a week of music and theatre.

“As those who have attended before will know, the show goes on rain or shine, so bring some friends, a cushion, a picnic and umbrella if wet.”

All three music and theatre events will be held at Churchill Hall gardens, Stoke Park Road, opposite the Botanic Garden. There will be a bar and tickets will be available on the door.

Cheques should be made payable to ‘University of Bristol’ and sent to the Botanic Garden marked ‘tickets’ with a SAE.  Address for tickets is: University of Bristol Botanic Garden, Hollybush Lane, Stoke Bishop, Bristol BS9 1JB.  To order tickets by telephone, call the hotline on 0117 331 4905.