Royal visitor to Royal Philharmonic concert at Newbury Spring Festival

The Newbury Spring Festival were honoured to welcome their Patron the Duke of Kent to Saturday night’s concert with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at St Nicolas Church.

The Duke is a long standing supporter of the festival and regularly attends.

The programme for this particular concert included Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 which is one of the Duke’s favourite works.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was conducted by Martyn Brabbins in a programme that included Beethoven’s Egmont Overture and Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto alongside Beethoven’s Symphony No 7.

The Festival’s general manager Ashley Morris said: “It’s always a pleasure to welcome our Patron to the Festival.

“He takes a keen interest in the Festival and we’re pleased that he was able to come to the concert that marked the middle point of the two-week festival.

“He seemed to particularly enjoy meeting the soloist Johan Dalene, spending time talking to him during the interval.”