Running a music festival in London is a hard task, because London is effectively a year-round festival with so much going on that no one notices your efforts. And when the Hampstead Arts Festival was set up – from the ashes of assorted previous, precariously lived existences – its long-term future wasn't hopeful.
But its policy of principled, small-scale, top-quality events has worked. The programme this year has been brave, with serious-listening concerts by the likes of the Arditti Quartet playing Birtwistle and Brian Ferneyhough – a big ask for a local audience, but an opportunity to come to terms with two outstanding figures of contemporary music.
