A new music and spoken word event about the romantic life of Frédéric Chopin takes place at Exeter School. 

Organised by Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, the event takes place at Exeter School on Sunday, November 6. 

 Featuring internationally renowned actors, Dame Harriet Walter and Alex Jennings and pianist Lucy Parham, the story of the tender, but volatile, relationship between Chopin and the novelist George Sand will be told through extracts from their letters and diaries, interspersed with some of the composer’s best-loved works. 

Funds from the event will be raised to provide children with books and to take authors into schools – a cause supported by the festival’s late president, Dame Hilary Mantel. 

Sue Briggs, chair of Budleigh Salterton Literary Festival, said: “Through staging our annual festival and this very special event we are able to raise funds to take authors into schools and buy books for children who may not have a book at home. 

“A recent survey by the National Literacy Trust revealed that almost one in five of children in England between the ages of five and eight do not have access to books at home.” 

Lucy Parham is one of Britain’s finest pianists and has been lauded for her Composer Portrait Series which she performs internationally with acclaimed actors. 

She was the Piano Winner of the 1984 BBC Young Musician, and she has played throughout the UK as concerto soloist with most of the major British orchestras and is a frequent recitalist at Wigmore Hall. Her CD of Clara and Robert Schumann Concertos won the BBC Music Magazine Critics’ Choice of the Year. She also appears frequently as a broadcaster on BBC Radio 3, 4 and BBC TV. 

Dame Harriet Walter is a leading actress of stage and screen best known for her work in many Royal Shakespeare Company productions, including Twelfth Night and Antony and Cleopatra. Her many popular film roles include Sense and Sensibility, The Governess, Villa des Roses, Atonement and Man Up. She appeared as Dr.Kalania in Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. Her many TV roles include A Dorothy L. Sayers Mystery, Little Dorrit, Law & Order: UK, and Downton Abbey. She played Clementine Churchill on the Netflix series The Crown and appeared as Helen Piena, Elton John’s piano teacher, in the 2019 biographical musical Rocketman, and as Adam Kay’s mother in This is Going to Hurt. 

Alex Jennings has worked extensively with the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre. A three-time Olivier Award winner, he won for Too Clever by Half, Peer Gynt, and My Fair Lady. He is the only performer to have won Olivier awards in the drama, musical and comedy categories. He played Prince Charles in the 2006 film The Queen. His other film appearances include The Wings of the Dove, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Babel and The Lady in the Van. He also played Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor, in The Crown. 

 
To book tickets visit www.budlitfest.org.uk