We may have been denied in-the-flesh festivals this summer but BDS sponsored one in a series of virtual concert broadcasts that made up the Absolute Classics Festival.

The concerts were premiered on YouTube and Facebook between July 31 and August 9 and featured artists who had originally been booked to visit Dumfries but who were forced to stay at home at locations around the world due to the COVID-19 crisis. All the concerts are still available to view online.

BDS sponsored Filip Pogady in an exhilarating performance of Bach’s second partita for violin recorded in Los Angeles and broadcast on Saturday, August 8, the culmination of the Absolute Classics Festival. In the first week after the broadcast, the concert had attracted 11,000 views on Facebook. 

Other performers taking part in the ten-day online festival included tenor, Nicky Spence, saxophonist Huw Wiggin, flautist Stephen Clark, harpist Oliver Wass, pianists Anna Fedorova, Oxana Shevchenko, Tim Abel and John Lenehan, cellists Kisten Jenson and Benedict Kloeckner.

“As the UK’s foremost supplier of classical music and book information to public libraries and websites the length and breadth of the UK, BDS is proud of its association with Absolute Classics whose values of quality and excellence in content and delivery it shares wholeheartedly,” says Lesley Whyte, Managing Director of BDS. “In these difficult times, the internet, the medium that enabled BDS to achieve its success, is now enabling Absolute Classics to reach the audiences it so deserves.”

Concerts can be enjoyed free of charge while donations in lieu of buying a ticket can be made to assist with Absolute Classics ongoing educational and year-round fund-raising concerts.

“I am delighted and thrilled by the generosity of our supporters and the public who have helped Absolute Classics to create performance opportunities for professional artists and deliver thrilling musical experiences for audiences when live events cannot take place,” says Alex McQuiston, Artistic Director of Absolute Classics. “BDS has proved a staunch supporter, providing both financial backing and technical support in the form of our magnificent website whereby people can discover all the wonderful performances and events Absolute Classics organises.”

Front row seats for all the concerts are still online on YouTube or Facebook. Find out more at www.absoluteclassics.co.uk.