As La Folia prepares to emerge from a period of hibernation, we are delighted to welcome Cesca Eaton as our new Production and Administration Manager.

Cesca holds a rich and varied portfolio of work within the arts and charity sectors, incorporating film-making, concert management, and running Sussex-based charity Doctors for Nepal. Cesca has extensive experience making documentaries and series for television, including the International Emmy award-winning ‘Gareth Malone Goes to Glyndebourne’ (BBC2) and ‘Angelic Voices: the choristers of Salisbury Cathedral’ (BBC4). Cesca has a particular interest in classical music, having begun her career as a professional singer.

Cesca Eaton, newly-appointed Production and Administration Manager for La Folia, comments:

‘I am extremely pleased to be working with Howard and all at La Folia, and am looking forward to continuing the amazing work that Sue Kent has done over the years. Exciting times ahead.’

La Folia’s recent projects have included Howard Moody’s community opera PUSH, which was performed in St Thomas’s Church in 2018 and told the extraordinary story of a man who escaped from a train bound for Auschwitz. La Folia also produced two ground-breaking ‘Evening Songs‘ services in Salisbury Cathedral in 2019 and 2016, both of which featured original text and music written and sung by students from Exeter House Special School alongside Salisbury Cathedral choristers.

La Folia’s previous General Manager, Sue Kent, retired in July 2020, having run eighty-five projects since taking on the role in 2003. Upon her retirement, she was awarded Wiltshire Music Connect’s ‘Outstanding Contribution to Music Education Award 2020’ in recognition of her work with La Folia.

John Cox, Chair of Trustees for La Folia, comments:

‘Everyone on the Board is delighted to welcome Cesca in her new role as we look forward to La Folia’s exciting prospects once more.’

Thanks to the ongoing generosity of our supporters, La Folia will be relaunching project activity in earnest as soon as social distancing guidelines allow. Click here to receive project and performance updates via email.

As La Folia emerges from a period of hibernation, we are delighted to be opening applications for a freelance Production and Administration Manager to act as a central point of connection for all aspects of La Folia and its activities. Working closely with the Artistic Director, Board of Trustees, Finance Manager, project artists and freelance professionals, the successful candidate will be responsible for carrying out all the day-to-day administrative operations of the charity and co-ordinating all project activity.

Fee: £200-£250 per day, depending on experience.

Hours: 4 days per month for 1 year, subject to review after 6 months. Additional project-based hours may be available depending on the programme of activity.

Location: Home‐based, although attendance at meetings and events will be required. La Folia is currently based in Salisbury, but is open to applicants from a wider geographical area.

Please note, this is a freelance role.

Your skills and experience (a passion for communication through music and the arts is a given):

• A successful manager with experience of working within a charity and/or arts organisation
• Ability to develop and maintain strong working relationships with trustees, partners, supporters, sponsors, artists, freelance professionals and volunteers
• Outstanding and persuasive written, oral and interpersonal skills
• IT competent
• Ability to work effectively with varying degrees of support – from working completely under own initiative to working collaboratively with a lot of input
• Willingness to work flexibly and responsively
• Ability to think laterally
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Energy, enthusiasm, imagination and drive

Please click here to download a full job description

To apply, please send your CV and covering letter to megan.brand@lafoliamusic.org
In your letter, please explain how your skills and experience match the role description and person specification, why you would like to join us, and any other relevant details in support of your application.

Application deadline: Tuesday 25 May 2021, 5pm

First interviews: Tuesday 15 June 2021 (to be held on Zoom)

For further information about the role, please contact John Cox, Chair of Trustees: jfacox@googlemail.com

It was great to see our artistic director Howard Moody interviewed by jazz musician and La Folia project artist Buster Birch. Spotlight on La Folia from 01:07:55

Although this has been a quiet year for us, as it has for many, we were so pleased to be able to complete our Continuing the Conversation project in the summer. The final performance was filmed in an empty church in Bristol in July and can be watched in full below:

We hope to be able to resume project delivery in 2021. In the meantime, we want to say a heartfelt thank you to all those who have supported us this year, particular during our period of hibernation. We are ready to make music again as soon as social distancing restrictions are eased. Watch this space…

Our July newsletter is available to download at the link below and contains a round-up of the 2019/20 season, including project updates and important news about the year ahead

Our office will be closed for a summer break over August 2020 but we look forward to being in touch with all of our supporters again in September.

Click here to read La Folia’s July 2020 newsletter

An excerpt from Howard Moody’s Stone Songs, commissioned by La Folia, was premiered on BBC Radio Wiltshire’s breakfast show on Sunday 31 May.

Click here to listen to the interview and the exclusive rehearsal recording (from 33 mins in)

Rehearsal recording mixed by Adrian Zolotuhin and featuring soloists Katy Crompton, Helen Charlston, Nick Pritchard, Sam Poppleton and Edward Grint with Howard Moody, composer on piano.

Stone Songs was due to be premiered at Salisbury Cathedral in May 2020, produced in association with Wiltshire Creative, underpinned by the power of the newly-refurbished Cathedral organ and featuring the 120 voices of Salisbury Festival Chorus. It is hoped that the piece will be presented once Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted.

Click here to receive updates about the Stone Songs postponement

A virtual Epilogue from the opera PUSH, a video interview with Howard Moody and Sue Kent for the Wiltshire Creative Connects programme, and Major Andrew Johnston’s marathon: full details of the latest goings-on at La Folia can be found in our May 2020 newsletter.

‘My life is only miracles’, the finale of Howard Moody‘s opera PUSH, has been performed virtually by singers in Salisbury, Chichester, London and Brussels to mark the 77th anniversary of protagonist Simon Gronowski’s escape from a train bound for Auschwitz.

CD postage is currently on pause, but we’re very pleased to say tracks from our Celebrate Life album are now available to buy digitally via Bandcamp! All the songs were created and performed by foundation students from Wiltshire College & University Centre alongside La Folia musicians as part of our Continuing Songs project in 2018.

Click here to buy tracks
All proceeds will go to future La Folia projects with young people with special needs.

Stones Songs booking has opened today! This brand new community opera has been written by Howard Moody and will be performed by Salisbury Festival Chorus alongside professional singers and musicians. Further information and La Folia project updates can be found in our latest newsletter:
March 2020

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