Date March 03, 2006

WHEN THE 2006 Holders Season kicks off on Tuesday, March 14, the music and arts festival
will present a range of performances from traditional classical music and opera to gypsy music, jazz and blues.
Additionally, theatre lovers will be treated to world-class comedy and the works of William Shakespeare by the time the season ends on April 1.
On opening night, Holders will celebrate the music of arguably the greatest of all classical composers, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, on the 250th anniversary of his birth. Featured will be performances by two young British artistes, violinist Chloe Hanslip, and pianist Charles Owen, together with soprano Natalia Dopwell and the Myriad Singers of Barbados directed by John Bryan.
Holders' popular Comedy Night is on Thursday, March 16, with Boothby Graffoe along with special friend and guitarist Antonio Forcione.
On Saturday, March 18, Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet comes to Holders through a new co-production between the Arundel Festival and the Nuffield Theatre, UK.
Monday, March 20 will reflect true "world music" when it combines music from Italy, Brazil, Nigeria and Russia. It features the five-piece The Antonio Forcione Group and Mazaika - the gypsy jazz duo from Eastern Europe.
Evening of opera

An evening of opera will be brought to Holders on Thursday, March 23. Entitled Live From The Met, it will feature artistes from one of the world's greatest opera houses, the Metropolitan in New York. Featuring soprano Annette Spann Lewis, tenor Raymond Aparentado and pianist Gints Berzins, the programme will include songs and arias by Puccini, Bizet, Strauss and Gershwin.
A Best Of The Season event for the family featuring Aerizani, and singer Jude Simpson, takes place on Saturday, March 25. It will present music, poetry, comedy, circus performers, workshops and participatory sessions in three hours of non-stop entertainment. On Monday, March 27, music fans will be treated to Joanna MacGregor, one of the world's best-known and exciting pianists, and Ben Waters, a complete one-off boogie-woogie and blues pianist. Saxophonist Heather Hoyle also joins the mix.
Shakespeare's works return on Wednesday 29, through world-renowned actor, writer and director, Steven Berkoff.
The production, Song & Dance Man, on Thursday, March 30, featuring Movin' Melvin Brown, will wind the season down.
The 2006 Holders Season comes to a climax with its traditional gala picnic finale - two hours of top flight international entertainment divided by a relaxing picnic break.

For more information call the Holders Box Office at 432-6385. (PR)