Stroud England

Despite the sleepy reputation of its Gloucestershire surrounds, Stroud's Hidden Notes Festival likes to push boundaries

- Freya Parr

You might imagine a classical music festival set in the southern fringes of the Cotswolds would be a world of posh frocks, smart jackets and the sound of clinking champagne glasses. But just as Stroud feels a million miles away from the upmarket Chipping Norton image projected by the media, so too does its Hidden Notes Festival. Bringing together cutting-edge contemporary and avant-garde music with concerts, intimate listening sessions, exhibitions and films, Hidden Notes takes over the town for a weekend in September. Having started life in 2019, its momentum quickly stalled due to the pandemic. But the festival returned in 2022 and enjoyed a sell-out run – and another in 2023.

The bulk of the programming takes place in St Laurence Parish Church, which last year provided the perfect cool space during the tail end of an oppressive heatwave, with audience members nipping into the churchyard between recitals for street food and pints of ice-cold beer. The artists on the bill shared a combined use of acoustic and electronic elements. The pioneering Japanese composer and percussionist Midori Takada headlined, along with Radio 3’s Hannah Peel, who performed her Mercury Prize-nominated album