Fanfare on the Square

Jane Asher, the host of our VIP reception, has been Parkinson’s UK's President since 2007. Jane is first and foremost one of the UK's most accomplished actresses, having worked professionally in film, theatre and radio since she was five years old. Her recent stage credits include Great Expectations, An American in Paris, Pride and Prejudice and most recently Noel Coward's A Song At Twilight. Jane was also the original celebrity baker and has written more than a dozen books, including three best-selling novels.

Gary Matthewman is one of the UK's leading song pianists, performing worldwide, and is now gaining a reputation as an emerging conducting talent. 

For the 2019-20 season and beyond, Gary has been appointed Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Orion Orchestra, and his recent and future engagements as assistant conductor in opera include: Shostakovich Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for Graham Vick’s Birmingham Opera Company with the CBSO; Donizetti L’elisir d’amore for Glyndebourne on Tour; Puccini’s La Bohème for Cape Town Opera; and Britten's Turn of the Screw for La Monnaie, Brussels.

Elin Manahan Thomas is one of the most versatile sopranos of her generation and released her début album ‘Eternal Light’ in 2007. She has performed at many of the world’s most prestigious venues and festivals, and with leading orchestras and conductors. Elin is renowned for her performances of baroque masterpieces, having appeared at major events and festivals such as the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony, and famously singing at the Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle in May 2018.  

At age 18  Ben Goldscheider was a Concerto Finalist in the BBC Young Musician Competition performing with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, and has since debuted at the BBC Proms in 2018 and appeared as soloist with the Lucerne Symphony, Britten Sinfonia, Aurora Orchestra, English Chamber and City of London Sinfonia, amongst others. His debut album was released to critical acclaim in 2018 and he has been selected as a BBC Music Magazine Rising Star, Gramophone Magazine One to Watch, and is YCAT’s inaugural Ann Driver Trust Artist.

British baritone Dominic Sedgwick is a recent graduate of the prestigious Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House and has been selected as a Rising Star of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment for the 2019/20 and 20/21 seasons. Dominic performs widely as a soloist on both the concert and recital platform and has made recent debut performances at the Wigmore Hall, Sage Gateshead, Newcastle, the Royal Albert Hall, Cadogan Hall, the inaugural Cambridge Song Festival and the London Song Festival.

Vanessa Redgrave CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, and widely regarded as one of the greatest stage actors of all time. Vanessa was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2003, was awarded the BAFTA Fellowship in 2010, and within her illustrious career has received an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for Julia (1977), an Olivier Award in 1984 for Best Actress for The Aspern Papers, and a Tony Award in 2003 for Best Actress for Long Day's Journey into Night.

Dame Penelope Wilton DBE is one of the UK’s most renowned stage and screen actors, best known for her role in Downton Abbey as Isobel Crawley and sitcom Ever Decreasing Circles. She has had an extensive theatre career and was awarded an Olivier Award in 2015 for Taken at Midnight. Film appearances include Calendar Girls, Shaun of the Dead and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. Most recently she starred in Ricky Gervais’ Netflix comedy Afterlife and will star in Eternal Beauty to be released later this year. 

Sir Simon Russell Beale is one of the most critically acclaimed talents in British theatre. Simon is a three-time Laurence Olivier Theatre Award winner and four-time London Evening Standard Best Actor Award winner. He has won the London Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best Actor (2002), the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor (2013), and most recently the British Independent Film Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Death of Stalin (2017). Simon’s extensive theatre credits most recently include Sam Mendes’ The Lehman Trilogy and Joe Hill-Gibbins’ The Tragedy of King Richard The Second. 

Tim McInnerny's television work has ranged from Blackadder to Game Of Thrones, The Line Of Beauty and National Treasure. On film he has starred in Notting Hill, Eddie The Eagle and Mike Leigh's Peterloo, and on stage most recently What The Butler Saw in The West End and Scenes From An Execution at The National Theatre. 

He currently has The Trial Of Christine Keeler and The Windermere Children in post-production and has just finished The Serpent - all for the BBC. Films released this year include Killers Anonymous and Sometimes, Always, Never.

The Reverend Richard Coles originally known as half of pop band The Communards, is a Church of England priest and co-presenter for BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Live. During the 1980s The Communards had three UK Top 10 hits, including the biggest-selling single of 1986, Don’t Leave Me This Way. More recently, Richard has appeared on screen in 2017’s Strictly Come Dancing, as a guest on Pointless Celebrities and as a regular guest panellist on shows such as Would I Lie To You? and Have I Got News For You.