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MBA Sunday Session: Clare Stevens

Sunday 11 April 2027
15:30 17:00

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Clare Stevens

Sunday, 11th April, 2027, 3:30pm. Doors at 3:00

The Assembly Rooms, Presteigne

Clare Stevens is a freelance journalist based in Presteigne. Her lifelong enthusiasm for classical music, reading and writing led to a career in music journalism and eventually to making her home in Presteigne, drawn here by the Presteigne Festival. In this talk, Clare will explore performances that have inspired her from her childhood in Troubles-era Belfast when visits by well-known artists were a rare treat, to more recent experiences at the BBC Proms and further afield, as well as encounters with some of the stars of the concert hall and opera stage.

She specialises in writing about classical music, particularly festivals, choral and church music, music education and contemporary classical music. Her work as a feature writer appears regularly in BBC Music magazine, Choir & Organ, Music Journal (the magazine of the Independent Society of Musicians), Cathedral Music (the magazine of the Cathedral Music Trust) and Music Teacher. It includes profiles of individual choirs or instrumental ensembles; interviews with performers, composers and administrators; explorations of topical issues; conference reports and travel articles on festival destinations. She reviews choral recordings for Choir & Organ and opera performances for The Stage, and has written concert programme notes for clients including the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Fantasia Orchestra.

Clare also works as an editor and publicist. Between 2014 and 2016 she was Marketing and Communications Manager of the Three Choirs Festival, working in Gloucester, Hereford and Worcester. Her book Building for the Future, about the rebuilding of St Barnabas Church, Dulwich, after a fire in 1992, has just been reprinted to mark the 30th anniversary of the dedication of the new church.

Born and brought up in Belfast, Clare studied English and Medieval History at St Andrew’s University, then spent 30 years in London working in bookselling, publishing and journalism before moving to Presteigne with her husband David in 2010. Clare has been a keen amateur singer all her life, and is currently a member of Leominster Choral Society and the Choir of St Andrew’s Church, Presteigne.