Cedars Hall is delighted to announce the return of Dame Patricia Routledge to Wells in her show, Admission: One Shilling, on Thursday 13th June at 7.00pm.

Multi award-winning actress Dame Patricia Routledge and international concert pianist Piers Lane will tell the extraordinary story of Myra Hess and her famous wartime National Gallery concerts.

Through spoken word interspersed with piano music by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann and Chopin, we hear how the 'great adventure' of these lunchtime concerts began, and how they continued while bombs rained down on London. The words are taken from letters, books and interviews given by Dame Myra Hess.

Julia Myra Hess was born on 25th February 1890 to a Jewish family in Kilburn, London. The youngest of four children, she began playing the piano from an early age, starting lessons when she was five.

At the age of 12 she won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music and her public debut followed at the age of 17, when she played the Queen's Hall in central London, with the New Symphony Orchestra and its then conductor, Sir Thomas Beecham.

She toured extensively during the next three decades and rose to prominence as a pianist of the highest rank.

However, she became best known for her series of low-cost concerts at the National Gallery at the outset of the Second World War. She gave over 1,600 concerts and reached an audience of more than 750,000 by the end of the war.

In 1941 she was awarded the D.B.E (Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire) in recognition of her wartime service.

She continued to perform after the war with her last public appearance at London's Royal Festival Hall in October 1961. She died on 25th November 1965.

Dame Patricia will present an impersonation of Hess, in a finely articulated monologue, tracing the history of the recitals and their immense popularity, while Piers Lane will accompany her on the piano.

The evening starts at 7.00pm with the talented Wells Cathedral School pianists performing in the John Baxter Foyer, followed by the performance in Cedars Hall at 7.45pm.

For more details about this event and to book tickets online, please visit https://bit.ly/2IoGLyO or contact the box office on 01749 834483, 9.30am to 12.30pm, Monday to Friday.