A Festival Celebrating 150 Years of Music, Monarchs & The Grand Hotel

Über uns

Celebrate the Grand Hotel's 150th anniversary in style with November's three-day Festival bringing to life many of the colourful personalities who have stayed or performed here.

Set against a backcloth from Queen Victoria to King Charles III, top-class performers will evoke stars such as Enrico Caruso, Dame Nellie Melba, John McCormack, Anna Pavlova, Paul Robeson, George Robey, Charlie Chaplin, and many others, not forgetting great composers such as Sir Edward Elgar.

Another was Claude Debussy (who brought more than a whiff of scandal when he stayed here for several weeks in 1905 as he completed his orchestral masterpiece, La Mer). There is a particularly poignant story linking Dame Clara Butt , the sinking of the Titanic, and the Grand Hotel's famous Palm Court Orchestra, an ensemble that was later to grace weekly broadcasts on BBC Radio.

The programme, narrated by favourite TV personalities Kevin Whately and Madelaine Newton, has been created by Artistic Directors Stephannie Williams and Christopher Morley, who have promoted successful musical events at the Grand Hotel and Ashdown Park in recent years. We are also promised a dinner menu reflecting some of these great guests.