English Heritage cancel summer picnic concerts at Kenwood House
Last year's Live By The Lake 2013 summer programme of Kenwood concerts. Picture: Dieter Perry - Credit: Archant
Organisers have cancelled this year’s summer programme of picnic concerts at Kenwood House, blaming low ticket sales last year.
English Heritage today announced that it has not found anyone to run the summer programme after last year’s concerts provider pulled out.
Rogue Events was appointed in early 2013 to run the picnic concerts for three years, but it told English Heritage it will not host the programme this year or in 2015 as it suffered major losses after last year’s season.
A spokesman for English Heritage said it was hoped concerts would return in 2015.
“We are very disappointed not to be able to host concerts at Kenwood this summer,” said Alex Sydney, head of historic properties in London at English Heritage for English Heritage.
“But we really hope the concerts can return in 2015 in some shape or form, and we are looking at a number of options which might enable this to happen.”
The concerts returned last summer after a one year hiatus.
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Rock bands Suede and Keane headlined last year’s Live by the Lake programme alongside the Royal Choral Society and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra.
The programme was also scrapped back in 2007.
But otherwise the concerts have run almost continuously since 1951 and in recent years Tom Jones, Liza Minnelli, Blondie, and James Blunt have headlined.