The Mikeleiz Zucchi Duo at Reeth Congregational Church
There are afternoons during the Swaledale Festival when the valley seems to pause for a moment, as if listening. Today was one of those days. Reeth Congregational Church, with its soft light and tall organ pipes, became the setting for a performance that felt both intimate and charged with energy.
The Mikeleiz Zucchi Duo stepped into the quiet of the chapel and transformed it. Saxophone and accordion is not a pairing you hear every day, yet the moment they began it felt completely natural, as if these two voices had always belonged together. The opening notes rose gently at first, then gathered pace, carrying that spark the festival brochure promised. High tempo energy and imagination. It was all there from the start.
The duo moved effortlessly between old favourites and bold new works. One moment the music felt rooted in the familiar world of classical greats, the next it leapt into something fresh and contemporary. The accordion breathed in and out like a living thing, its rhythms pulsing through the wooden pews. The saxophone soared above it, warm and bright, filling the space beneath the organ pipes with colour.
There was a sense of playfulness between the two musicians, a shared understanding that made every shift in tempo feel alive. At times the music was delicate enough to make the room hold its breath. At others it surged forward with a kind of joyful force that made the whole chapel feel awake.
Photographing them was a pleasure. The light in the church fell softly across the players, catching the movement of fingers on keys and the subtle expressions that pass between musicians who know each other well. The contrast of old stone and polished wood with the modern edge of their sound created a visual rhythm that matched the music itself.
By the final piece the audience had been carried through a journey of styles and moods, each one delivered with precision and heart. When the last note faded, it left behind a warm stillness, the kind that lingers long after the applause.
Another memorable moment in this year’s festival. Another reminder of how music can transform a small chapel in a quiet dale into a place filled with sparks and colour.
