When the UK’s Cheltenham Festival appointed conductor Martyn Brabbins to be its new director last year, all involved knew they were taking a chance. “Conductors lead busy, peripatetic lives; they are far from obvious candidates to run music festivals… A year on, the appointment seems an inspired choice. Not only had Brabbins made his home in Gloucestershire, but he had the reputation of being a conductor with an unusually wide range of musical sympathies.”