Newly appointed artistic director of the Four Winds Festival, Paul Dean, shares his key curatorial ingredients.

Why do people go to music festivals? Festivals, particularly regional festivals, create a unique environment for the creation and performance of arts. Audiences are out of their normal lives, and normal surroundings and in a sense give themselves to the Festival – therefore creating a wonderful performer and listener/observer relationship. No one in the audience, especially at Four Winds, is really worried about getting up early for work the next day, or fighting the mad city traffic to get an incredibly over priced car park in an unbelievable rush to make the downbeat.

The Four Winds audience is greeted by one of the most breathtaking natural backdrops of any concert venue in the world. And of course, once you have calm and serenity and extraordinary beauty the listener can open their mind and heart and soul and let music from all styles, eras and nationalities sink in. And sink in in a way that is not possible in the plastic, man-made clinically cold environment of the modern concert hall. Programming a festival, such as Four Winds, is about creating a balance between...