Bright and early: The festivals helping early music thrive

In the world of classical music festivals, those dedicated to early music can sometimes seem to be operating in the shadow of some of their siblings – in terms of publicity and of audience members, at least. However, early music festivals the world over are continually finding innovative ways to present repertoire both familiar and new, all the while showcasing leading artists and nurturing the next generation of performers.

One of the grandaddies of the international scene is the Boston Early Music Festival (BEMF) which has, since its founding in 1981, grown to become the largest early music event in North America. It had its beginnings in biennial performances of early operas, before expanding into a week-long event that now also includes a concurrent concert series and an exhibition of instrument makers, music publishers, rare book dealers and many other figures associated with early music.

Boston Early Music Festival's Chamber Opera Series featured Lully’s Idylle sur la Paix and Charpentier’s La Fête de Rueil, commissioned in celebration of King Louis XIV ©Kathy Wittman

The range of early repertoire means that festival-goers are just as likely to encounter canonic works and composers as newly-uncovered gems. BEMF is a case in point: its earliest manifestations had operas by Monteverdi, Rameau, Handel and Mozart at their core, while the most recent ones have featured works by Henri Desmarets, André Campra and Agostino Steffani (with Reinhard Keiser’s Octavia to come in 2025). Yet those devotees of music’s old masters aren’t short of offerings from which to pick, whether that be at Leipzig’s BachFest, the Handel festivals in Halle and Göttingen, or the Festival Antonio Vivaldi in Calabria.

Also key to the thinking and programming of numerous early music festivals is engendering a close connection with their setting and matching repertoire with venue in a way that each complements the other. This is a stated aim of AMUZ, the host organisation of the annual Laus Polyphoniae festival, which declares that its activities take place ‘within the specific metropolitan character of Antwerp’ and ‘in active cooperation with the Flemish and international cultural field’. This focus on the specifics of a performance event – with the aim of immersing audiences in their surroundings – is just as important for visitors to a city as it is to residents; a concert in an unusual location or one that isn’t normally open to the public can be revelatory to those people who might have passed it frequently without giving it a second thought.

Stockholm Early Music Festival 2024 opened with a performance by Concerto Copenhagen ©Pablo Palmieri

The Valletta Baroque Festival (VBF) makes good use of the ancient and modern that sit side by side all over Valletta and Malta more widely: it has its home at the Teatru Manoel, one of Europe’s oldest working theatres (dating from 1731), and as well as putting on concerts in the city’s numerous churches, also uses venues including the Malta Chamber of Commerce, the National Museum of Archaeology, rooms in the many Renaissance and Baroque castles and palazzi dotted across the islands, and even the Casino Maltese private members’ club.

Another vital strand to many early music festivals across the world is their support of upcoming performers, whether through young artists’ platforms (e.g. the provision of dedicated performance spaces and concert slots) or competitions. The annual Innsbruck Festival of Early Music plays host to the Pietro Antonio Cesti International Singing Competition, one of the world’s pre-eminent Baroque opera competitions, while the MA Competition is an integral part of Musica Antiqua Festival Brugge.

The grand opening of this year's Innsbruck Festival of Early Music ©DieFotografen

Unsurprisingly, festival planners think hard about the most appropriate size and timeframe for their programme of events. Larger-scale institutions such as BEMF, AMUZ or the Utrecht Early Music Festival that take place in urban environments can present busy programmes over an extended period of time, making good use of the availability of a wealth of venues. These festivals often take place during the summer, coinciding with an increase in the number of seasonal visitors and thereby forming part of the multi-faceted attraction of a location to its visitors; the 2024 Utrecht festival encompassed nearly 250 concerts performed by nearly 1,000 musicians across 50 locations over 10 days.

In contrast, in smaller locations a festival can play a vital part in the place’s overall tourism drive. The VBF is one of Malta’s greatest draws in the winter months, taking place as it does every January; Malta’s size and its good transport links mean that audiences are able to enjoy a variety of venues in a short space of time – often several different ones in one day.

Bachfest Malaysia has hosted the Malaysian premieres of J.S. Bach’s major choral works including the St Matthew Passion in 2019 ©Essence Photograph

While it’s perhaps unsurprising that the majority of classical music festivals globally take place in Western Europe and North America, other parts of the world also play host to burgeoning early music scenes – often spearheaded by local musicians who have worked and studied abroad before returning home. Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia, is home to Bachfest Malaysia; founded in 2015 by conductor David Chin, the festival has hosted the Malaysian premieres of J.S. Bach’s major choral works. Also based in Malaysia is the Wicked Music People collective, dedicated to the performance of music from the late Renaissance and Baroque.

The Taiwan Early Music Festival seeks to find connections between the island and the various Western European cultures with which it has come into contact over the centuries; the 2024 festival commemorated the 400th anniversary of the founding of the city of Tainan by the Dutch East India Company, including music that was used by Dutch missionaries to Taiwan.

Early music festivals have long since progressed from operating on the sidelines and are now some of the most vibrant and forward-thinking events on the classical music calendar. Wherever you find yourself you’re not likely to be far from one: from the Pacific Baroque Festival and Early Music Vancouver in Canada to Varaždin Baroque Evenings in Croatia, from the work of Cape Town Baroque Orchestra and the African Renaissance Ensemble in South Africa to the Stockholm Early Music Festival, early music festivals are thriving the world over.