Nevill Holt Festival reveals 2025 programme
Florence Lockheart
Thursday, February 6, 2025
The annual festival returns in May and June with a programme of opera, jazz, classical and more
The annual Nevill Holt Festival is set to return in 2025 (30 May to 22 June) with a programme of opera, jazz and classical, plus literature, comedy, politics and food at Leicestershire’s Nevill Holt estate. This year’s festival is set to welcome the addition of a new venue; a 300-seat Spiegeltent.
This year’s festival marks the start of a five-year partnership between Nevill Holt and Opera North with a co-production of Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte. The new production will run in the festival’s theatre from 6-8 and 10-12 June.
Nevill Holt Festival executive chair James Hunt said: ‘We couldn't be more excited about the way this year's Festival programme is coming together. There really is something for everyone, whatever your passion. So, if it's Mozart, Gershwin or Duke Ellington, national treasures like Prue Leith, Jonathan Agnew or Richard E Grant, there'll always be rays of sunshine in this corner of the East Midlands during June, whatever the weather. Bring on the Summer, because we can't wait to welcome our audience back for what promises to be a very special Nevill Holt Festival experience in 2025.’
The new season follows a successful inaugural season of the newly rebranded festival. Now embodying a multi-arts approach in an effort to ‘make the festival accessible to more people and to enjoy a sustainable future’, the 2024 festival saw 12,000 people attend more than 60 events, 75% of them for the first time.
For younger audiences, Madame Chandelier’s Opera Party for Kids offers an interactive introduction to the dramas and divas of opera. The broader music programme will also include Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Orchestra, the Martin Hayes Trio and the Hackney Colliery Band, while the comedy line-up features Jason Byrne and the Underbelly’s Comedy Allstars and the ‘In conversation’ series welcomes actor Richard E Grant, presenter Prue Leith, comedian Pam Ayres and cricketers Jonathan Agnew and Phil Tufnell.
Tickets for the 2025 festival are available from today and can be found here.
