York Early Music Festival returns next month

The theme of this year’s York Early Music Festival, starting next month (8 to 16 July), is Connections. The festival presents a programme featuring interconnecting composers,  as well as focusing on the human connections that hold us together. 

Presenting Early Music ensembles the Sixteen (pictured below), the Tallis Scholars and the Gabrieli Consort & Players in York Minster, the festival also features Paolo Pandolfo & Amelie Chemin, the Gonzaga Band, the Rose Consort of Viols, the University of York Baroque Ensemble, Orí Harmelin, Profeti della Quinta, the Yorkshire Baroque Soloists and Ensemble Voces Suaves. You can find the full programme here.

Delma Tomlin MBE, director of the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) which runs the festival, said: ‘This year’s theme is Connections, connecting and indeed reconnecting music, artists and, of course, our audiences. As always, we’ll be celebrating the glorious music of the past but also looking forward, as we’re able, at last, to stage the International Young Artists Competition, showcasing and nurturing the performers of the future.’

Closing the festival, this year's York Early Music International Young Artists Competition will feature 10 ensembles from across Europe. Following informal recitals at the NCEM’s home of St Margaret’s Church on 14 and 15 July, will compete on 16 July for a recording contract from Linn Records, a cheque for £1000, and opportunities to work with the NCEM and BBC Radio 3.

Established in 1977, the York Early Music Festival celebrates York’s many historical venues through performance of historically informed music. You can find out more about the festival, including tickets, here.