WHATS ON
AT THE NCEM
Beverley and East Riding Early Music Festival 2026
Event 1
‘Master of great Musick’s mysteries’: William Lawes in context
Friday 22 May 4pm – c.5pm
St Mary’s Church Hall, North Bar Within, HU17 8DL
Unreserved £15
When William Lawes was killed during the English Civil War aged just 43, Charles I lost a loyal servant and England its most adventurous composer. As we welcome the acclaimed French ensemble Près de votre Oreille to Beverley with their exquisite Lawes programme, John Bryan, Emeritus Professor of the University of Huddersfield, will place Lawes' intriguing musical output in the context of the extravagant musical life of the Stuart court and the evolution of innovative styles that led to the later achievements of Henry Purcell and his contemporaries.
Buy a ticket for events 1 and 2 together and save £5
Event 2
Près de votre oreille
Friday 22 May 7.30pm – c.8.45pm
St Mary’s Church, North Bar Within
Nave seating unreserved £30 (£28) | Under 35s £10
Side aisles unreserved £15 | Under 35s £10
directed by Robin Pharo
Amélie Raison soprano Anaïs Bertrand mezzo-soprano Oliver Gourdy bass
Fiona-Émilie Poupard violin, tenor gamba Bérengère Sardin harp Simon Waddell theorbo
Nora Dargazanli harpsichord, organ Robin Pharo tenor & bass gamba
Lighten Mine Eies
Employed as a singer and lutenist to Charles I, William Lawes’ brief but dazzling career astonishes audiences with its harmonic and contrapuntal daring. Lighten mine eies – a programme which borrows its title from verses attributed to King David puts Lawes’ compositions for harp, composed for the private settings of Charles I’s royal court, centre stage - framed by Lawes’ sublime psalm settings for three voices and continuo. Led by the award-winning Robin Pharo, the ensemble’s recent recording for Harmonia Mundi has achieved universal acclaim, and we are delighted to have the opportunity to share this exquisite jewel of a programme on the opening night of the 2026 Beverley festival.
This concert is part of a European tour supported by the Centre national de la musique (CNM) with the support of Institut français du Royaume-Uni.
The ensemble is supported by the Société Générale Foundation, its main sponsor, and the Orange Foundation.
Event 3
Come & Sing
Saturday 23 May
9.30am registration & coffee, workshop 10am – 2.15pm
Hexagon Music Centre, Coltman Avenue, HU17 9LP
£25 (U35 £15) Please book by Friday 15 May
As we look to welcoming The Tallis Scholars back to Beverley Minster, we invite singers of all ages to join choral director and musicologist Jo Wainwright for a workshop exploring one of the central pieces of the evening’s concert - Tomás Luis de Victoria’s exquisite Mass and motet ‘O magnum mysterium’. The workshop will shed light on Victoria’s ‘parody technique’ of composition and there will be a rare opportunity to sing from a facsimile of the original 1572 printed choirbook of the Mass. The workshop will finish with a short informal run-through for family and friends at 2pm.
A certain amount of choral experience and the ability to sight-read is helpful. Scores will be available online in advance to give everyone the chance to study the music and get the most out of the day. Tea and coffee will be served, but please bring a packed lunch for the break.
Buy tickets for events 3 & 8 together and save £5
Event 4
The Wondrous Miracles and
Invisible Power of St John of Beverley
Saturday 23 May 10.30am – c.11.30am
Toll Gavel United Church, Toll Gavel, HU17 9AA
Unreserved £15
From his birth in the mid-7th century through to the destruction of his shrines in the Reformation of the 16th, St John of Beverley was widely believed to be one of the most powerful miracle-workers in England. This talk shows the breadth of his powers, from healing and protection to divine vengeance and punishment, taking in the whole spectrum of medieval society from the most illustrious of kings to the lowliest of peasants. Yet St John was not working miracles unaided. Just as importantly, the canons who managed St John's shrines kept the saint shrouded in an atmosphere of mystery, often dimly lit in a cloud of incense and with a background of sacred song, an otherworldly scene in which heaven and earth might come together in miraculous form. Combined with St John's effusions of dazzling divine light and holy oil, this made for a truly extraordinary sensory experience.
Dr John Jenkins is Director of the Centre for Pilgrimage Studies at the University of York, and a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries and the Royal Historical Society. He is the author of Medieval Pilgrimage, as well as many articles and chapters on medieval saints and their cults.
Event 5
Pseudonym
Saturday 23 May 1pm - c.2.15pm
St Mary’s Church, North Bar Within
Unreserved £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
Liane Sadler flutes Maya Webne-Behrman violin
Stephen Moran gamba Gabriel Smallwood harpsichord
Discret et distrait
Following on from their presentation in York in 2024, and their subsequent showcase in Antwerp last summer, this endearing young ensemble returns to the UK to invite you to dive into the sound world of 18th-century France with its sophisticated intermingling of Italian virtuosity, Polish folk rhythms, and pure emotionality through the genius of works by Couperin, Rameau and Telemann.
This concert is made possible thanks to EFFEA’s artist-in-residence ‘Discovery’ programme, in partnership with AMUZ, Antwerp and Early Music Sweden.
Buy tickets for both events 5 & 7 at the same time and save £5.
Event 6
Interactive concert
Saturday 23 May 3pm – c.4pm
Beverley Memorial Hall, 73-75 Lairgate, HU17 8HN
Unreserved £5 - all welcome
The musicians of Rune invite young people of Beverley and their families to: Summer is icumen in!
An interactive concert of medieval songs and lively dance tunes celebrating the mystery and wonders of nature featuring bray harp, fidel, voice and percussion.
Audiences will be introduced to the medieval sound world with music by one of the first known female composers - Hildegard von Bingen - and will join in with some of the oldest known English medieval songs all designed to welcome in the summer season.
Event 7
Intesa
Saturday 23 May 4pm - c.5pm
St Mary’s Church, North Bar Within
Unreserved £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
Nathan Giorgetti, Lucine Musaelian viols, voice
Voices of San Lazzaro
Celebrating their union between Armenian and Italian traditions, Intesa explore the connections between sacred and secular love, both in their pain and redemption – highlighting the Armenian story of faith, and the women’s story of misunderstanding. These stories are told through pieces selected from both traditions, which are woven together in sets through music and narrative.
Intesa's practice of self-accompaniment is inspired by figures like Francesca Caccini, Barbara Strozzi, and the Concerto delle donne, as well as the Armenian ashugh traditions of storytelling through song with the accompaniment of the kamancha.
Buy tickets for both events 5 & 7 at the same time and save £5.
Event 8
The Tallis Scholars
Saturday 23 May 7.30pm – c.9.30pm
Beverley Minster
Reserved seating front central nave £38
Reserved seating rear central nave £33 (£31)
Unreserved side aisles £28 (£26) | Under 35s £10
directed by Peter Phillips
Mysteries and Miracles
Performed by the internationally acclaimed Tallis Scholars, this programme highlights the festival theme of miracles and mysteries through music inspired by the stories of the life of Christ.
Perfectly suited to the glorious acoustic of Beverley Minster, The Tallis Scholars' programme begins with a depiction of Christ’s birth as envisaged by two of the Renaissance’s most renowned composers - Gabrieli and Victoria - before venturing on a journey through his life opening with Tallis’ Videte miraculum and Gallus Mirabile mysterium. Guerrero’s Maria Magdalena narrates the discovery of Christ’s resurrection, and we conclude with Arvo Pärt’s remarkable Tribute to Caesar.
The Tallis Scholars are ‘one of the UK’s greatest cultural exports’ BBC Radio 3
Book tickets for events 3 & 8 and save £5
Event 9
Rune
Sunday 24 May 3pm – c.4pm
The Quire, Beverley Minster
Unreserved £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
Angela Hicks soprano Daniel Thomson tenor May Robertson voice, vielle
Jean Kelly harp Daniel Scott recorder, positive organ
Lost in Contemplation
Four remarkable medieval miracle stories are each paired with music from across Europe. From the contemplative vision of Ero the monk and Saint Elizabeth’s Miracle of the Roses, to English songs honouring the Virgin Mary and the extraordinary life of Joseph of Schönau, these tales reveal the medieval imagination at its most profound. Music from the Cantigas de Santa Maria, Machaut, Landini, Oswald von Wolkenstein, and the Buxheimer Orgelbuch accompanies stories that explore faith, transformation, and the intersection of the miraculous with human experience.
Event 10
Bellot Ensemble
Sunday 24 May 5pm - c.6pm
Toll Gavel United Church, Beverley
Unreserved £25 (£23) | Under 35s £10
Edmund Taylor, Maxim Del Mar violins Nathan Giorgetti, Lucine Musaelian viola da gambas
Daniel Murphy theorbo, baroque guitar & lute Matthew Brown keyboards
From the Sound of Battle to the Silence of Peace
A vivid journey from the clamour of conflict to the quiet miracle of peace. 17th-century composers painted battles in striking musical detail and then turned toward reflection, lament, and reconciliation. The programme moves from martial fanfares and foot-soldier rhythms to music of consolation and stillness with music by Lawes, Schmelzer, Biber and Falconieri.
“…Bellot Ensemble’s interpretations are wonderfully rich in contrast: heartfelt and tender, fiery and passionate.” pizzicato.lu
bellotensemble.com
The programme, presented by the newly appointed New Generation Baroque Ensemble Bellot, will be recorded for future broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
The New Generation Baroque Ensemble is supported by BBC Radio 3, the Royal College of Music and the National Centre for Early Music.
Event 11
The Telling present
Purcell: The Musical
Sunday 24 May 7.30pm – c.9.30pm
East Riding Theatre, Lord Roberts Road, HU17 9BE
Reserved seating: £28 (£26 ) | Under 35s £10
with Niall Ashdown as Purcell
Héloise Bernard soprano
Joanna Lawrence violin
Following the success of ‘Into the Melting Pot’ we are delighted to welcome The Telling back to the East Riding Theatre as they present a play with music by award-winning writer Clare Norburn and BAFTA-nominated BBC director, Nicholas Renton (Mrs Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, Musketeers, Lewis).
The play takes us back to 1695 when, in his final illness, Henry Purcell (Niall Ashdown) is suffering from feverish dream-like hallucinations in which the past, present and fantasy collide, and his songs take on a life of their own. His bedroom is transformed into a theatre and Purcell revisits his past including his childhood memories of the Great Fire of London and his early romance with his wife.
Interwoven into the drama are assorted instrumental and vocal compositions by Purcell: from bawdy theatre ballads and joyful celebrations of love, to slow airs, a ‘mad song’, and numbers from his semi-operas.
“… the way the drama allowed a remarkable cross section of Purcell’s music to be performed was quite striking.” Planet Hugill