York Early Music Festival 2026
Friday 3 – Friday 11 July
Text Only Brochure
Event 1
I Fagiolini directed by Robert Hollingworth with the English Cornett & Sackbut Ensemble
Friday 3 July 7.00pm – c.9pm | Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York Tickets: Reserved seating centre £40 (£38) Reserved seating side £35 (£33) | Under 35s £10
Monteverdi Vespers of 1610
A truly celebratory way to open our 2026 Festival as we share I Fagiolini’s intimate yet powerful one-to-a-part performance of Monteverdi’s defining masterwork of church music, accompanied by wind, strings and brass. Peerless technical control and dynamic improvisation produce a colourful and viscerally emotional reading – a fitting 21st-century interpretation as this popular British group approaches its own 40th anniversary.
“a defining performance of Monteverdi’s Vespers...” Bachtrack
Event 2
YEMFriends Coffee Concert A morning of music, conversation and coffee
Saturday 4 July 10.30am – c.11.30am | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Unreserved seating £15 Free for Friends and Patrons - please do book in advance
Serenade for Isabella: The Casanatense Chansonnier was a wedding gift for the renowned Isabella d’Este in Ferrara in 1492 but also served as a repertoire book for her piffari, or court wind-players. The Festival’s Ensemble in Residence, [hanse]Pfeyffery, perform works from the Chansonnier based on vocal originals by the likes of Dufay, Agricola and Josquin, alongside instrumentally conceived pieces from Southern Germany, reflecting the powerful cultural exchanges that occurred at the Italian courts, and which created a new secular repertory that would become widely popular across Europe.
Event 3
Anacronía
Saturday 4 July 1.30pm – c.2.30pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Reserved seating £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
David Gutiérrez Aguilar flute Pablo Albarracín Abellán violin Luis Manuel, Vicente Beltrán viola Marc De La Linde Bonal viola da gamba Marina López Manzanera harpsichord
London’s vibrant music scene has deep roots in the 18th century, when concert series filled the city’s most prestigious salons. One of the most celebrated of these was the one led by composers Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel, which featured their own music and works by outstanding European composers such as Haydn and CPE Bach, as well as visiting virtuosi such as Juan Oliver y Astorga, that embodied the arrival of the Classical style.
JC Bach Flute Quartet in C major, WB58 Abel Flute Quartet in D major, WKO226 Astorga Trio for 2 violins and bass CPE Bach Divertimento in G major, H462 Haydn Flute Quartet in D major, Hob.II:D9
The Great Noyze
Saturday 4 July c.4pm | College Green, York Minster Free of charge, no booking required
From medieval times to the early 19th century, European towns and cities employed bands of civic musicians whose duties included playing at night, waking townsfolk and supporting civic occasions. Come along to hear what 50+ wind and percussion instruments sound like – truly a spectacle and great noyze!
Organised by the International Guild of Town Pipers For full details of this and other performances throughout the day, please visit townwaits.org.uk
Event 4
The Sixteen
Saturday 4 July 7.30pm – c.9.30pm | York Minster Tickets: Reserved seating front nave £40 Reserved seating rear nave £30 Unreserved seating side aisles £16 | Under 35s £10
directed by Harry Christophers
Siglo de oro: Music from the Spanish Renaissance
Spain’s Siglo de oro, the ‘Age of Gold’, gave rise to some of the greatest sacred choral music of the Renaissance. The Sixteen explore majestic works by Cristóbal de Morales, famed throughout Europe and in the New World, and the exquisite polyphony of Sebastián de Vivánco, whose intricately crafted counterpoint adorned services at the cathedrals of Ávila and Salamanca. The programme also features spellbinding settings of words by St John Henry Newman: Sir James MacMillan’s Nothing in vain, and the world premiere of NCEM Composers Award alumna Kerensa Briggs’s Lead, kindly light.
“The Sixteen are brilliant at lifting us up to another world” The Telegraph
Vivanco Christus factus est pro nobis Morales Emendemus in melius Vivanco Assumpta est Maria Morales Gaude et laetare ferrariensis civitas Kerensa Briggs Lead, kindly light Vivanco Magnificat octavi toni Vivanco Caritas Pater est Morales Lamentabatur Jacob Sir James MacMillan Nothing in vain Morales Jubilate Deo omnis terra Vivanco O quam suavis est, Domine Morales Exaltata est sancta Dei genitrix
Event 5
Minster Minstrels directed by Nina Kümin
Sunday 5 July: 11am – c.12 noon | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Unreserved: £10 | Under 35s £5 Free to NCEM Patrons and YEM Festival Friends including coffee on arrival
From Holborne to Handel
The NCEM’s youth ensemble for school-aged musicians presents a programme of dances and concerti grossi by Holborne, Handel, Telemann and Vivaldi exploring the changing relationship between soloist and ensemble in music.
The Minster Minstrels is run in partnership with York Music Centre with support from York Music Hub and the Mayfield Valley Arts Trust.
If your child is interested in joining this thriving young group, please contact support@ncem.co.uk
York Mystery Plays
Sunday 5 July 11am – c.7pm
Created in medieval times to share the story of the Bible from Creation to the Last Judgement, the Plays will be presented on wagons in the streets of York by York Festival Trust under the direction of pageant-master Alan Heaven.
‘Stations’ – performance areas – are scheduled to include Dean’s Park, College Green, St Sampson’s Square and Library Gardens. Tickets for seated areas will be available from Easter.
Details on how to purchase tickets will be available from yorkmysteryplays.co.uk
Event 6
The Early Music Show
Sunday 5 July 5pm – 6pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Reserved seating: Admission is free but please do book in advance
presented by Hannah French
Join us to hear this popular show live from the NCEM with selected guests from the Festival.
Event 7
Contre le temps
Sunday 5 July 8.30pm – c.9.30pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Reserved seating £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
Cécile Walch, Karin Weston sopranos Amy Farnell, Julia Marty mezzo-sopranos
Le Baiser de la Rose
In a secular counterpoint to the York Mystery Plays, this award-winning ensemble draws inspiration from two pivotal medieval texts: Guillaume de Lorris’s Le Roman de la Rose and Machaut’s Le Remède de Fortune. Alternating between monodic stanzas and polyphonic songs from the late 14th and early 15th centuries, a blend of music and poetry revives the allegorical and symbolic world of medieval love, allowing the heartbeat of lovers from the past to resonate with audiences today.
“there was no mistaking the group’s commitment, breathing new life into this rarefied medieval world” York Press
A Day of Dowland
Buy tickets for all three Dowland Day concerts in the same transaction and save 10%
400 years after his death, we invite you to explore the music of John Dowland, lauded as ‘the rarest Musician that his age did behold’.
Event 8
Dowland’s Dolour: Music, Melancholy, and Self-Fashioning in Elizabethan England
Monday 6 July 10.30am – c.11.30am | Bedern Hall, Bedern Tickets: Unreserved £15 including coffee on arrival
Katherine Butler, Associate Professor at Northumbria University unveils the story of ‘Semper Dowland, semper dolens’ (‘Always Dowland, always doleful’), capturing the public persona of the great Elizabethan composer and lutenist. Why did Dowland cultivate such a doleful persona? How did melancholy become a fashionable affliction in Elizabethan England? And why was music understood to be so effective for both its cultivation and its cure?
Event 9
Thomas Dunford lute
Monday 6 July 1pm – c. 2pm | St Olave’s Church, Marygate Tickets: Unreserved seating £30 (£28) | Under 35s £10
‘The rarest musician’
Dowland was recognised as one of the greatest lute-players of his age, and although he published few in his lifetime, his legacy of compositions for the instrument runs to more than 90 pieces, ranging from short dances and catchy song-tunes to longer works of profound and complex emotion that lie at the core of the instrument’s repertory today. “True Eric Clapton of the lute” Thomas Dunford presents a selection that includes the well-known Flow my teares, Can she excuse my wrongs and the extraordinary self-portrait Semper Dowland semper dolens.
“Thomas Dunford’s supple technique, combined with his passion for jazz, allows him to embellish and develop written texts with an improvisatory freedom, casting a new light on early music.” BBC Music Magazine
Event 10
Rose Consort of Viols
Monday 6 July 6pm – c.7pm | Undercroft, Merchant Adventurers Hall, Fossgate Tickets: Unreserved seating £30 (£28) | Under 35s £10
Ibrahim Aziz, John Bryan, Alison Crum, Andrew Kerr, Roy Marks viols with Jamie Akers lute
Dowland’s Teares of Sorrowe and Gladnesse
In his ground-breaking set of Lachrimae, published in 1604, Dowland describes ‘teares’ as not always being shed ‘in sorrowe, but sometime in joy and gladnesse’. The ‘Seaven Passionate Pavans’ that he based on his famous song Flow my teares form a deeply moving sequence, unique in its time. Here they are heard in the context of some of Dowland’s more joyful dances for viols and lute, plus music by Orlande de Lassus and Alfonso Ferrabosco that might have inspired his own.
Event 11
Imago Mundi
Monday 6 July 8.30pm – c.9.30pm NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Reserved seating £30 (£28) | Under 35s £10
directed by Sofie Vanden Eynde Eugénie De Mey voice Vardan Hovanissian duduk Sofie Vanden Eynde lute Jo Thielemans sound engineer Vladimir Gorlinsky composition & arrangements Fleur Pierets lyrics Ria Verhaeghe visuals
Tears into Light : A contemporary reimagining of John Dowland’s Lachrimae
Drawing on the insights of scholar-philosophers and the concept of inspired melancholy, Tears into Light explores how melancholy has been understood throughout history, and how it offers a lens through which to view the present. Built around Dowland’s Lachrimae, with its seven pavans arranged, reimagined and interwoven with Armenian traditional music, the journey moves between sorrow and transcendence to create a transformative emotional space, a meditation on resilience, an acknowledgment of sorrow, and a reminder that light can always emerge from darkness.
Event 12
Dissonance, Sin and Cosmic Harmony: Music in the Thirty Years War
Tuesday 7 July 10.30am – c.11.30am | Bedern Hall, Bedern Tickets: Unreserved £15 including coffee on arrival
Bettina Varwig, Professor of Music History at the University of Cambridge, offers an illustrated introduction to the sonic environment of Heinrich Schütz’s contemporaries as they lived through the depredations of the Thirty Years War. In a world in which the harmonic fabric of the world was being audibly torn asunder by humanity’s conduct, music could give heightened expression to this dissonant state of human nature while also offering glimpses of a future promise of glorious heavenly harmony.
Event 13
University of York Baroque Ensemble with Ensemble Hesperi
Tuesday 7 July 12.30pm – c.1.30pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Reserved seating £15 | Under 35s £8
The Music Party
In 1733, the French artist Philippe Mercier was commissioned to paint The Music Party, in which the young, music-loving Frederick, Prince of Wales, plays chamber music with his two sisters. The University Baroque Ensemble and Ensemble Hesperi present a joyful programme of instrumental and vocal music by the circle of composers the royal couple knew and loved: Handel, Arne, the Italian oboe virtuoso Giuseppe Sammartini, and the Scottish cellist and composer James Oswald.
Event 14
Ben Horden organ To Lübeck and Bach
Tuesday 7 July 6pm – c.6.50pm Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York Tickets: Reserved £15
An exploration of the musical recovery of the North German organ tradition after the devastation of the Thirty Years War, showing how the visceral, experimental origins of two Lubeck-based composers, Buxtehude and Franz Tunder, led to the crystallised contrapuntal logic and structural unity of Bach.
Event 15
B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort
Tuesday 7 July 7.30pm – c.9pm Sir Jack Lyons Concert Hall, University of York Tickets: Reserved seating centre £40 (£38) Reserved seating side £35 (£33) | Under 35s £10
Inne Eysermans & Katherina Lindekens soundscapes Andreas Küppers keyboards & artistic direction
Margaret Hunter, Heike Heilmann sopranos Marine Fribourg, Bart Uvyn altos Christopher Renz, Fabian Kelly tenors Ulfried Staber, Hans Wijers basses David Wish, Ortwin Lowyck violins Corina Golomoz viols Tom Devaere violone Jamie Savan cornetto Simen Van Mechelen, Joren Elsen, Maximilien Brisson trombones Karl Nyhlin lute
Da Pacem: Sacred music by Heinrich Schütz and contemporaries
Born from music composed during the Thirty Years War, Da Pacem intersperses the noble polyphony of psalm-settings by Schütz and his contemporaries, laments and jubilations, and songs describing everyday life in the midst of battle, with natural sounds and audio fragments from locations associated with more recent wars. The resulting mix of and innovative soundscapes and dialogues, mixing live music with electronics, is a powerful prompt to the listener to contemplate the senselessness of war.
The work of Katherina Lindekens and Inne Eysermans is supported by a grant from EFFEA, an initiative of the European Festivals Association.
Buy tickets for events 14 & 15 in the same transaction and save 10%
Event 16
Steven Devine clavichord
Wednesday 8 July 12.30pm – c.1.30pm | All Saints Church, North Street Tickets: Unreserved £25 (£23) | Under 35s £10
Preludes, Fugues and Fantasies
Nowadays the word ‘prelude’ is usually associated with the words ‘fugue’ and ‘Bach’, but in many ways it was the ultimate opportunity for composers to mould their technique into whatever abstract form they felt. Presented on the instrument CPE Bach saw as the perfect vehicle for solo performance, this recital offers varying takes on the nature of a prelude by composers connected either by blood or influence.
JS Bach Prelude & Fugue in C major, BWV846 (The Well-tempered Clavier, Book 1) Beethoven Prelude in all the major keys, Op. 39 No. 1 WF Bach Fantasie in C minor, F.15 Krebs Fantasia & Fugue (from Partita in A minor, KrebsWV825) Beethoven Prelude in all the major keys, Op. 39 No. 2 JS Bach French Suite No. 4 in E flat major, BWV815
With thanks to Middlethorpe Hall & Spa middlethorpe.com
Event 17
Yorkshire Baroque Soloists
Wednesday 8 July 7.30pm – c.8.45pm Chapter House, York Minster Tickets: Unreserved seating £35 (£33) | Under 35s £10
Bethany Seymour soprano Matthew Brook bass-baritone
Lucy Russell, Iona Davies violins Rachel Gray cello Peter Seymour harpsichord
Amphion Anglicus
As the 17th century moved on, the English lute-song tradition represented by Dowland mixed with the latest developments from Italy and France to forge a new and distinctive style, eventually reaching a rich apogee in the songs of Purcell. This programme presents sacred and secular songs and dialogues from the latter half of that century, demonstrating the wonderfully expressive harmonic language and vivid ornamentation of composers such as Blow, Humfrey, Jeffreys and Purcell
Yorkshirebaroquesoloists.org.uk
Event 18
Duo Gambelin
Wednesday 8 July 9.30pm – c.10.30pm | Undercroft, Merchant Adventurers Hall Tickets: Unreserved seating £25 (£23) Under 35s £10 including a glass of wine on arrival
Lucile Boulanger viola da gamba Christian Elin bass clarinet, soprano saxophone
“all’improvviso”
Early music meets jazz and modernity as four centuries of music merge, carried by the sounds of two instruments that never met in the Baroque era but intertwine to make a magical late evening concert with music by Diego Ortiz, Monteverdi, Sieur de Sainte Colombe and Avner Dorman.
“Free, floating, atmospheric and infinitely multifaceted – that’s the interplay between the two musicians.” SWR 2
Events 19 & 22
York International Young Artists Competition Informal Recitals
Thursday 9 & Friday 10 July 10.30am – c.4pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Unreserved seating £15 | Under 35s £5
Over the next two days, we are delighted to welcome you to a series of informal recitals presented by the ensembles taking part in the Competition on Saturday 11 July. To help them settle in, and to ensure that you get to know them in advance of the judges, these two days will be introduced by keyboard specialist and friend to the Festival, Steven Devine.
The York Competition is recognised as a major international platform for emerging talent in the world of early music. It attracts musicians from across the world, offering a major boost to young professional careers with opportunities for performance, recording, broadcasting and international exposure.
Taking us on a journey from the Renaissance through the Classical, ensembles joining us this year are: Lyons Mouth, Lagrime, Il Parrasio, Quarterino, Tra Noi, La Mandorle, I Mastricelli, Nari Baroque and Ossian’s Dream. The order in which ensembles appear will be detailed on the festival website.
Event 20
A Gentle Air
Thursday 9 July 7pm – c.8.15pm | Merchant Taylors’ Hall, Aldwark Tickets: Unreserved seating £30 (£28) | Under 35s £10
Helen Charlston mezzo-soprano Paul Agnew tenor Sergio Bucheli lute
Courtly sophistication, colourful salon society and refined nobility take centre stage, as we immerse ourselves in France’s iconic secular vocal genre of the 17th century: the air de cour. With songs by Michel Lambert (hailed as the author of ‘les plus beaux airs’) and Sebastien Le Camus, the genre reached its pinnacle, encompassing solitary plaints and the joyful shouts of drinking songs to conjure a world of grace and wit that would have been the envy of even the most fashionable denizens of the Sun King’s court.
“[Helen Charlston is] surely one of the most exciting voices in the new generation of British singers” Gramophone
Event 21
Love from Afar
Thursday 9 July 9pm – c.10pm | Holy Trinity Church, Goodramgate Tickets: Unreserved seating £22 (£20) | Under 35s £8
Hannah Ely soprano Rebekah Jones alto Paul Bentley-Angell tenor
with singers from Siglo de Oro, directed by Patrick Allies
Lonesome lovers, beguiling songsters, provocative nightingales, friends at play – just a few of the characters you will encounter in this programme of songs from the courts of 12th-century France. As well as giving voice to feelings of universal appeal, the selection tells the story of a medieval love affair with the medium itself – one that formed joyful and creative connections among song-makers, performers and audiences, near and far.
Event 23
Solomon’s Knot
Friday 10 July 7.30pm – c.9.30pm | The Quire, York Minster Tickets: Unreserved £35 (£33) | Under 35s £10 Restricted view East End Altar Seating: £20
directed by Jonathan Sells
Zoë Brookshaw, Stephanie Pfeffer sopranos Kate Symonds-Joy, Nathan Mercieca altos Thomas Herford, Gwilym Bowen tenors Alex Ashworth, Jonathan Sells basses
George Clifford, Gabi Jones violins Joanne Miller, Nichola Blakey violas
Kate Conway ‘cello Jan Zahourek violone Toby Carr theorbo William Whitehead keyboards
Bruhns St Mark Passion
Bach several times produced performances of a St Mark Passion that had been written in Hamburg before 1710 and has since been attributed to various composers, including Reinhard Keiser and, more recently, Friedrich Nicolaus Bruhns. Whatever the truth, Bach hardly engaged with any other contemporary work as frequently and intensively as he did this Passion-setting. Of the various surviving versions, Solomon’s Knot presents the one Bach performed exactly 300 years ago in Leipzig, offering a chance to hear this rarely performed, expressive music of the North German Baroque tradition – another fascinating example of Bach’s inspirations and sonic models.
“one of the UK’s most innovative and imaginative ensembles” The Observer
Supported by The Queens Hotel queenshotel-york.com
Event 24
2026 York Early Music International Young Artists Competition
Saturday 11 July 10am – c. 5pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Unreserved seating £30 | Under 35s £10
The 2026 Competition will be presented by Steven Devine and judged by Paul Agnew (Les Arts Florissants); Anna Danilevskaia (Sollazzo Ensemble); Kati Debretzeni (English Baroque Soloists); Veerle Declerk (Concertgebouw, Bruges) and Philip Hobbs (Linn Records).
Ensembles joining us this year are: Lyons Mouth, Lagrime, Il Parrasio, Quarterino, Tra Noi, La Mandorle, I Mastricelli, Nari Baroque and Ossian’s Dream.
The winners of the Competition will be announced at the end of the afternoon and will receive a professional CD recording contract from Linn Records, a cheque for £1,000 and opportunities to work with the NCEM and BBC Radio 3. In addition, we offer prizes supported by the Friends of York Early Music Festival, Cambridge Early Music Festival and the European Union Baroque Orchestra Development Trust.Friends of the Festival are invited to vote for their favourite ensemble – if you are not already a member of the Friends, and would like to be please contact ncem.co.uk/friends-of-yemf
Opera North Little Listeners: Mini Magic Flute
Sunday 12 July 1.30pm & 3.30pm | NCEM, St Margaret’s Church Tickets: Unreserved seating £8 adults, £5 children
Come with us on a fun, enchanting musical adventure inspired by Mozart’s opera The Magic Flute. Led by a trio of opera singers and an accordionist, Mini Magic Flute follows a Prince’s search for a Princess, but nothing is quite as it first appears... Join a host of fantastical characters - from a bird-catcher to a dragon! - on this magical adventure.
‘Little Listeners’: Mini Magic Flute is the perfect opportunity for all the family to experience and share the charm of opera. At just 40 minutes long, the show is perfect for all ages, but has been especially designed for those aged 4 – 7 years old, with young people invited to a craft activity beforehand to create something to use throughout the performance.
NCEM:Creating music that resonates locally, nationally and internationally
Full Circle
Little did we think when we planned the first York Early Music Week that it would become the world-leading festival that its first 50 years have proved it to be.
Our 1977 event contained all the seeds that have grown and flourished in that time: the concerts included music from the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Baroque periods, but also Classical pieces played on instruments and in styles that were the result of detailed research and study.
Then, as now, the aim was to shine a light on music that was still being discovered in libraries and archives, alongside what we now tend to call ‘historically informed’ performances of familiar pieces by better-known composers, often revealing them in a completely new and exciting light.
Throughout our 50 years we have aimed to make important scholarship come to life through vibrant and sometimes bewildering performances.
York Early Music Week in 1977 and the following first few festivals combined concerts with residential courses for young professional singers and players, alongside the large number of enthusiastic amateurs who were exploring early music for the first time. This vital sharing of research, performance skills and expertise continues to underpin York Early Music Festival and the other activities promoted by NCEM.
Our residential courses may be a thing of the past, but initiatives like the International Young Artists Competition and the showcasing of year-round activity by the Minster Minstrels and University of York Baroque Ensemble are securely embedded in our programmes.
Only by encouraging and supporting these younger ensembles will we have the imaginative performers and continue to attract the open-minded audiences that will sustain us through our next 50 years. John Bryan
Future Development
Our Festivals demonstrate our unique role within the European context, where we are able to connect young ensembles with leading European musicians to offer coaching opportunities, networking and artistic inspiration.
At this year’s festival, visiting ensemble B’Rock will be delivering two days of workshops with two of our partner ensembles - Bellot Ensemble, (our New Generation Baroque Ensemble), and the University of York Baroque Ensemble - ahead of their festival performance. These opportunities are made possible thanks to the generous support of the John Feldberg Foundation and the Garrick Charitable Trust.
The York Early Music Festival is a member of the European Early Music Network REMA - embracing 216 members (festivals, ensembles, researches, academics, recording specialists and agents) from across 29 countries.
For information contact www.rema-eemn.net
Make a donation, become a Patron or make a Major Gift now or in your will to help ensure that the NCEM remains a vibrant centre for music-making for the next generation.
For more details ncem.co.uk/join-and-support