Clifton Festival of Music

Clifton Festival of Music Clifton International Festival of Music is Bristol's annual festival of world class classical music. Welcome to the Clifton Festival of Music.

Our mission is to bring you the best of music old and new, to inspire, enchant and delight you. We schedule a hugely varied programme of classical music making every year. We bring artists from different musical disciplines together for a number of concerts exploring exciting possibilities. With the South West's brightest musical talent and some of classical music's biggest names, the Festival promises to be one of Bristol's spectacular music events of the Summer.

This afternoon’s choral workshop led by Festival Director Tom Williams singing repertoire by Palestrina, Pärt and Rutter...
14/06/2025

This afternoon’s choral workshop led by Festival Director Tom Williams singing repertoire by Palestrina, Pärt and Rutter.

Thank you for a stunning evening of Palestrina and Gesualdo.
13/06/2025

Thank you for a stunning evening of Palestrina and Gesualdo.

Last night’s rehearsal with - Come along on Saturday for the grande finale to this year’s Festival.🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶Richard Wagner...
11/06/2025

Last night’s rehearsal with - Come along on Saturday for the grande finale to this year’s Festival.

🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶

Richard Wagner Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte

Richard Strauss Four Last Songs

Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3

A powerful festival finale featuring the acclaimed soprano Elizabeth Watts, whose voice was hailed by International Reco...
10/06/2025

A powerful festival finale featuring the acclaimed soprano Elizabeth Watts, whose voice was hailed by International Record Review as “one of the most beautiful Britain has produced in a generation.” She performs Strauss’s Four Last Songs – a profoundly moving farewell to life, written in the shadow of mortality and widely regarded as a pinnacle of 20th-century orchestral song.
Showcasing Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra, this evocative programme also includes the melancholic and introspective Symphony No. 3 by Brahms, Ravel’s exquisite Pavane pour une infante défunte, and Wagner’s bold Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – a sweeping journey through late Romanticism.

📆 Saturday 14 June
🕣 7.30pm
📍 Clifton Cathedral
🎟️ www.cliftonfestival.com or on the door
🎶 Programme includes
Richard Wagner Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,
Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte, Richard Strauss Four Last Songs and Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3

Elizabeth Watts – Soprano
Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra
Tim Harrison – Conductor

10/06/2025

🎉 Join us for a fabulous festival finale this Saturday 🎉
Acclaimed soprano Elizabeth Watts joins Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra for Strauss’s radiant Four Last Songs - a serene farewell to life - alongside works by Brahms, Ravel, and Wagner.

📆 Saturday 14 June
🕣 7.30pm
📍 Clifton Cathedral
🎟️ https://www.cliftonfestival.com/strauss-four-last-songs
🎶 Richard Wagner Overture to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Maurice Ravel Pavane pour une infante défunte
Richard Strauss Four Last Songs
Johannes Brahms Symphony No. 3

CHORAL WORKSHOP!Join Festival Director Tom Williams for an engaging and fun-filled workshop celebrating the lives and mu...
10/06/2025

CHORAL WORKSHOP!

Join Festival Director Tom Williams for an engaging and fun-filled workshop celebrating the lives and music of three remarkable choral composers.

Whether you’re a seasoned singer or just love choral music, this session offers a fresh perspective on the works of Palestrina, Arvo Pärt, and John Rutter—who marks his 80th birthday in 2025.
​
With a relaxed and welcoming atmosphere, the workshop includes all the scores you’ll need for the session, and a break with light refreshments.

📆 Saturday 14 June
🕐 2.00pm - 4.30pm
📍 The James Room, Clifton Cathedral
🎟️ www.cliftonfestival.com to book your place
🎶 Palestrina, Rutter, Pärt

The second weekend of this year’s Clifton Festival begins on Friday evening with Experience a captivating tapestry of l...
10/06/2025

The second weekend of this year’s Clifton Festival begins on Friday evening with

Experience a captivating tapestry of litanies, madrigals and lamentations, showcasing some of the extraordinary writing of two of the Renaissance’s most famous composers.

Palestrina was one of the most highly acclaimed musicians of the sixteenth century, and wrote a tremendous number of choral works, refining the musical style of his time. His compositions, characterised by a sense of elegance and balance, reflect his steadfast adherence to traditional melodic and harmonic conventions. In contrast, the writing of notorious composer Carlo Gesualdo is well known for pushing compositional boundaries, with chromatic melodies creating dissonant and disjointed harmonic progressions that illuminate the most melancholy aspects of the dark texts he set.

In this programme, The Gesualdo Six, one of the world’s finest vocal consorts, explore some of the most beautiful and evocative writing from these two great masters, featuring sacred works such as the ‘Gloria’ from Missa Papae Marcelli, settings of the Tenebrae Responsories, and profoundly moving motets, Super flumina Babylonis and Peccantem me quotidie. The artistry of both composers also finds expression in the intricate interplay of secular and sacred madrigals, espousing narratives both poignant and jubilant.

📆 Friday 13 June
🕣 7.30pm
📍 Clifton Cathedral
🎟️ www.cliftonfestival.com or on the door
🎶 Palestrina and Gesualdo

“Weavers of rich and plangent aural tapestries, The Gesualdo Six meld style and substance with beguiling sure-footedness.” – BBC Music Magazine

Explore two masterpieces of the Romantic chamber repertoire, performed by a new generation of rising talent. Seven excep...
09/06/2025

Explore two masterpieces of the Romantic chamber repertoire, performed by a new generation of rising talent. Seven exceptional young musicians – scholars from Clifton College, the Royal College of Music Junior Department, and prizewinners from the Bristol Rotary Young Musician Competition – present an evening of Schubert and Brahms in the intimate setting of St Paul’s Church.
​
Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major – his final chamber work – offers luminous beauty and profound depth, while Brahms’s Piano Trio in B Major, written in the composer’s early twenties, brims with youthful energy and lyricism.

📆 Thursday 12 June
🕣 7.30pm
📍 St Paul’s, Clifton
🎟️ www.cliftonfestival.com or on the door
🎶 Franz Schubert String Quintet in C D.956
Johannes Brahms Piano Trio in B major, Op.8

On Wednesday evening, join Josh Cusworth and James Gough for an evening of Trumpet and Organ.📆 Wednesday 11 June🕕 7pm📍 C...
09/06/2025

On Wednesday evening, join Josh Cusworth and James Gough for an evening of Trumpet and Organ.

📆 Wednesday 11 June
🕕 7pm
📍 Clifton Cathedral
🎟️ www.cliftonfestival.com or on the door
🎶 David Bednall Clifton Festival Fanfare
Jeremiah Clarke Prince of Denmark’s March
Henry Purcell Sonata in D
J. S. Bach Jesu, joy of man’s desiring
J-M Damase Trois prieres sans paroles
Paul Burke Five Poems

Blistering trumpet-playing is paired with the commanding sound of Clifton Cathedral’s famous Rieger organ, as trumpeter Josh Cusworth and organist James Gough showcase the interplay between their instruments, from the stately Prince of Denmark’s March to the intricate textures of Purcell’s Sonata in D and the timeless melody of Bach’s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.
Jean-Michel Damase’s Trois Prières sans paroles and Paul Burke’s Five Poems offer a moment of introspection, while David Bednall’s Clifton Festival Fanfare, written for the festival in 2022, opens the evening with explosive energy.

Into our second week of the Clifton Festival…Join Keith Donoghue, Clifton Cathedral choir member and long-time cathedral...
09/06/2025

Into our second week of the Clifton Festival…

Join Keith Donoghue, Clifton Cathedral choir member and long-time cathedral enthusiast, for the second Lesley Lee Memorial Lecture, where he unpacks the history and significance of one of Bristol’s most iconic architectural landmarks.
​
With his characteristic enthusiasm and colourful personality, Keith takes you on a journey through the cathedral’s design, from its origins in the aftermath of the Second Vatican Council to the cultural shifts of the 1960s that influenced it. Through a guided walk, Keith will illuminate the cathedral’s striking glasswork, art, and architecture, offering a fresh perspective on its place in the community and its deeper meaning for those who experience it today.

📆 Tuesday 10 June
🕚 11.30am
🎟️ Admission Free - no need to book
📍 James Room, Clifton Cathedral

Fabulous concert given by the Erebus Ensemble in Bath last night, conducted by our Festival Artistic Director, Tom Willi...
08/06/2025

Fabulous concert given by the Erebus Ensemble in Bath last night, conducted by our Festival Artistic Director, Tom Williams, to celebrate the 80th birthday of Sir John Rutter. Along with David Bednall on the organ.

Tonight we’re in Bath celebrating the 80th birthday of Sir John Rutter with some spellbinding choral music. Join us at S...
07/06/2025

Tonight we’re in Bath celebrating the 80th birthday of Sir John Rutter with some spellbinding choral music. Join us at St John the Evangelist at 7.15pm!

Address

Clifton Cathedral
Bristol
BS83BX

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Clifton Festival of Music posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category