Shakespeare In Music Festival

Shakespeare In Music Festival Celebrate the soul of Shakespeare’s England with a lineup of the UK’s finest musicians, masters of interpretation from Elizabethan to contemporary music.

Join us for a timeless celebration of music, poetry and the Bard’s heritage. Our Festival ranges from early music of the age of Shakespeare through the rich legacy he
inspired in the work of many later composers. Over a dozen concerts reflect his impact on the traditions of instrumental, choral, art song and
opera. They are supplemented with four wide-ranging talks explaining the phenomenon of Sha

kespeare in Music over past centuries. This is the Festival for all who love Shakespeare and who love Music.

This afternoon's concert is back at the United Reformed Church, starting at 3.00 pm and is a celebration of Shakespeare'...
23/04/2026

This afternoon's concert is back at the United Reformed Church, starting at 3.00 pm and is a celebration of Shakespeare's Birthday in Song, with Mathilda Goike (mezzo-soprano), Archie Inns (tenor) accompanied by Nigel Foster (piano). During this event the first Fischer Fund Prize for composition of a Shakespeare Song by our local MP Manuela Perteghella

This morning (23rd April) we are in the historic Guild Chapel, first of all with Sami Brown and Daniel Thomson, and a dr...
23/04/2026

This morning (23rd April) we are in the historic Guild Chapel, first of all with Sami Brown and Daniel Thomson, and a dramatic lute-song programme based around one of the Renaissance's central fascinations - time. FACETS of TIME begins at 10.00 am.

And at 12.30 Devon Glover - the sonnet man from New York brings us Shakespeare and Rap.
Tickets available on the door.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

This afternoon (22 April) we have welcome back Bloomsbury Baroque for a some music of the 18th century Shakespeare reviv...
22/04/2026

This afternoon (22 April) we have welcome back Bloomsbury Baroque for a some music of the 18th century Shakespeare revival.

This evening we move back to Holy Trinity Church for an evening of favourite arias from Shakespeare's operatic legacy, presented by Rose Opera.
including
Wagner : Salve, Regina…Götlicher Frieden, himmlische Ruh’

Charles Gounod
Mab, la reine des mensonges & Ange adorable

Bernstein: Tonight!

Verdi:
La luce langue
O figli, o figli miei!
Alfin t’ho colta, raggiante fior!
Già nella notte densa

Bellini:
Oh! quante volte Vincenzo Bellini

Delius
A kind of merry war

Berlioz:
N’ayez à ce sujet, aucune inquiètude…
Il m’en souvient
Dieu, qui guidas nos bras

Thomas
O vin, dissipe la tristesse

Britten:
Injurious Hermia
We are all awake

Can you guess which operas these are from? Come along tonight and we'll tell you!

This morning we start our day with 9 songs for counter-tenor from the Jacobean and Elizabethan era. Kristiina Watt will ...
22/04/2026

This morning we start our day with 9 songs for counter-tenor from the Jacobean and Elizabethan era. Kristiina Watt will accompany on the lute. 10 am at the United Reformed Church.

At 12.30 Michael Dobson,Director of the
Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-
upon-Avon and Professor of
Shakespeare Studies at the University
of Birmingham, will lead us through more than a decade of collaboration during and after the Second World War
between Wiliam Walton, one of the greatest composers of the age,
and Laurence Olivier, one of the greatest actors. 12.30 at the United Reformed Church.

For more about the rest of the day, watch this space at lunchtime! www.shakespeareinmusic.org

After a wonderful evening in Holy Trinity yesterday evening, we are back in the United Reformed Church today for Jennife...
21/04/2026

After a wonderful evening in Holy Trinity yesterday evening, we are back in the United Reformed Church today for Jennifer Waghorn to talk about Shakespeare's Drinking Songs and at 3.00 pm for Shakespearean Music for 'Broken Consort' with Bloomsbury Baroque Ensemble.
This evening we move back to Holy Trinity Church for 'From Shakespeare to Shearing' when Stratford Chamber Choir treat us to an evening of music from Vaughan Williams, Shearing, Stephens, Bishop, Cook and Walker. Arrangements of a wide range of Shakespeare Songs. Solos from Tamara Ravenhill (soprano) and Richard Milnes (tenor).
shakespeareinmusic.orgA

And we've started. Concert no. 1 is nearly finished.The rest of the programme for Day 1:12:30 pm The Sweet Power of Mus...
20/04/2026

And we've started. Concert no. 1 is nearly finished.

The rest of the programme for Day 1:
12:30 pm The Sweet Power of Music - a talk by Bruce O'Neil, former head of Music at the RSC At the United Reformed Church

3.00 pm Elizabethan and Jacobean Madrigals - the Arcadian Singers again at the United Reformed Church.

7.30 pm - Two Dark Ladies of the Sonnets at Holy Trinity Church

If you're coming to concerts at the URC, the entrance is down the side of the building via the Bear Pit Theatre.

16/04/2026

On Wednesday morning (22 April) counter-tenor Benjamin-Irvine-Capel brings us Shakespeare songs from the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras.
Benjamin Irvine-Capel is a Choral Scholar at Exeter Cathedral and a recent graduate of Genesis Sixteen.
He is a founder-member of Counterpoint – a recently established eight-part
consort – and deputises for Westminster Cathedral Choir and for Lady
Clare’s Consort. IN the West country, where he lives he sings for a number of ensembles, and has also traveled to Europe and Asia with Collegium Vocale and Gent's Bach Academy.
In September he will be joining Westminster Cathedral in September as one of their Lay Clerks.

As well as an exciting and varied series of concerts, there are illustrated lectures on related musical subjects each lu...
12/04/2026

As well as an exciting and varied series of concerts, there are illustrated lectures on related musical subjects each lunchtime. On Monday Bruce O’Neil, former Head of Music for the Royal Shakespeare Company will speak on the theme “The Sweet Power of Music. On Tuesday theatre history researcher and musician Jennifer Waghorn will talk about Shakespeare’s drinking songs.
Wednesday Michael Dobson will lead us through more than a decade of collaboration by Laurence Olivier and William Walton. Walton wrote music for Oliver’s films of Henry V and Richard III
On Thursday, Devon Glover, the Sonnet Man from New York, brings Shakespeare’s sonnets to life through Hip-Hop.
Images – clockwise from top right, Bruce O’Neil, Jennifer Waghorn, Michael Dobson, Devon Glover.

makes a welcome return to the Festival, year to sing Songs from Shakespeare by Maria Casetelnuovo Tedesco, Kenneth Lei...
03/04/2026

makes a welcome return to the Festival, year to sing Songs from Shakespeare by Maria Casetelnuovo Tedesco, Kenneth Leighton & Erich Korngold. William is accompanied at the piano by Simon Carrey. Tuesday 21 April at 10.00 am in the United Reformed Church.

Love, Fate and FireTime: 19:30 - 21:30Venue: Holy Trinity ChurchDate: Wed 22 AprilLove, Fate & Fire:Favourite Arias ...
23/03/2026

Love, Fate and Fire

Time: 19:30 - 21:30
Venue: Holy Trinity Church
Date: Wed 22 April
Love, Fate & Fire:
Favourite Arias from Shakespeare's Operatic Legacy
presented by Rose Opera
directed by Tamara Ravenhill

For more than four centuries, Shakespeare’s characters and stories have shaped the arts in every form — literature, theatre, music and beyond. Opera, with its heightened emotions and grand expressive range, has always been especially drawn to the worlds he created. From Verdi’s searing Otello and Falstaff to Wagner’s early explorations of Shakespearean drama, from Gounod and Nicolai to Britten and Bernstein, the great composers could not resist the Bard’s blend of passion, wit, tragedy and enchantment.

In this gala evening, Rose Opera’s soloists bring these timeless stories to life with the immediacy and intimacy of voice and piano. With Tamara Ravenhill, Heather Caddick, Deborah Holborn, Stephen Cviic, Richard Milnes, Adam Brown accompanied by Andrew Robinson.

Love and jealousy, fate and folly, magic and mischief — all the fire of Shakespeare’s imagination finds new resonance in the operatic masterpieces it inspired.

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Stratford-Upon-Avon
CV379DJ

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