“Taking its title from a poem by poet laureate Carol Ann Duffy, Touchable Dreams is an exploration of the symbiosis between the expressive beauty of words and the ethereal poetry of music. Both aim to express the passion, tenderness and agony of deep feeling, and when they complement each other, the effect can be extraordinarily intense.

Friends of NSF present: Touchable Dreams

St George's Church

Award-winning Dutch violinist Tim Kliphuis has created a new style embracing classical, gypsy-jazz and folk. Hailed as a ‘current-day improvising Paganini’, his inclusive and innovative approach has thrilled audiences and is influencing a new generation of string players.

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Tim Kliphuis

Corn Exchange

To close this year’s Festival we are delighted to welcome back the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Stephen Barlow.

Stephen Barlow is well known to Festival audiences but is especially known as an operatic conductor. He is joined by Claire Barnett-Jones, for a performance of Wagner’s Wesendonk Leider, his only song cycle, a setting of poems by his mistress Mathilde Wesendonk which were composed during the height of their passionate love affair, at the same time as Tristan und Isolde. Like the opera, the songs are incredibly beautiful and filled with fiery longing and passionate desire.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Church of St. Mary the Virgin

Come on a swashbuckling adventure with family favourite Groove Baby as it sails the seas in this exciting, jazz and funk fuelled show especially for 3-7s and their grown-up crews!

Grooving With Pirat

Joe Stilgoe returns to the Festival with his show The Entertainers, a tribute to Sammy Davis Jr, Dudley Moore, Cleo Laine, Frank Sinatra and Danny Kaye.

Joe is an internationally acclaimed singer, pianist and songwriter whose live shows are a mixture of virtuosic musicianship and breath-taking theatricality. His latest album topped the UK jazz chart; the resulting show picked up 200,000 viewers around the world.

Joe Stilgoe Trio

Corn Exchange Theatre and Cinema

Jack Hancher was described by Gendai Guitar Magazine as a “poet and a painter, colouring sounds out of the guitar as if his imagination and the guitar were one”. In 2022, he won the prestigious Gold Medal of the Royal Overseas League

Jack Hancher

During lockdown Britain’s favourite clarinettist, national treasure Emma Johnson MBE, wrote a clarinet concerto entitled Tree of Life inspired by a need to express something in music about the climate crisis. Its first performance in the Kentish village of Lamberhurst with a handpicked team of like-minded musicians, The Orchestra for the Environment, was a triumph and has led to many more performances throughout the UK.

Emma Johnson

St Lawrence’s Church

From the pale moon’s glow and the calm atmosphere of prayer to the full blaze of human ‘joie de vivre’, the combination of comfort and radiance has always been central to our emotional and spiritual needs. In compiling the music for Draw On Sweet Night, VOCES8 show that composers across the ages, and therefore all of us, have always felt the same way.

Voces8

St Martin’s Church

Relax and unwind to the beautiful sounds of Indian classical music in this concert featuring two world-renowned masters of the genre.

Sitar player and composer Jonathan Mayer has composed and performed across a variety of musical genres. His versatility and distinctive approach are tribute to his education in both Indian and Western classical music, and his studies in composition with his father, the late Indo-Jazz artist John Mayer.

A Night of Indian Music

The road to Santiago de Compostela is one of the world’s great pilgrimage routes; it’s also a journey through time and the spirit, and a voyage into the timeless soul of European culture itself. For the innovative composer Joby Talbot inspiration struck “in Leon Cathedral while the sun was setting…I thought of a lux aeterna”.

Tenebrae

Douai Abbey

Spain, 1492: on her final night in Seville, a Jewish woman, played by Suzanne Ahmet, tunes into a community of stories of Jewish, Christian and Muslim women, their plaintive songs and lively Spanish medieval music which have the power to transcend intolerance and hatred.

Music and theatre collide in this fully staged stunningly lit show from The Telling, directed by BAFTA-nominated Nicholas Renton (Mrs Gaskell’s Wives and Daughters, Musketeers, Lewis). Be transported back to colourful 15th-century Seville – the story of migration, community and conflict may be set in the past but has sad resonances today – with a message of hope.

The Telling

We’re delighted to be joining with the Arts Society, Newbury for this fascinating lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen looking at the life of Marc Chagall.

As his work makes abundantly clear, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) remained deeply loyal to his humble Russian-Jewish origins. Yet he also wished his art to have a universal appeal – which, judging by its popularity, it undoubtedly achieved.

Marc Chaga

Arlington Arts Centre

Experience the magic of live ballet, right on your doorstep as the Ballet Central tour performs at the Newbury Spring Festival in 2024. The tour’s exciting mixed bill is performed by dance talents from the world-renowned Central School of Ballet and features much-loved classical ballet alongside exciting contemporary pieces and some brand-new work, created especially for the dancers.

Ballet Central

Dublin native Aoife Ní Bhriain is one of Ireland’s foremost traditional fiddle players and a classical violinist of international stature who commands both the classical world and her Irish traditional heritage. From across the Irish Sea and the west coast of Wales, harpist Catrin Finch has also built an impressive classical career and ventured into uncharted musical territory, most notably through her award-winning international collaborations


Catrin Finch & Aoife Ni Bhriain

Donnington Priory

Building on the success of last year, Good Vibes Music Academy returns with a jubilant performance that unites school and community music groups from across the region in a joyous celebration of musical creativity.

Good Vibes Music Academy Showcase Performance

Star Spanish Saxophonist Manu Brazo is an innovative musician who is redefining the concept of the classical musician in the 21st Century. Considered one of the most influential names associated with the saxophone on social media, his videos have reached a million views.



Manu Brazo

Church of the Ascension

Sheepdrove Piano Competition to the Corn Exchange to perform a recital as part of the Festival’s Young Artists Lunchtime Series.

The prestigious competition, now in its 15th Year is open to students from all the major UK conservatoires. The competition was founded in 2009 by the Sheepdrove Trust and is now widely recognised as one of the important national piano competitions.

Piano Competition Winner

Formed in 1968, 55 years later, this Brass Band had cemented itself amongst the elite bands of the world, being ranked in the top 10 worldwide for the last decade.

Come and enjoy this free taster-performance in the Kennet Centre to experience the sounds of a live Brass Band in person.

Flowers Band

The Kennet Centre

This is a vibrant and dramatic meeting of musical spirits, a true meeting of equals and a musical rapport that will see them record Bach’s complete duo sonatas in 2024. Their programme celebrates Bach, with a pairing of two of his duo sonatas which are searingly beautiful, playful and exhilarating. Schubert’s timeless Fantasie in C is offset by James Macmillan’s miniature After the Tryst, fuelled by the composer’s love of the Scottish folk ballad tradition.

Tamsin Waley-Cohen & Cordelia Williams

St Mary’s Church

A wonderful opportunity to hear the best international piano students drawn from all the major UK conservatoires – and to cast your vote for the audience prize!

Sheepdrove Piano Competition Final

Sheepdrove Organic Farm & Green Events Venue

Andrei Ioniță, who won the Gold Medal at the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition, is one of the most admired cellists of his generation, described by The Times as “one of the most exciting cellists to have emerged for a decade”. He makes a welcome return to the Festival with London Philharmonic Orchestra 

Newbury Spring Festival

St Nicolas Church

Following the success of Monkey Puzzle in 2023, we’re delighted to welcome back award-winning Toscana Strings for this family-friendly performance combining music and dance with Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist Laura Tye, as they tell the story of Wind in the Willows.


Wind in the Willows

Seven outstanding musicians from the worlds of classical, jazz and Latin-American music come together to play and create tango and tango-inspired music. The five instrumentalists and two singers are joined this evening by a pair of tango dancers to further bring the music to life.

A Night of Argentinian Tango

The Alinde Quintet, a prizewinning ensemble at the Carl Nielsen Chamber Music Competition in Copenhagen in 2023 and a rising star ensemble of Czech chamber music will bring an all-Czech programme to the Festival. Their concert will be part of the Year of Czech Music supported by the Czech Centre London.

Alinde Quintet

25th Anniversary Concert
The Newbury Spring Festival Chorus celebrate their 25th anniversary in this special concert with Southbank Sinfonia and some of the leading soloists of their generation.



Newbury Spring Festival Chorus

Described as “a Renaissance Man in a Jazz World”, Sam Jewison’s vocal prowess and pianistic virtuosity has seen him tour internationally. His acclaimed interpretation of the The Great American Songbook uniquely fuses elements of jazz, classical and popular music in a captivating display of artistry.

Sam Jewison Quintet

Mikhail Kazakevich began his education at Gorky State Conservatoire (part of the Moscow Conservatoire) where he graduated with honors, and then continued as a Professor at the conservatory for eight years following his graduation. From there he has gone on to an international career with performances throughout Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The Sheepdrove Recital

Award-winning journalist, associate editor and weekly political columnist for The Times newspaper, Baron Daniel Finkelstein OBE is a prolific force in print and politics.

This afternoon he will be joined by the distinguished novelist and political commentator Robert Harris, to talk about his recent book, Hitler, Stalin, Mum and Dad.

Daniel Finkelstein In Conversation with Robert Harris

Englefield House

16 strings, 8 dancing feet and 4 voices with 1 aim: to make classical music wickedly funny and exhilarating for young and old alike. Graffiti Classics bursts the elitist boundaries of the traditional string quartet with its hilarious all-singing, all-dancing musical comedy show.

Graffiti Classics

Founded in 1975 in Budapest and now based in Colorado, USA, the Takács Quartet is recognised as one of the world’s leading string quartets. We’re delighted to welcome them to St Mary’s Church, Shaw.

Takács Quartet

Kabantu present a new collection of their latest compositions influenced by folk music from around the globe. They are a band of virtuosi wielding an expansive sonic arsenal; originally classically trained, they draw on an intricate palette of colours curated from their own wide listening.

Kabantu

Today’s recital, Monteverdi and His Venetian Legacy, is a journey through the rich musical heritage of Venetian composers from the late Renaissance to the Baroque, featuring works by Monteverdi, Cavalli and Vivaldi.

The Bellot Ensemble

We’re delighted to welcome Kinsky Trio Prague back to the Festival for a performance at Englefield House. They are one of the most remarkable Czech chamber ensembles, and we’re particularly pleased they’re able to visit during the Year of Czech Music.

Kinsky Trio Prague

Join the celebration of Mugenkyo’s landmark 30th anniversary, with a very special show of big beats, visual treats and vital energy.

Taking the audience on a journey ‘in time’, a thrilling ride through their 30 years; the concert is a full theatrical experience, with dynamic choreography and heart-pounding rhythms contrasting with atmospheric soundscapes.

Mugenkyo Taiko Drummers

Jude Currivan, Ph.D., is a cosmologist, futurist, planetary healer, member of the Evolutionary Leaders Circle, and previously one of the most senior business women in the UK. She has a master’s degree in physics from Oxford University and a doctorate in archaeology from the University of Reading.

Dr Jude Currivan: The Story of Gaia

Shaw House

Directed by prize-winning violinist, Akiko Ono, the Maiastra Piano Quintet is the result of a recent course run by The Aidan Woodcock Charitable Trust, which provides opportunities for emerging and talented young professionals who are hoping to make chamber music a major part of their careers.


Maiastra Piano Quintet

To mark the 80th anniversary of Glenn Miller’s death we’re delighted to screen this classic biopic. 2024 will also be 80 years since he performed at both Greenham Common and at the Newbury Corn Exchange where this screening will take place.

The Glenn Miller Story

The Festival’s journey of music and wine continues with a tasting of American food and Californian wines, followed by a performance of some of the finest American tunes of the 1920s and onwards from The Great American Songbook.

A Taste of America at The Vineyard

The Vineyard at Stockcross

Ukrainian pianist Vadym Kholodenko won the Van Cliburn competition in 2013 and has gone on to become one of the finest pianists of his generation. Combining fierce pianism, an unrivalled breadth of repertoire, and a level of interpretative refinement that transcends to the realms of poetry, Vadym Kholodenko rises as an artist the likes of which the world has rarely seen since the great pianists of the Golden Age.

Vadym Kholodenko

A celebration of David and Lady Mary Russell’s Evenings at Combe, from the artists who regularly performed there. In a classical first half, we travel to France with opera stars Dame Felicity Lott and Jean Rigby, who will sing music by composers including Offenbach, Fauré, and Poulenc.

A Celebration of Combe

Combe Manor

Musical story-telling for the young at heart! The Story of Thumbelina, with Grieg’s music played by pianists Elena Zozina and Mikhail Kazakevich, is presented with lively narration by opera singer Richard Morris.

Sound Beginnings: Thumbelina

We’re delighted to welcome the London Mozart Players, directed by Martin James Bartlett, with international star tenor Allan Clayton and young virtuoso horn player Ben Goldscheider, in a very special concert to open this year’s Newbury Spring Festival.

London Mozart Players

We welcome Ben Goldscheider to the Festival for this morning masterclass ahead of his evening performance with the London Mozart Players.

Nominated by the Barbican as an ECHO Rising Star for the 2021/22 season, Ben

Masterclass with Ben Goldscheider

Join members of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra for an evening showcasing some of the best emerging UK Jazz talent. This sextet plays the music of jazz icon Dizzy Gillespie, directed by Mark Armstrong.

National Youth Jazz Orchestra

Experience the magic of live ballet, right on your doorstep. This exciting programme for the Ballet Central tour is performed by dance talents from the world-renowned Central School of Ballet. This year’s dazzling programme features much-loved familiar stories alongside exciting contemporary pieces and some brand-new work, created especially for you.

A reading of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s wonderful story about a butterfly helping a little monkey find his mum.

Accompanied by music and dance, the audience will learn new moves for each animal they meet along the way! Performed by former Birmingham Royal Ballet soloist, Laura Tye, and Toscana Strings.

Monkey Puzzle – Stories set to music

Winner of the Finnish critics’ prize 2021 for the Best Newcomer in the Arts, Emilia Hoving has emerged as one of most exciting young Finnish conductors of today, and for this concert with BBC National Orchestra of Wales she will conduct two works by her fellow countryman Sibelius. The final concert of this year’s Spring Festival opens, appropriately, with his tone poem Spring Song for Orchestra, and closes with one of his most popular and romantic works, Sibelius’s Symphony No.1.

Tim Palmer FRS, CBE is a Royal Society Research Professor of Physics at Oxford University, and a world authority on weather and climate forecasting. He is an international member of the US National Academy of Sciences and a recipient of the Institute of Physics’ Dirac Gold Medal.

The Primacy of Doubt

Part of the successful Wantage Silver Band organisation, their award winning, championship section band will perform a selection of music put together by their musical director Jonathan Pippen. This will include a new commission being written specially for the band to perform at this concert by Newbury-based composer Florence Anna Maunders.

Wantage Band

In the year marking Rachmaninov’s 150th anniversary it is appropriate to include a screening of the great classic of British post-war cinema, Brief Encounter. This is the film that brought attention to his second Piano Concerto, which is heard throughout the movie and which launched it as the most popular piano concerto of its time.

Brief Encounter

Rising stars Polish cellist Maciej Kułakowski and Swiss pianist/composer Jean-Sélim Abdelmoula met at the Kronberg Academy in Germany.

Their programme includes, in his 150th anniversary year, Rachmaninov’s gorgeously lyrical cello sonata, one of the most romantic in the repertoire, written in 1901, a year after his beloved Second Piano Concerto.

Bonnie Langford made her theatre debut in the West End at the tender age of seven in Gone with the Wind at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

Since then she has packed a wealth of experience in her outstanding career which has embraced success in theatre, television, film and radio in both Britain and America.

Bonnie Langford talks to Edward Seckerson

Sydmonton Court Chapel

Firmly established as one of the leading quartets of its generation, the Doric String Quartet receives enthusiastic responses from audiences and critics across the globe.

The Quartet’s schedule takes them to the leading concert halls around the world including Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Vienna Konzerthaus, Berlin Konzerthaus, Louvre, Carnegie Hall and Kioi Hall Tokyo as well as regular performances at Wigmore Hall.

Doric String Quartet

Holy Cross Church

Newbury Spring Festival is delighted to welcome the winner of the 2023 Sheepdrove Piano Competition to the Corn Exchange to perform a recital as part of the Festival’s Young Artists Lunchtime Series.
he prestigious competition, open to students from all the major UK conservatoires, was founded in 2009 by the Sheepdrove Trust. The winning pianist’s programme will feature works by Rachmaninov.

This specially-curated programme is inspired by four of the Garden Follies at Highclere Castle – The Temple of Diana, The Walled Garden, The Etruscan Temple and Heaven’s Gate – arching the line of a love story from first meeting to final parting.

Sansara

Highclere Castle

Calefax, inventors of a completely new genre – the reed quintet – is a close-knit ensemble of five reed players united by a shared passion. For over thirty-five years, they have been acclaimed in the Netherlands and abroad for their virtuosic playing, brilliant arrangements and innovative stage presentation.

Calefax Reed Quintet

Following her appearance in the Petite Messe Solennelle on 7 May we are delighted to welcome back Lucy Crowe for this all-Strauss recital, originally planned for the 2020 Festival. She is one of the leading lyric sopranos of her generation and performs in the world’s greatest opera houses, including Covent Garden where, in 2019, she starred alongside Joyce Di Donato in Handel’s Agrippina.

Lucy Crowe

The “masters of G&S”, Charles Court Opera, return to the festival with their stylish, highly successful five star London production of the most loved of Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic masterpieces, The Mikado.

Containing familiar songs including A wandering minstrel, I, I’ve got a little list and Three little maids from school, this punchy and hilarious satire promises to be a treat for operetta lovers and newcomers alike.

The Mikado

A wonderful opportunity to hear the best international piano students drawn from all the major UK conservatoires – and to cast your vote for the audience prize!

Founded in 2009, this notable competition, established by the Sheepdrove Trust, is open to candidates aged 26 and under from the eight major UK music colleges, and attracts young pianists of the highest standard from around the world. Today’s competition, which this year has an emphasis on Rachmaninov, features four shortlisted finalists and takes place in the tranquil setting of Sheepdrove on the Lambourn Downs. The overall winner will perform a solo recital in the Corn Exchange on Monday 15 May as part of the Festival’s popular Young Artists Lunchtime Recital Series.

We’re delighted to welcome the girls of Downe House School to sing this traditional afternoon service of Evensong, to include works specially commissioned for the choir from Malcolm Archer and Bob Chilcott.

Festival Evensong

St John’s Church, Waterloo

Refreshingly unconventional, snappily attired, boutique orchestra. Budapest Café Orchestra bring you gypsy and folk-flavoured music repackaged in their own fresh and surprising way. From Balkan and Russian traditional pieces to artful distillations of the masterpieces by the great Romantic composers to Gaelic folk anthems, their infectious music will get into your veins and stay there forever.

Budapest Café Orchestra

We’re delighted to welcome the Estonian Symphony Orchestra to the Festival. They open tonight’s concert with the hypnotic Benjamin Britten Cantus in Memoriam, written by their fellow countryman Arvo Pärt in 1977.

Estonian Symphony Orchestra

Praised for her “beauty of sound” by Seen&Heard International, Matilda Lloyd presents a programme that explores the singing voice of the trumpet. Matilda was the winner of the 2014 BBC Young Musician of the Year Brass Final, and in 2016, made her BBC proms solo debut in the Royal Albert Hall with the BBC Philharmonic.

Matilda Lloyd

Hogan Music has been inspiring musicians of all ages since it first opened its doors in 1986. Skip forward over 35 years later, this leading contemporary music tuition service is now teaching over 700 students at both their centre on Bartholomew Street and in over 30 schools.

Hogan Music Showcase

International star pianist Steven Osborne will return to the Festival following his Sunday afternoon recital for a fascinating talk on the meaning of music, presented with musical and visual illustrations.

What Does Music Mean?

Sir John Tomlinson has long been contemplating the role of Shakespeare’s Lear and sees parallels between that character and Wagner’s Wotan. This new drama written for Sir John by John Casken affords him the opportunity to incarnate the aging, delusional king in a setting that incorporates Shakespeare’s text in a range of declamation from speech to song.

The Shackled King and Brünnhilde’s Dream

As one of the leading British saxophone quartets among the new generation of artists, the Ferio Saxophone Quartet consistently receives a highly enthusiastic reception from audiences and critics alike.

Ferio Saxophone Quartet

The Festival’s journey of music and wine continues to Argentina with a tasting of Argentinian food and wines, followed by a performance of traditional tango by London Tango Trio.

Their performance will include classic tunes by the great composers of the genre: Astor Piazzolla, Anibal Troilo, Pedro Laurenz, Agustin Bardi and Vicente Greco amongst others.

A Taste of Argentina

Today’s recital The Library of a Prussian Princess, tells the story of Anna Amalia, Princess of Prussia (1723-1787), an extraordinary woman who made an enormous contribution to cultural life in 18th Century Berlin. This programme highlights music from her personal library and combines well-known favourites by Handel and J S Bach with music by Anna Amalia, Geminiani, and C P E Bach

Ensemble Augelletti

Following his sell-out performance in 2022, Stefan returns to the beautiful surroundings of Combe Manor for his most popular show based on the works of Noël Coward.

Sheridan Morley described Stefan as “one of the most important interpreters of Coward we have”. Since the show received its premiere in 2013, Stefan Bednarczyk Performs Noël Coward has been enjoyed seasons in the West End, seen widely around the country, around Europe and in the US at the Lincoln Center.

Cabaret at Combe

Rossini’s Petite Messe is one of the most joyful and uplifting sacred works in the entire repertoire composed by the Italian operatic genius after he finished writing for stage, and which he referred as “one of the sins of his old age”.

Rossini – Petite Messe Solennelle

Enjoy an afternoon of free music in the beautiful surroundings of Victoria Park with local national championship competing Wantage Band. The band will be performing a variety of popular works suitable for all the family to enjoy and, with their performance falling during the Coronation Weekend, you can rest assured there will be plenty of appropriately celebratory tunes.

Victoria Park Bandstand

Steven Osborne is one of Britain’s most treasured musicians with an immense depth of musicality and exceptional refinement of expression across diverse repertoire. His numerous awards include The Royal Philharmonic Society Instrumentalist of the Year, two BBC Music Magazine Awards and two Gramophone Awards.

Steven Osborne

Musical storytelling for the young at heart with Mozart’s The Magic Flute specially arranged for four hands on one piano by Elena and Mikhail Kazakevich and brought to life with lively narration by opera singer Richard Morris

Sound Beginnings: The Magic Flute

Jess Gillam shot to fame becoming the first saxophonist to reach the finals of BBC Young Musician and the youngest ever soloist to perform at the Last Night of the Proms. She is now an international celebrity and has a regular presence in the UK, including her weekly Saturday afternoon show on BBC Radio 3; This Classical Life.

Jess Gillam Ensemble

The Finn Collinson Band features three of English folk’s leading virtuosos of their respective instruments, shaking up traditional tunes, baroque melodies and original compositions. A captivating and wonderfully varied live show offers a respectful eye on the past, with a firm grounding in the present.

Newbury Spring Festival

May 22, 2025

The Finn Collinson Band

Sep 29, 2024

Friends of NSF present: Touchable Dreams

May 25, 2024

Tim Kliphuis

Newbury Spring Festival