Thaxted Festival 2026 Events

2026 marks the fortieth season of the modern Thaxted Festival. Our wide range of events will take place from Friday 19 June to Sunday 12 July.

The full programme will be displayed here from early 2026. Meanwhile, please save the dates!

2025 REVIEW & GALLERY

Thaxted Music Lovers

Join our supporters' scheme to enjoy generous priority booking periods & other exciting benefits.

FIND OUT MORE

2025 Programme

Browse through the 2025 event listings below to get a flavour of what to expect from Thaxted Festival, featuring performances by world-leading artists in orchestral, chamber, soloists, choral, jazz and folk music, in the beautiful surroundings of Thaxted, Essex.

Thaxted Festival combines a friendly, laid-back atmosphere with outstanding live music. Whether you join us for one concert, a weekend getaway, or the full season, you can look forward to an unforgettable experience that will stay with you for years to come.

Season Launch and Concert

Sunday 9 March, 3.00pm

2025 Season Launch! Join us for drinks and nibbles, beautiful arias and musical interludes from Wild Arts Opera, as well as insights into our ambitious and entertaining 2025 summer season from the Thaxted Festival team.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Opening Night Concert: London Mozart Players

Friday 20 June 7.30pm

To open our 2025 summer season,our Orchestra-in-Residence join with rising-star violinist Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux in Beethoven’s monumental and game-changing violin concerto.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Community Choirs

Saturday 21 June, 10.00am

Local community choirs, including the Thaxted Singers, will join to showcase their current repertoires. No charge and no reservations.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Let’s Do It! Songs by Coward, Gershwin, Berlin, Kern, Porter, Swift and Weill

Saturday 21 June, 3.00pm

A rich selection of works from composers from the golden age of mid-twentieth-century popular song, when Noël Coward was popular in the US and a part of this creative circle.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Doric String Quartet

Saturday 21 June, 7.30pm

The Doric String Quartet have become firmly established on the classical music scene. Here they perform works central to the string quartet repertoire.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Quartet

Sunday 22 June, 2.00pm, Saffron Screen

In this film, set in a home for retired musicians, the annual concert to celebrate composer Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday is disrupted by the arrival of Jean, an eternal diva.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

My Father’s Son: Nicky Spence & Dylan Perez

Sunday 22 June, 6.00pm

This recital consists of songs which deal with father-son relationships by composers ranging from Robert Schumann and Gabriel Fauré through to Victoria Wood and André Previn.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Love and Loss: music for countertenor and lute

Sunday 22 June, 9.00pm

Alexander Chance is widely regarded as a leader among the recent generation of British countertenors whose operatic career now flourishes alongside an acclaimed solo career.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

The Fry Art Gallery Private View

Wednesday 25 June, 7.30pm

A private view at this delightful public gallery, with its showcase of work by the ‘Bardfield Artists’ from the mid-twentieth century.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, violin, Jonathan Leibovitz, clarinet, Joseph Havlat, piano

Friday 27 June, 7.30pm

This concert brings together rising-star artists who are set to have stellar careers - Charlotte Saluste-Bridoux, Jonathan Leibovitz and Joseph Havlat.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

John Webb’s Windmill – Hard Hat Tours

Saturday 28 June

Join special tours for Festival-goers to learn all about the ongoing work to restore Thaxted’s historic windmill, including the traditional skills needed for the restoration.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Thomas Trotter Lincoln Organ Recital

Saturday 28 June, 12 noon

Thomas Trotter is one of Britain’s most widely admired musicians and we welcome him to play Thaxted Church’s Lincoln Organ, a rare example of an early Georgian organ.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Craig Ogden, guitar, and the London Tango Quintet

Saturday 28 June, 7.30pm

Prepare for a breathtaking evening of scintillating tango as this virtuoso quintet bring the sound of South America to Thaxted Festival.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Wolfson College Chamber Singers

Sunday 29 June, 11.00am

We are pleased to revive a tradition from earlier Festivals of presenting a choral sung Mass in Thaxted Church within the regular Sunday service.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Love is a Spectrum

Sunday 29 June, 3.00pm

Neil Balfour, baritone; Christopher Pulleyn, piano. ‘An intimate look at love and how it can feel so unique for different people, cultures, genders, sexualities and neurodivergences’.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Jaeden Izik-Dzurko, piano

Sunday 29 June, 7.30pm

We are privileged to welcome First-prize winner, 2024 Leeds International Piano Competition, Jaeden Izik-Dzurko to Thaxted Festival amidst his busy schedule.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

The Gesualdo Six

Friday 4 July, 7.30pm

The Gesualdo Six is an award-winning British vocal ensemble comprising some of the UK’s finest consort singers, directed by Owain Park.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Rob Burton, saxophone, Mark Rogers, piano

Saturday 5 July, 3.00pm

Rob Burton is featured as a Classic FM ‘Star of Tomorrow’ and we are delighted to welcome him back to Thaxted, along with richly-talented Mark Rogers on piano.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Laura van der Heijden, cello, Jâms Coleman, piano

Saturday 5 July, 7.30pm

Tonight's programme by Laura van der Heijden and Jâms Coleman reveals the hugely expressive range of the cello repertoire with three works from the early twentieth century.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Thaxted Ghost Walk

Saturday 5 July, 10.00pm–11.00pm

Step into Thaxted’s hidden histories, with expert guide Ken Baker. If you enjoy Thaxted by day, you’ll be fascinated by the stories that unfold after dark.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Family Event at Audley End Miniature Railway

Sunday 6 July, 2.00pm

Our special train will take you to a secret glade where you will disembark and listen to a wide range of songs, from old favourites to Disney, with the Haverhill Youth and Community Band.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

The Choir of St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle

Sunday 6 July, 6.00pm

James Vivian, Director of Music; Luke Bond, organ. Tonight’s performance features the rich tradition of English song as championed by English composers of the 20th century.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Mighty Like the Blues featuring Jim Mullen, guitar

Friday 11 July, 7.30pm

Expect an evening of blues in all styles, from low-down gut-bucket to sophisticated blues-ballad, all played with the group’s trademark heartfelt passion and intensity.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

John Webb’s Windmill – Hard Hat Tours

Saturday 12 July

Join special tours for Festival-goers to learn all about the ongoing work to restore Thaxted’s historic windmill, including the traditional skills needed for the restoration.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Wild Arts: Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin

Saturday 12 July, 5.00pm

Based in Essex, Wild Arts takes world class performances to beautiful places in the UK and Europe, and we are delighted to welcome them back to Thaxted in 2025!

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Closing night concert: London Mozart Players

Sunday 13 July, 6.00pm

Our season is brought to a close in a feast of Baroque works featuring the string players of our Orchestra-in-Residence, the London Mozart Players.

PAST EVENT MORE INFO

Programme Voucher

Throughout Season

Programmes for individual concerts will be on sale at our events. If you are attending several concerts, why not purchase our Season Programme Voucher for just £15, which will entitle you to one programme for each of the concerts you attend?

UNAVAILABLE MORE INFO
“The whole Thaxted Festival Team are brilliant, making everyone feel welcome, and the whole atmosphere is light-hearted and enjoyable.”
Thaxted Festival concertgoer
“Thaxted programming at the highest level: Nicky Spence and Dylan Perez’s My Father’s Son”
Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard international, Sunday 22 June 2025.
“It's always the variety and quality which keeps me coming back.”
Thaxted Festival concertgoer
“Wild Arts seems to flourish on challenge; its Onegin counts as a notable success.”
Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer, Saturday 12 July 2025
“I think Gustav is smiling down to see how his memory and that of his best friend and colleague Ralph Vaughan Williams are honoured by the expertly played pieces they both composed.”
Thaxted Festival concertgoer
“The performance was a joy … and the quartet brought out its sense of both structural and linear perfection.” Holst’s Phantasy Quartet Op 36 performed by the Tippett Quartet.
Colin Clarke, Classical Explorer
About Us

The highest standards of performance in beautiful historic surroundings.

ABOUT US
Thaxted Music Lovers

Join our supporters' scheme to enjoy priority booking & other benefits.

THAXTED MUSIC LOVERS