Thank you for celebrating our 50th edition with us!

Thank you for celebrating our 50th edition with us!

Created in a wave of excitement in 1977, the festival is now established as the premier early music festival in the UK – in turn inspiring the restoration of St Margaret’s Church, York in 2000 and the creation of the National Centre for Early Music. Drawing in visitors locally, regionally and internationally, the festival is firmly ‘part of the festival world’ and in 2026 we celebrated just how far early music has travelled – beyond the borders of the myriad historic venues of the city – to a world-wide audience.

The 2026 Festival opened with Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers presented by I Fagiolini and closed with Solomon’s Knot’s in their extraordinary rendition of Bruhn’s St Mark Passion, internationally acclaimed guests also included The Sixteen, B’Rock Orchestra & Vocal Consort and Imago Mundi. Our Dowland Day commemorated the 400th anniversary of one of England’s most celebrated composers.

The York Early Music Festival is grateful to our generous sponsors, donors and funders, including Harrowells Limited, Middlethorpe Hall & Spa, and Queens Hotel York.  Our Festival Young Artists programme and International Young Artists Competition is supported by The John Feldberg Foundation and the Garrick Charitable Trust, and the Festival Fanfare commission is funded by The Marchus Trust.

We'd love you to join us in 2027 (the provisional dates are 2nd to 9th July 2027), and remember that Patrons and Friends benefit from priority booking - read more here .