The York Early Music Christmas Festival was created in 1997 to introduce audiences to the extraordinary wealth of music associated with Advent, Christmas and Epiphany, from the Medieval to the Baroque, intertwined with the sagas, stories and tales of the north.  

The 2023 Festival will run from Saturday 2nd - Saturday 9th December opening with Gesualdo Six and Fretwork presenting their ‘Secret Byrd’ and closing with YBS performing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Guests scheduled to join us include Fiddlesticks with violinists Kati Debretzeni, Huw Daniels and Debbie Diamond, harpsichordist Steven Devine and Kinga Gaborjani cello; the Marian Consort directed by Rory McCleery; The Harmonious Society of Tickle-Fiddle Gentlemen directed by Robert Rawson; Ceruleo and Flutes & Frets.