From Buxton to Brecon, from Oxford’s medieval colleges to the churches of Kent and Sussex, Britain’s early music festivals form a sonic postcard of green countryside, historic houses, chapels and charming villages. In one of the great cradles of the early music revival, summer unfolds to the sounds of Handel, Dowland, Monteverdi, Purcell and Bach.
Building on the legacy of the Franco-Flemish polyphonists of the Renaissance and the Baroque traditions of Northern Europe, festivals in Belgium and the Netherlands foster a dialogue between musical heritage and musicological research. From Utrecht to Namur, from Bruges to Liège, by way of Antwerp, a true route of the musical Low Countries emerges, where the greatest international ensembles meet the new generation of the European Baroque scene.
From Leipzig to Innsbruck, from Bayreuth and Potsdam to the Romanesque churches of the Rhineland, the German-speaking world remains one of the great historical laboratories of European early music. Here, Bach, Handel, Schütz, and the masters of the early Baroque continue to inspire a vibrant musical scene where philological research, grand Baroque operas, and the transmission of musical tradition are in constant dialogue. Between festivals in heritage sites and more intimate gatherings, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland thus form a vast musical geography where architectural heritage and historically informed performance continually respond to one another.
From Parma to Florence, from Cremona to Urbino, Italy remains one of the great historical stages of European early music. Between palaces and baroque basilicas, medieval and Renaissance cities, festivals bring the legacy of Monteverdi, Cavalli, Stradella, and Legrenzi back to life while cultivating remarkable artistic vitality.
With more than twenty festivals taking place between June and October, France remains one of Europe’s great territories for early music. From the bay of Mont-Saint-Michel to the Alpine valleys, from great Romanesque abbeys to the gardens of the Vendée, and through remarkable sites in Auvergne and the west of the country, these festivals today bring together historically informed performance, exceptional heritage settings and new generations of artists.
