Andrew Benson-Wilson : Early Music Reviews +

York Early Music Festival3-11 July 2026 The 2026 York Early Music Festival celebrated its 50th birthday with a week of performances from Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers to Bruhn’s/Keiser’s St Mark Passion, including a commemoration of the 400th anniversary of John Dowland. I was there to review the closing event of the festival, the two days of …

2026 York Early Music International Young Artists CompetitionNational Centre for Early MusicYork, 9-11 July 2026 The biennial York Early Music International Young Artists Competition was founded in 1985. It takes place in the National Centre for Early Music (NCEM) in the impressively restored and extended former church of St Margaret’s, Walmgate in York....

Mozart 250“Ronald Brautigam plays Mozart“The Mozartists, Ian Page, Ronald BrautigamCadogan Hall, 30 June 2026 Serenata notturna, K.239Piano Concerto No. 6 in B flat major, K.238Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major, ‘Lützow’, K.246Divertimento in D major, K.251 The Mozartists’ innovative MOZART 250 project travels 250 years back in time to follow the chronological trajectory of …

“In the Belly of the Beast“Élisabeth Claude Jacquet de La Guerre: Cantates BibliquesCarolyn Sampson, Mariana RodriguesLiam Burne, Lynda Sayce, Alice EarllMetronome London, 27 June 2026 London’s latest record-breaking heatwave, combined with the lack of air conditioning at the previous evening’s venue, turned this into the opening event of this year’s Spitalfields Festival. The a...