Orchestral, Choral, Instrumental, Jazz and Film Events from International Artists and Local Groups

Barnes Music Festival in South West London is an annual celebration of music-making which includes choral, instrumental, orchestral, opera, jazz and film events with international stars and local groups and schools performing at venues across Barnes.

The Festival celebrates music-making of the highest standard in conjunction with established and emerging stars. It also raises considerable funds for local charities.

The Festival theme for 2018 is Peace & Harmonies linking to the centenary of the end of the First World War but very much focusing on the positive power of music: Music succeeds where language simply can’t. It can console and comfort, inspire, thrill, excite and unite. Music can be both intensely individual as well as a unifying experience.

For 2018 we welcome James Day as our new Artistic Director, following on the very successful five year tenure of founder Artistic Director Daniel Turner. James is Director of Music of the Pimlico Music Foundation and Fulham Camerata as well as Director of Tiffin Boys’ Choir. James studied at Durham University where he was Director of Music at University College. A prize-winning Choral Conductor at the Royal Academy of Music James has worked with conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Bernard Haitink, Jakub Hruša, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vladimir Jurowski and Simon Halsey and has prepared choruses for the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonia, London Philharmonic Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has been broadcasted on BBC, ITV, Chanel4 and ClassicFM. James brings to the Festival a wealth of choral, conducting and musical experience and we are very much looking forward to working with him.

Festival History

The inaugural Festival took place in March 2013 with the theme Holst & the English Tradition celebrating the centenary of Gustav Holst living in Barnes. The Festival returned in 2014 concentrating on Three Greats: Elgar, Delius, Holst & the English Tradition marking the 80th anniversary of these landmark composers. For 2015 the Festival took as its theme The Magna Carta, Music & Freedom celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and its links with Barnes. For 2016, the theme was Handel & Composers of Barnes focusing on the rich variety of composers who have lived and worked in Barnes from Handel to Holst, Howells to Howard Goodall and Roxanna Panufnik. Music & Place, the theme for 2017, celebrated the way in which music enhances our appreciation of spaces and landscapes, whether this is the countryside or the city, the sea or the sky, the world or Barnes.

The Festival Committee brings together representatives from the Barnes Music Society, Barnes Choir, Barnes Community Association, St Michael's Barnes and The Friends of St Mary’s Barnes.

Andrew Summers, Chairman; James Day, Artistic Director; Jane Bennett-Powell, St Michael's Barnes; Miranda Corben, Friends Coordinator; Dr Kirsten Fehring, Social & Print Media; Angela Hoggarth, Barnes Choir; Christopher Morgan, Barnes Music Society; Gary Smith, Barnes Community Association; Christine Thornton, Community & Schools Coordinator; Orsi Torjak, Festival Administrator

Festival Brochure 2016 pdf    2017 pdf