The 2025 Leamington Music Festival will take place between Friday 2 and Monday 5 May, based principally in the Royal Pump Rooms on The Parade.

The Festival commemorates 150 years since Maurice Ravel’s birth and 50 years since Arthur Bliss’s death, and explores where the worlds of these two composers meet - the composers and musicians they worked with, learned from, and influenced, form a fascinating web from which to draw inspiration.

There are nine events in the Royal Pump Rooms in The Parade,and two over the road (and over the river Leam) in All Saints Church, and this year’s Festival brings musicians who are well known to Leamington audiences along with some new faces bringing a range of programmes to offer something for everyone in the flagship four-day musical celebration over the Bank Holiday weekend.

The Festival is launched by Trio Shaham-Erez-Wallfisch playing Ben-Haim, Shostakovich, and Ravel, and ends with the Sacconi String Quartet (pictured) and Simon Callaghan piano giving a mighty programme of Ravel, Bliss, and Franck.

The Festival is again hiring a Fazioli piano which will be enjoyed by the seven pianists performing in the Royal Pump Rooms across the long weekend. There is also late-night jazz from the Dominic Alldis Trio exploring the meeting point of two musical worlds: classical and jazz at 10pm on Friday 2 May.

Saturday also sees the return of Sinfonia of Birmingham and CBSO Associate Conductor, Michael Seal, to All Saints Church playing Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite and Berlioz’s huge masterpiece, Symphonie fantastique Op. 14. They also bring with them harpist Alida Fabris and CBSO flautist Helen Benson to play Mozart’s Flute & Harp Concerto which is a rare gem indeed.

International baritone Roderick Williams and pianist Andrew West open the musical proceedings on Sunday 4 May with their new programme, A Taste of Exotic. A talk on Arthur Bliss, entitled From Rebel to Romantic, features on Sunday afternoon, and the evening concert is concert is given by the Carducci String Quartet and clarinettist Emma Johnson.

The annual bank holiday organ recital in All Saints Church on Monday 5 May is given by Royal Birmingham Conservatoire student organist Elli-Mae McGlone. Monday lunchtime sees the launch of Leamington Music’s new Young Artist Spotlight concerts, and features Turkish violinist Deniz Sensoy and Italian pianist Alessio Enea with musical fireworks from Debussy, Stravinsky, Amy Beach, and Franck.

A new exhibition, ‘Musical Colours’, from our Artist-in-Residence, Jane Williams, will be on display throughout the weekend to bring music and art together in the most wonderful way. 

Tickets for Leamington Music concerts are available on leamingtonmusic.org. Look out for special concessions for children, students, and the under-35s.