English Music Festival

The English Music Festival (EMF) is an annual four day event held over the second May bank holiday, dedicated to the performance of British composers from the mediaeval to the present day, but with a strong focus on the early to mid twentieth century. Founded and organised by Em Marshall in 2006, the Festival takes place in Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire, UK and the surrounding area.

EMF mounts performances of many neglected and previously unperformed works by composers as diverse as Britten and Holst to Joseph Holbrooke and Edwin York Bowen. The festival also presents first performances of works by contemporary composers including, for example, Mathew Curtis, Cecilia McDowall, Paul Carr and Tom Rose. The concerts are regularly broadcast by BBC Radio 3, and the festival has established relationships with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Orchestra of St Paul's, City of London Choir, David Owen Norris, James Gilchrist and Janice Watson.

Further information: englishmusicfestival.org.uk

A selection of articles about English Music Festival

Classical music news - The English Music Festival - The Sussex-based festival plays its part in the return to music-making in the UK with an Autumn Festival on 9 and 20 October 2020

Profile. Music Speaks for Itself - An interview with the composer Paul Carr, by Anett Fodor

Ensemble. Cogent Achievements - Peter Maxwell Davies' tenth symphony and other British music, heard by Roderic Dunnett