Classical music festival returns for 2025

The Hertfordshire Festival of Music returns to Hertford from 7th to 14th June with a theme of From Shadows To Light.

The festival theme explores how music serves as a medium to document personal and collective struggles while also illuminating paths towards renewal.

This year's programme includes a special concert to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, with the world premiere of a new work entitled From Shadows Hope Shall Rise, a piece specially written for the occasion by composer and Festival Artistic Director James Francis Brown, alongside other popular works linked to the wartime era.

On the opening day, prize-winning young ensemble Brompton String Quartet will perform music by Beethoven and Haydn at the historic Friends Meeting House - a building Haydn almost certainly visited during his stay in Hertingfordbury in 1791.

Other festival highlights include an evening of 1940s jazz; a special Festival church service; an illustrated talk on war artist Paul Nash, alongside an original composition inspired by his work; and our popular Soundbites lunchtime concert will feature music that blends past and present, including the world premiere of a new work.

The festival will culminate in a chamber orchestra concert featuring Benjamin Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn, and Strings, a work written in the wartime year of 1943, performed by young tenor Guy Elliott and horn player Chloe Harrison, highlighting the festival's commitment to nurturing future artists.

Alongside concerts, we have education and outreach projects involving local schoolchildren and our Music in Mind programme, now in its fifth year, which brings live music sessions to residents living with dementia, their carers, and families in local care homes, demonstrating music's enduring power to soothe, uplift, and connect.

This years festival sponsors are Longmores Solicitors, Azets, Hertfordshire County Council, Hertford Town Council, and East Herts District Council.

Visit the Hertfordshire Festival of Music website for further information and to book tickets.