We are delighted to announce that the EMF in 2026 will be held in the fabulous venue of Dartington Hall in Devon, with concerts in the mediaeval Great Hall and talks in the delightful Ship Studio. Not only is Dartington immensely appropriate for the EMF, being steeped in the history of English music, but we believe it will make for a superb audience experience, given the convenience of on-site accommodation and numerous eating places, but also the beautiful and atmospheric location, set as it is in gorgeous rolling hills with riverside walks.
Below you can view the exciting 2026 Programme in full. Tickets will be on sale in February—please come and join us for the most thrilling, convivial and exhilarating EMF yet!
A Mutual Attraction — English Composers and the Young Gramophone 1900–1950
ANDREW MARSDEN
WHAT BEAUTY HAST THOU FOUND?
GERALD FINZI: Concerto for Clarinet and Strings, op. 31
THOMAS LINLEY: Violin Concerto
THOMAS B. PITFIELD: Theme and Variations
FREDERICK DELIUS: Two Aquarelles
HERBERT HOWELLS: Prayer Time (from Lady Audrey’s Suite)
ALAN RAWSTHORNE: Light Music for Strings
LONDON MOZART PLAYERS
JOHN ANDREWS | conductor
PETER CIGLERIS | clarinet
LUCILLA ROSE MARIOTTI BANWELL | violin
ENGLISH MUSIC FOR HORN AND PIANO
ARNOLD BAX: Horn Sonata
GEORGE DYSON: My Birthday
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Horn Sonata
GEORGE DYSON: Epigrams
RUTH GIPPS: Triton
WILLIAM ALWYN: Sonata alla Toccata
HUW WATKINS: Lament
EDWIN YORK BOWEN: Horn Sonata
BEN GOLDSCHEIDER | horn
SIMON CALLAGHAN | piano
SEASONS AND LANDSCAPES
WILLIAM ALWYN: Three Winter Poems
HERBERT HOWELLS: In Gloucestershire (earlier version: 1920)
FREDERICK DELIUS: Late Swallows
CHARLES WOOD: Highgate Quartet
LONDON CHAMBER ENSEMBLE
MADELEINE MITCHELL | violin
GORDON MACKAY | violin
BRIDGET CAREY | viola
JOSEPH SPOONER | cello
Reflections on Conducting
HILARY DAVAN WETTON
TO THE NAME ABOVE EVERY NAME
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Lord, Thou Hast Been Our Refuge
EDWARD ELGAR: From the Bavarian Highlands
BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Te Deum ; Jubilate
GUSTAV HOLST: Evening Watch ; My Sweetheart’s like Venus
GEORGE DYSON: Praise and Lauds (from Three Songs of Praise)
EDGAR BAINTON: To the Name above Every Name
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
ROBIN MILFORD: My Ladies Pleasure ; Jenifer’s Jingle for Piano
EDWARD BAIRSTOW: Blessed City, Heavenly Salem
HERBERT HOWELLS: Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis (from Collegium Regale)
UNIVERSITY OF EXETER CHAPEL CHOIR
HOWARD IONASCU | conductor
MICHAEL GRAHAM | tenor
DAVID DAVIES | piano
THE GUITAR’S VOICE IN ENGLAND
HENRY PURCELL: Prelude; Hornpipe in E major; Minuet in A minor
JOHN WILLIAM DUARTE: Round O (Variations on a Theme of Henry Purcell)
ERNEST SHAND: March of the Pixies ; A Nymph’s Dance ; The Gnomes
JOHN GARDNER: Pavan ; Nocturne ; Furiant
THOMAS B. PITFIELD: Sonatina for Guitar
JOSIAH ANDREW HUDLESTON: Rousseau’s Dream with Variations Written for the Guitar
FRANK BRIDGE: Three Improvisations for the Left-Hand—A Vigil ; Three Lyrics—Heart’s Ease
FÁBIO FERNANDES | guitar
IDYLLS OF AN ERA
HERBERT HOWELLS: Sonata no. 2 in E‑flat major for Violin and Piano
FREDERICK DELIUS: Sonata no. 2 for Violin and Piano
GUSTAV HOLST: Five Pieces for Violin and Piano
DAVID LEWISTON SHARPE: Four Deceptive Pieces
FIRST PROFESSIONAL PERFORMANCE
ALAN RAWSTHORNE: Theme and Variations in A minor
UK PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
JOHN FOULDS: Caprice Pompadour
WORLD PREMIÈRE PERFORMANCE
ARTHUR BLISS: Sonata for Piano and Violin
RUPERT MARSHALL-LUCK | violin
PETER CARTWRIGHT | piano
THE ART OF ENGLISH SONG
DOREEN CARWITHEN: Serenade ; Noon ; Echo (Seven Sweet Notes) ; The Ride-by-Nights ; Clear Had the Day Been ; Slow Spring ; Echo (Who Called?)
GUSTAV HOLST: In a Wood ; Invocation to the Dawn ; A Vigil of Pentecost ; The Floral Bandit
WILLIAM BUSCH: There Have Been Happy Days ; The Soldier ; The Goldfinches ; The Kitbag ; The Promise (from There Have Been Happy Days)
PETER WARLOCK: Folksong Preludes ; The Fox ; Late Summer ; The Frostbound Wood ; Bethlehem Down ; Sleep ; Rest, Sweet Nymphs
GORDON CROSSE: Vanity ; Allie (from The Cool Web)
JEREMY THURLOW: Confiteor (from The World in Scent and Touch)
THOMAS B. PITFIELD: The Sands of Dee ; By the Dee at Night ; The Wagon of Life ; The Unfulfilled ; Winter Evening ; Dunahm Park ; Skeleton Bride ; Song of Compassion ; The Carrion Crow
JAMES GILCHRIST | tenor
NATHAN WILLIAMSON | piano
The Guitar’s Voice in England
FÁBIO FERNANDES
URSULA AND RALPH
RODERICK WILLIAMS: Seven O’Clock ; There Are No Debts ; Closed in Your Arms (from Lover Letters)
ROGER STEPTOE: Choice (from Aspects)
JONATHAN DOVE: Time Being ; Martha (from All the Future Days)
ALUN HODDINOTT: The Lover (from The Silver Hound)
JEREMY DALE ROBERTS: Spoken to a Bronze Head
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Let Beauty Awake ; The Roadside Fire ; Bright Is the Ring of Words (from Songs of Travel)
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Wishes ; Rondel ; Summum Bonum ; Silent Noon ; Heart’s Haven ; Love-Sight (from The House of Life)
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Hands, Eyes and Heart ; Tired (from Four Last Songs)
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: Orpheus with His Lute ; Dreamland ; If I Were a Queen ; It Was a Lover and His Lass
RALPH VAUGHAN WILLIAMS: A Clear Midnight (from Three Poems by Walt Whitman)
LOTTE BETTS-DEAN | mezzo-soprano
KIERAN RAYNER | baritone
NIGEL FOSTER | piano
SEASONS CHANGE YET WE REMAIN
TRADITIONAL: Dashing Away with the Smoothing Iron ; The Cuckoo ; The Song of the Moor
ROBERT JOHNSON: Where the Bee Sucks
ERIC WETHERELL: How Like a Winter ; Shall I Compare Thee?
REBECCA CLARKE: Cherry Blossom Wand
ROBERT JOHNSON: Have You Seen but a White Lily Grow
ELIZABETH POSTON: Sweet Suffolk Owl
VICTOR HELY-HUTCHINSON: The Owl and the Pussycat
ELEANOR GRANT: In Time ; Heavy Thinker
LIANA FLORES: Hello Again
JACOB COLLIER: Little Blue
ELEANOR GRANT | soprano / double bass
GUS MCQUADE | guitar
JOHN IRELAND: Prelude in E‑flat major
JOHN IRELAND: Sonatina
ALAN RAWSTHORNE: Sonatina
CECIL ARMSTRONG GIBBS: Lakeland Pictures, op. 98
DOREEN CARWITHEN: Sonatina
EDWARD ELGAR (arr. Hiroaki Takenouchi): Organ Sonata in G, op. 28
HIROAKI TAKENOUCHI | piano
COUNTRY MAGIC
JOHN IRELAND: Phantasy Trio
ALAN RAWSTHORNE: Cello Sonata
CECIL ARMSTRONG GIBBS: The Yorkshire Dales ; Country Magic
JOHN IRELAND: Cello Sonata
ERNEST JOHN MOERAN: Piano Trio in D major
RUPERT MARSHALL-LUCK | violin
RAPHAEL WALLFISCH | cello
HIROAKI TAKENOUCHI | piano
Doreen Carwithen: Something Terrific
SUE PARKER
PURCELL!
The concert-play Purcell! is where early music and theatre collide. 1695: in his final illness, composer Henry Purcell is suffering from feverish dream-like hallucinations in which the past, present and fantasy collide and his songs take on a life of their own. His bedroom is transformed into a theatre and Purcell revisits his childhood memories of the Great Fire of London and revisits his early romance with his wife. Interwoven into the drama are assorted instrumental and vocal compositions by Purcell: from bawdy theatre ballads and joyful celebrations of love to slow airs, a “mad song” and numbers from his semi-operas. Devised by award-winning writer Clare Norburn with BAFTA-nominated director Nicholas Renton, the performance stars extraordinary actor Niall Ashdown as Purcell alongside five musicians and actor-singers.
THE TELLING
THE EMF RESERVES THE RIGHT TO CHANGE THE PROGRAMME DETAILS IN ANY WAY WITHOUT PRIOR NOTICE.
We are delighted to announce that the EMF in 2026 will be held in the fabulous venue of DARTINGTON HALL in Devon, with concerts in the mediaeval Great Hall and talks in the delightful Ship Studio. The full programme is now available and can be viewed on this page. Please do come and join us for the most thrilling, convivial and exhilarating EMF yet!
We are currently working on an overhaul to the EMF website, with improved and more elegant fonts and a fresh colour-scheme, as well as a re-designed layout and new content. We hope that the new site will be up and running by March this year—please check then to see!